Tux/Citable Version
Tux the penguin is the mascot for the Linux operating system, originally drawn by Larry Ewing.
History
On the 1st of May 1996, Matt Hartley began a thread on the Linux kernel mailing list titled "Linux logo", showcasing an image by David Christiansen of the Earth from outer space. Beside it were the words "LINUX" and "Take your computer to another dimension."[1][2] mailing list The next day, a hacker named Alan Cox suggested that the logo should be "a picture of the BSD daemon flat out on the floor with stars around its head and a penguin in boxing gloves standing on top."[3] Disliking the notion of officially endorsing a mockery of another system, Linus posted his favorite penguin image and emphatically stated that the concept was final, requesting that someone with artistic skills draw a similar image under an appropriate license.[4] As of April 10th, 2007, this image, named ccpenguin.jpg, can still be accessed from its original location in the University of Helsinki's FTP server under the /pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/v1.3/ directory.
Linus' original description
(WIP) Linus stated that it looked "like the poor penguin is not really strong enough to hold up the world, and it's going to get squashed. He then went on to infamously describe the penguin we know today. He challenged his colleagues to picture instead a cute, cuddly animal, sitting down after eating a grand feast of herring, totally content and smiling after a small burp. The penguin was not to be fat, but appearantly gorged full of fish.[5] He later mentioned that he was not looking for a "Linux Corporate Image", but something fun that can be modified extensively but still recognizable, thus the change from the Linux 2.0 triangle.
How Tux was originally drawn
Larry Ewing drew the original penguin in Linux with The GIMP, version 0.54, on his 486 DX2/50, and rendered the final smoothness with an SGI Crimson because his monitor at home was an 8-bit display. He has documented his work online, and a complete description of the methods he used can be found on his website.
The name
Early on, some referred to the penguin as 'Linnie'. This did not last for long, however, as the name 'Tux' caught on. The name 'Tux', coined by James Hughes, has a two-fold meaning, as both an acronym for Torvalds Unix and, as a pun, an abbreviation of tuxedo.[6][7] Humorously, one of the earliest suggestions, purposed by Henning Schmiedehausen, was to name the penguin "Homer", due to its resemblance to the television character Homer Simpson.[8] As a joke, Tux was later re-drawn by Anton Johansson as an image of Homer morphed into a penguin.
Tux in popular culture
Tux has appeared in a number of magazines and television broadcasts. He has also been replicated in dolls (see photo at right), articles of clothing, stickers, and other similar paraphernalia. Because it is one of the more popular search results for "penguin" on Google Images, it has also been used in many home and small business projects, such as fliers and newsletters. Tux has also been portrayed as a symbol of a person's geekiness. It can often be found in computer gaming magazines, laying on a user's desk even while the person pictured is running Microsoft Windows. Tux has also appeared in many open source video games, such as Tux Racer (also known as 'Planet Penguin Racer') and TuxKart, as well as several educational tools, such as Tux Paint.
Variants
Tux is not a mere static logo. From the beginning, the image was meant to be played with and re-drawn in a "goofy" manner. Popular versions of Tux include that in the Crystal icon set, the Slackware logo, which features Tux smoking a pipe, and that of PaX, which displays Tux as a viking. The Crystal Tux has been shown depicting him as many things, such as a skateboarder and a ninja. Two female penguins, known as Gown and Penny have also appeared in several open source games, but they have no official bindings to the Linux kernel. Tux was also made into a 25" Lego model by a talented sculptor named Eric Harshbarger.
References
- ↑ Matt Hartley (1996-05-5). Linux logo.
- ↑ David Christiansen. lin64.jpg.
- ↑ Alan Cox (1996-05-02). Re: Linux logo (LKML).
- ↑ Linus Torvalds (1996-05-5). Re: Linux logo thread on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML).
- ↑ Linus Torvalds (1996-05-9). Re: Linux Logo prototype..
- ↑ James Hughes (1996-06-10). Re: Let's name the penguin! (citation 1).
- ↑ LD Landis (1996-06-12). Re: Let's name the penguin! (citation 2).
- ↑ Henning Schmiedehausen (1996-06-10). Re: Let's name the penguin! (citation 3).
