Many faces of Linux:

from mobile devices to supercomputers

Arto Teräs <ajt@iki.fi>

Finnish Linux User Group FLUG ry

Haaga-Helia Linux Club seminar

Helsinki, Nov 30, 2007

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 1(16)
 Contents

● (Very) brief history of Linux

● Linux in servers and supercomputers
● Linux in embedded world
● Linux at home
● Cool things with Linux

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 2(16)
 Linux in 1991

● Hardware requirements from

kernel 0.01 release notes:
– 386 AT
– VGA/EGA screen
– AT-type harddisk controller (IDE is fine)
– Finnish keyboard (oh, you can use a US keyboard, but
not without some practise :-)

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 3(16)
 Linux in 2007

85% of the world's top 500

supercomputers run Linux

Tens of thousands servers

at Google run Linux

A rapidly growing
number of home
electronics devices One Laptop Per Child
run Linux computers run Linux

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 4(16)
 Linux portability

● Originally, Linux was for i386 processors only

● A major rewrite for portability in 1994-1995,
Alpha, Sparc and MIPS support added
● Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support
added 1996, refined later
● Today, Linux runs on almost any 32bit (or
higher) CPU

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 5(16)
 Key to success: large community

● Linux kernel is licensed under the

GNU General Public License (GPL)
– Anyone can use and make modifications
– Commercial use is perfectly welcome
– If distributed, modifications must be released with the
same license

● Originally a group of volunteers, nowadays most

Linux kernel developers are paid employees
● Similar culture around software on GNU/Linux
systems ― most of it is Free
– Large development community

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 6(16)
 Linux in servers and supercomputers

● Reliability
● Scalability
● Price
● Convenience of system administration
– Cluster distributions, advanced package management
– GNU userland (works also in other Unix systems, but
default in GNU/Linux systems)
– “Almost all my students use Linux - it's easier to find
admins!” (a Helsinki University professor, comparing
Linux to traditional Unix systems)

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 7(16)
 Embedded Linux, advantages

● Portability
– Already runs on almost any modern CPU
– Good driver support
– The development desktop PC can run the same OS

● Modern Unix programming model including

proper multiprocessing support
● Good networking support
● Free software (both as in freedom and in price)
– Not only the kernel, but also many applications
available

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 8(16)
 Embedded Linux, a few examples

● ADSL/WLAN routers (e.g. Linksys)

● Digital video recorders (e.g. Maximum)
● PDAs (e.g. Nokia Internet tablet)
● Mobile phones (e.g. OpenMoko)
● Car navigation systems (e.g. TomTom)
● Digital still and video cameras (e.g. Sony)
● Robotics (e.g. Wakamaru robot)

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 9(16)
 Linux at home

● Linux started as a project for home PCs...

● ...but perhaps surprisingly, that's one of the last
areas where its market share is still low
● Why?
– Most games are for Windows
– Very few computers have Linux preinstalled
– Reputation of being difficult to use, advanced features
have been attractive mostly to programmers and techies

● User-friendly distributions, Ubuntu in particular,

are finally making their way to home users

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 10(16)
 Cool things with Linux: LTSP

● LTSP = Linux Terminal Server Project

● One server,
many clients
● Reuse old PCs
or buy silent
terminals
● Practical at
schools
● http://www.ltsp.org

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 11(16)
 Cool things with Linux: OpenWrt

● OpenWrt is a collection of Free software

for Linux-based routers
● Runs on a wide range of hardware
– If you have an ADSL modem or WLAN
access point, there's good chance
that it can run OpenWrt!

● More features than the original

firmware in the same routers
● Derivative projects: X-Wrt, ...
● http://www.openwrt.org

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 12(16)
 OpenWrt example
● Secure home network
● All files available on demand
● Only ~10W when files not
needed!

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 13(16)
 Cool things with Linux: Community

● Who wrote component Z on Windows?

Outside Microsoft, nobody knows...
● With Linux and Free software, you can
more easily meet the developers
– And if you become interested, you can join too!

● National and local communities

– Finnish Linux User Group FLUG ry, Linux-Aktivaattori, Ubuntu
Suomi, Lokalisointi.org, Haaga-Helia Linux Club, ...

● International conferences
– FOSDEM (Brussels), LinuxTag (Germany), ...

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 14(16)
 More information

● World's fastest supercomputers:

http://www.top500.org
● Linux devices: http://www.linuxdevices.com
● Linux and Free software news: http://lwn.net
● Linux Terminal Server Project: http://www.ltsp.org
● OpenWrt: http://www.openwrt.org
● Finnish Linux User Group: http://www.flug.fi
● FOSDEM: http://www.fosdem.org
● Thank you! Questions?

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 15(16)
 Credits and licensing

● Image credits:
– Google, Debian, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE logos downloaded from the respective websites, used
according to trademark policies

– Sony DSC-H3 digital camera: From sony.com, press photo.

– OLPC laptop: From Wikimedia Commons, copyright Mike McGregor, Creative Commons Attribution
2.5 license

– OpenMoko phone: From Wikipedia, Copyright FIC/OpenMoko, GNU Free Documentation License 1.2

– Nokia N810 Internet tablet: From Wikipedia, copyright Nokia, GNU Free Documentation License 1.2

– Wakamaru robot: From Wikipedia, copyright Brad Beattie, GNU Free Documentation License 1.2

– FLUG logo: Larry Ewing and Jeremias Ylirotu

– FLUG text with binary numbers: Heini Sirviö

● Other photos, drawings and text:

– Copyright Arto Teräs <ajt@iki.fi>, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License and
GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2 or any later version

Many faces of Linux: from mobile devices to supercomputers / Arto Teräs 2007-11-30 Slide 16(16)