Linux Archives : Day in Tech History

2005 – It was the release of the Damn Small Linux program, a Linux distribution that was designed to take up as little drive space as possible. John Andrews – DSL’s developer – Never allowed the ISO to go past 50 MB in size. You would be able to put DSL onto a CD or USB drive if needed. You can get the DSL ISO to install here

1992 – Comp.os.minix was the location for famous thread “Linux is Dead”. 73 Posts went back and forthe before Bill Mitchell closes it.  Andy Tanenbaum (MINIX) started the thread and Linus Torvolds shot back. This is how the thread started out

I was in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, so I haven’t commented much on LINUX (not that I would have said much had I been around), but for what it is worth, I have a couple of comments now.

As most of you know, for me MINIX is a hobby, something that I do in the evening when I get bored writing books and there are no major wars, revolutions, or senate hearings being televised live on CNN. My real job is a professor and researcher in the area of operating systems.

As a result of my occupation, I think I know a bit about where operating are going in the next decade or so. Two aspects stand out:

1. MICROKERNEL VS MONOLITHIC SYSTEM

The alternative is a microkernel-based system, in which most of the OS runs as separate processes, mostly outside the kernel. They communicate by message passing. The kernel’s job is to handle the message passing, interrupt handling, low-level process management, and possibly the I/O. Examples of this design are the RC4000, Amoeba, Chorus, Mach, and the not-yet-released Windows/NT.

While I could go into a long story here about the relative merits of the two designs, suffice it to say that among the people who actually design operating systems, the debate is essentially over. Microkernels have won. The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems (e.g., Rick Rashid has published papers comparing

MINIX is a microkernel-based system. The file system and memory management are separate processes, running outside the kernel. The I/O drivers are also separate processes (in the kernel, but only because the brain-dead nature of the Intel CPUs makes that difficult to do otherwise). LINUX is a monolithic style system. This is a giant step back into the 1970s. That is like taking an existing, working C program and rewriting it in BASIC. To me, writing a monolithic system in 1991 is a truly poor idea.

2. PORTABILITY

MINIX was designed to be reasonably portable, and has been ported from the Intel line to the 680×0 (Atari, Amiga, Macintosh), SPARC, and NS32016. LINUX is tied fairly closely to the 80×86. Not the way to go.

Don`t get me wrong, I am not unhappy with LINUX. It will get all the people who want to turn MINIX in BSD UNIX off my back. But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a **MODERN** “free” OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that.

Andy Tanenbaum ([email protected])

P.S. Just as a random aside, Amoeba has a UNIX emulator (running in user space), but it is far from complete. If there are any people who would like to work on that, please let me know. To run Amoeba you need a few 386s, one of which needs 16M, and all of which need the WD Ethernet card.

2008 – After a long court battle with the Santa Cruz Operations (SCO) group, a judge rules that Novell is the owner of UNIX and UNIXWare copyrights. In 2003 – just after SCO changed their name from Caldera – had made a claim that the SCO IP was incorporated into Linux and that they should get a cut from each copy sold. Novell states that they own the code to UNIX and therefore this claim was not valid. Battles still goon to this day, with SCO group dwindled down to a shell (no pun intended). Part of the rulings on this case have been reversed since. Currently, SCO has lawsuits with IBM and Linux.

<img width="220" height="163" data-tf-not-load src="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Linus Torvalds" decoding="async" srcset="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds.jpg 220w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds-340x250.jpg 340w" sizes="(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" />

August 25, 1991 – Linus Torvalds mentions in a message on comp.os.minix with the simple question:

What would you like to see most in Minix

This is the official announcement of the Linux project. Of course Ari Lemmke named it Linux after a while, in which would be adopted as the official name. Linus first wanted to name it “Freix”, which meant Freek Unix.

• Apple Powerbook 5300
• Yahoo and ET partner
• Broadcom purchases AMD’s Digital TV services
• Netflix debuts on iPhone

<img width="320" height="320" data-tf-not-load src="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Redhat" decoding="async" srcset="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1.jpg 320w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-65x65.jpg 65w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" />

Red Hat is a Linux distribution  and a vendor. They are on the S&P 500 company list for it. Founded in 1993, this company has provided a more professional type of open source software – giving pay support and Enterprise editions for IT pros. CEO Bob Young brought the company to this point. They filed for IPO in 1999. It turned out to be one of the largest Wall Street Gains in history. They put up 900,000 shares of common stock. Red Hat spiked at $136 a share, but is currently at $57

Also, Palm released the Palm VIIx and Vx handheld computers. VIIx was $449 and the Vx was $399.

• BD-ROM is Finalized
• Yahoo and Alibaba.com
• Hypercard is Introduced by Apple.

2008 – After a long court battle with the Santa Cruz Operations (SCO) group, a judge rules that Novell is the owner of UNIX and UNIXWare copyrights. In 2003 – just after SCO changed their name from Caldera – had made a claim that the SCO IP was incorporated into Linux and that they should get a cut from each copy sold. Novell states that they own the code to UNIX and therefore this claim was not valid. Battles still goon to this day, with SCO group dwindled down to a shell (no pun intended). Part of the rulings on this case have been reversed since. Currently, SCO has lawsuits with IBM and Linux.

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for November 24

<img width="220" height="163" data-tf-not-load src="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Linus Torvalds" decoding="async" srcset="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds.jpg 220w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Linus-Torvalds-340x250.jpg 340w" sizes="(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" />

1991 – Linus Torvalds mentions in a message on comp.os.minix with the simple question:

What would you like to see most in Minix

This is the official announcement of the Linux project. Of course Ari Lemmke named it Linux after a while, in which would be adopted as the official name. Linus first wanted to name it “Freix”, which meant Freek Unix.

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for August 25

<img width="320" height="320" data-tf-not-load src="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Redhat" decoding="async" srcset="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1.jpg 320w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/red-hat1-65x65.jpg 65w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" />

Red Hat is a Linux distribution  and a vendor. They are on the S&P 500 company list for it. Founded in 1993, this company has provided a more professional type of open source software – giving pay support and Enterprise editions for IT pros. CEO Bob Young brought the company to this point. They filed for IPO in 1999. It turned out to be one of the largest Wall Street Gains in history. They put up 900,000 shares of common stock. Red Hat spiked at $136 a share, but is currently at $57

Also, Palm released the Palm VIIx and Vx handheld computers. VIIx was $449 and the Vx was $399.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for August 11

<img width="300" height="300" data-tf-not-load src="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tux1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Tux the Penguin" decoding="async" srcset="https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tux1.jpg 300w, https://cache.dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tux1-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

1996 – Linus Torvelds adopts Tux the Penguin as the official mascot of Linux. Tux was first suggested by Alan Cox, then officially created by Larry Ewing. After a little refinement, Tux came to represent not only Linux, but also Open Source. James Hughes named the penguin TUX – for Torveld’s UniX. The image of Tux was submitted in previous Linux Logo contests, but never won. They then adopted Tux as the mascot, where he is loved by all who live and work in this space.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 9