X-Nico

48 unusual facts about Linux


Atomix

Atomix (operating system), a Linux distribution developed by Atomix Development Team

Automounter

Linux has an independent implementation of an autofs-based automounter; version 5 of that automounter generally operates compatibly with the Solaris automounter.

For example, an organization with a mixture of Linux and Solaris systems might arrange to host their software package repositories for each on a common file-server using export names like depot:/export/linux and depot:/export/solaris respectively.

AVADirect

They specialize in highly customized computer systems including Microsoft Windows and Linux servers, high-end workstations and gaming systems, business PCs, and notebooks.

Bleeping Computer

Bleeping Computer also has many mini guides for things such as "How to Re-Install Windows" to "How to Install and Use Ubuntu or any version of Linux" as well as guides on how to remove common Malware infections.

Chastain Motorsports

The Linux community attempted to raise money to sponsor the car and gain awareness for the Linux product, however they fell short of their goals and only raised enough for minor associate sponsorship.

Christopher H. Bidmead

He has continued his career in computer journalism, writing regularly (as Chris Bidmead) for Personal Computer World, PC Plus and other computer magazines, and specialising in Linux tools.

Daniel Lyons

Between 2003 and 2007 Lyons covered the SCO cases against IBM and against Linux.

Dysart Unified School District

In December 2009, Dysart Unified School District became the first Arizona School District to switch nearly one-third, or 3,000 of their desktop computer systems to a Linux based operating system from the proprietary Microsoft Windows.

Edit mask

Aspect of command called user mask, allowing "masked" computer users to have write access on some shared resources in Unix and Linux

Embedded software

This runs from small one-person operations consisting of a run loop and a timer, to LynxOS, VxWorks, BeRTOS, ThreadX, to Windows CE or Linux (with patched kernel).

Gojko Adzic

From 1999 to 2003 he was an associate editor at Mikro-PC World responsible for Linux, and from 2003 to 2005 he served as editor-in-chief.

Hitachi Data Systems

On August 20, 2010 Hitachi Data Systems acquired the intellectual property and core engineering team of ParaScale, developer of storage software which uses a clustered file system on multiple Linux servers to present a single file-storage appliance.

Insight – ICT for the differently abled

The training programme makes use of Orca (an assistive technology for the visually challenged), Ubuntu and other GNU/Linux based operating systems.

Institute of Informatics and Communication

The institute provides studies in the field of informatics, which is essentially a blend of three domains: networking, telecommunication and software, on three major platforms: Windows, Linux and Macintosh.

Jaroslav Kysela

Jaroslav Kysela (aka perex), is a Czech software engineer primarily known as the creator and initial developer of the ALSA project for sound drivers in the Linux operating system.

Just for Fun

Other than this the book explains Torvalds' view of himself, the free software movement and the development of Linux.

Karbar

Its articles, aimed at all levels of user, cover applications, programming, operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc.), graphics, animation, software, hardware, internet and games.

Lenox

Linux, the open source Unix-like operating system kernel

Linux Format

Linux Format was the UK's first Linux-specific magazine, and as of 2013 was the best-selling Linux title in the UK.

Mantis the spider robot

The robot is controlled by a computer running the Linux operating system and HexEngine software, which controls the hydraulic solenoid in the legs.

Mary Gardiner

Mary Gardiner is an Australian Linux programmer and currently director of operations at the Ada Initiative, described as a "non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation of women in open technology and culture".

Modules Environment

The Environment Modules system is a tool to help users manage their Unix or Linux shell environment, by allowing groups of related environment-variable settings to be made or removed dynamically.

MPLAB

This also includes highly anticipated cross-platform support in MPLAB IDE, allowing development for PIC microcontrollers on Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, in addition to Windows.

Ndiyo

It is developing an ultra-thin client called nivo (network in, video out) based on Ubuntu Linux and other open-source software for use especially in third world countries.

NetBackup

It provides cross-platform backup functionality to a large variety of Windows, UNIX and Linux operating systems.

Nintendo DS

When tried under Linux, it acts as a regular wireless adapter, connecting to wireless networks, an LED blinks when there is data being transferred.

Nios II

Because the C/C++ development-chain is based on GCC, the vast majority of open source software for Linux compiles and runs with minimal or no modification.

Offline area network

Although this market segment is now much reduced, the technologies developed in this area continue to be influential on the Internet and in both Linux and Apple Mac OS X networking—and the TCP/IP protocol has now almost completely replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NBF, and other protocols used by the early PC LANs.

Olympus Camedia C-700 Ultra Zoom

A driver is needed to connect to Microsoft Windows 98 SE for image transfer, but Windows 2000 and later, as well as most Linux and Apple Mac OS X systems automatically recognize the camera as an external hard drive.

OPIE user interface

OPIE (Open Palmtop Integrated Environment) is an open source graphical user interface for PDAs and other devices running Linux.

Oracle Clusterware

In earlier versions of Oracle (version 9i and earlier), RAC required a vendor supplied clusterware like Sun Cluster or Veritas Cluster Server with the exception of Linux and Windows.

PC AGE Career Institute

Certificate program in Internetwork Engineering that prepares for CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+; Microsoft MCITP; Cisco CCNA; Linux

PICAXE

AXEpad is a cross-platform application recommended for Linux and Mac users.

PICKit

e.g. GNU/Linux version of PICKit 2 application software, DOS style CMD support, etc.

Relevance Language

Amongst other features the most prominent one is that it looks if a particular computer (whether its a Desktop, Laptop, Mobile running iOS or Android, Mac, Linux, etc.

Server Interface Pod

Many of Dell's KVM switches are IP enabled, allowing users to remote control servers with a Linux or Microsoft Windows client.

Sirius Corporation Ltd

Sirius provide a full Enterprise Stack which can include, but is not limited to, products such as Asterisk (VoIP), JBoss (application server), Apache (web server), Squid (proxy), OGo/Scalix (groupware), Sendmail/Cyrus (email), Samba/CUPS (file & print), OpenLDAP (directory server), PostgreSQL (database), PostGIS (geographic information systems) and Linux (operating system).

Stratford University

Certification Courses including Oracle, MSCE, .Net Framework, Cisco, Linux, and computer security-related topics for students and IT professionals.

TimeSys

Timesys is a privately owned company that helps software development teams build and maintain a custom Linux platform for a wide variety of embedded processors from semiconductor manufacturers such as Atmel, Freescale, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Xilinx.

Triple fault

Some operating system kernels, such as Linux, still use triple faults as a last effort in their rebooting process if an ACPI reboot fails.

Tuxissa

The virus is based on the Melissa virus, with its aim to install Linux onto the victim's computer without the owner's notice.

Ubuntu Hacks

Ubuntu Hacks: Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux is a book of tips about Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution.

Udhcpc

Other Linux DHCP servers out there (such as the ISC DHCP server) are targeted at larger systems such as PCs (with more RAM/disk space/etc.).

V.i. Labs

In January 2009, V.i. Labs announced CodeArmor Intelligence support for Red Hat Linux.

ViewSonic

The units were deemed capable of operating on nearly any operating system, including Windows CE, Linux, QNX and VxWorks.

Ximian Desktop

Rather than being a complete Linux distribution, it was designed to fit on top of existing distributions, such as Red Hat and Suse.

It was made to be suitable for desktop and office-productivity environment, and it enabled businesses to use Linux and open source software for daily work.


ABC notation

Such software is readily available for most computer systems including Microsoft Windows, Unix/Linux, Macintosh, PalmOS, and web-based.

China–Finland relations

Linux, the open source code first developed by Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds, is playing a major role in the development of China’s IT sector – and in the country’s rapid industrial development as a whole.

Cryptonomicon

The name is a thinly veiled reference to Linux, a kernel originally written by the Finnish native Linus Torvalds.

DVD-RAM

Many operating systems like Mac OS (Mac OS 8.6 up to Mac OS X), Linux and Microsoft Windows XP can use DVD-RAM directly, while earlier versions of Windows require device drivers or the program InCD.

FidoNet

There are similar solutions for Linux such as MODEMU (modem emulator) which has limited success when combined with DOSEMU (DOS emulator).

FON

Linus: (named for Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux project): has a Fonera router, shares Wi-Fi and gets free roaming at others' Fon Spots.

Fosscomm

The fourth FOSSCOMM took place at the University of Patras on May 7–8, 2011 and was co-organized by the department's Laboratory for Computing and the Patras Linux Users Group.

Free software movement

The two most prominent people attached to the movement, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, may be seen as representatives of the value based versus apolitical philosophies, as well as the GNU versus Linux coding styles.

Gdium

The Gdium netbook is marketed as an interface device to the Gdium "learning community" -- a website that provides hardware support, MIPS builds of Open Source software, Linux computing tips, and educational resources targeted towards teachers and students within the K-12 demographic.

GNU/Linux naming controversy

In 1991, the first version of the Linux kernel was released by Linus Torvalds.

Google OS

Goobuntu, a Linux distribution that Google uses internally

Greenplum

Greenplum Database was supported for production use on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.2 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x (64-bit), CentOS Linux 5.x (64-bit) and Sun Solaris 10U5+ (64-bit).

High-speed multimedia radio

This method is supported by all modern operating systems including but not limited to Windows, Mac OS X, BSD, and Linux.

IFolder

On March 22, 2004, after their purchase of the Linux software companies Ximian and SUSE, Novell announced that they were releasing iFolder as an open source project under the GPL license.

Install Party des Savoie

During a day, people from Pays de Savoie, which is both Savoie and Haute-Savoie departements, is welcomed to get familiar with a new desktop environment, GNU/Linux, renowned for its ability to be reliable and virus-free.

IWARP

Networking services implemented over iWARP include those offered in the OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) by the OpenFabrics Alliance for Linux operating systems, and the Winsock Direct protocol for Microsoft Windows.

James Ready

His company Montavista Software did pioneering work in adapting the operating system Linux for real-time applications.

Jurix

There is no indication if the name was in any way related to the nearby Dutch law and IT organisation JURIX or rather just a portmanteau between "Jura" and "Unix"/"Linux".

Layer 8

Linux Gazette carries a regular column called Layer 8 Linux Security.

Lilug

The group was formed in December 1998, out of interested parties from two previously-existing organizations, the Farmingdale Linux and Associated Technologies Club and the Brookhaven National Laboratory Local Linux Users Group.

Linux India

One of the reasons was that a repeat of the event from November 1999 was scheduled in Bangalore, and the sponsors of the Linux presence at the event felt the need to work with a formal organization, in order to avoid inadvertently getting into a political cross-fire.

Memory management unit

Some operating systems, such as OpenBSD with its W^X feature, and Linux with the Exec Shield or PaX patches, may also limit the length of the code segment, as specified by the CS register, to disallow execution of code in modifiable regions of the address space.

MemSource

The desktop version, MemSource Editor, installs on Windows, Mac, and Linux and is available as a free download.

Nicklas Nygren

Knytt Underground combines the features of Knytt and Within a Deep Forest and was released on PC, Mac and Linux platforms in late 2012, with the PlayStation platforms seeing the first launch.

Open Cluster Framework

Original supporters included several computing companies and groups, including Compaq, Conectiva, IBM, Linux-HA, MSC Software, the Open Source Development Lab, OSCAR, Red Hat, SGI and SUSE.

Open-source brand

Examples include open source software projects such as the GNU project, the Apache Software Foundation, and Linux (protected via the Linux Mark Institute).

OSADL

Ingo Molnár's and Thomas Gleixner's Linux Real-time Preempt Patches (aka PREEMPT RT)

Pragmatic General Multicast

It is not yet a standard, but has been implemented in some networking devices and operating systems, including Windows XP and later versions of Microsoft Windows, as well as in third-party libraries for Linux, Windows and Solaris.

PSXLinux

PSXLinux (also known as Runix) is a Linux kernel and development kit for the PlayStation (MIPS-NOMMU).

Robert Love

He also wrote Linux System Programming, is now in its second edition, subtitled Talking Directly to the Kernel and C Library, and published by O'Reilly Media.

SciTech SNAP

SciTech SNAP Graphics has been ported to MS-DOS, OS/2, Microsoft Windows (CE, NT, 2000, XP), QNX, SMX (the SunOS/Solaris port of MINIX), Linux, On Time RTOS-32, Unununium OS operating systems.

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

The game had not sold as well as had hoped, most notably on Linux, despite becoming a best seller on Tux Games.

Spy Fox

When running with ScummVM, these games can be played on different operating systems, including Windows, Mac and GNU/Linux.

Tersus

Both the Studio and the Server are available on a variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X.

TeX

TeXShop for Apple Mac OS X, TeXworks for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and MS Windows, and WinShell for MS Windows are similar tools and provide an integrated development environment (IDE) for working with LaTeX or TeX.

Texas Advanced Computing Center

It included 62,976 processor cores (provided by 15,744 Opteron quad-core processors in 3,936 quad-socket Sun Blade server nodes) running the CentOS Linux distribution, and originally had peak performance of 504 TFlops, 123 TB memory and 1.73 PB of storage.

Turbo Sliders

It was developed by Antti Mannisto and published by Jollygood Games (now Xiha Life) for the Windows and Linux platforms in 2003.

Ubuntu User

Linux New Media is headquartered in Munich, Germany and has offices of its US subsidiary, Linux New Media USA, LLC, in Lawrence, Kansas.

Unreal Tournament 2003

3.5 GB free, 64 MB of video memory recommended

Linux 2.2+ or Windows 98-Win7, 733 MHz x86 CPU, 128 MB RAM, video card with 16 MB RAM, 3 GB HDD space, DirectX 8.1 or OpenGL 1.2

Mac OS X 10.2.6+, 700 MHz PowerPC G4 CPU, 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 MX or Radeon with 32 MB RAM, 3 GB HDD space

Visual Planet

Visualplanet's MA9 software provides Mouse Pointer options for use with the visualplanet touchfoil which is suitable for standard mouse emulation within Windows 7, MacOS and Linux Operating Systems.

Web interoperability

Web interoperability means producing web pages viewable in standard compatible web browsers, various operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh and Linux and devices such as PC, PDA and mobile phone based on the latest web standards.

ΜClinux

Initially, they targeted the Motorola DragonBall family of embedded 68k processors (specifically the 68EZ328 series used in the Motorola PalmPilot) on a 2.0.33 Linux kernel.