LinuxQuestions.org - Why a penguin? Recapping a slice of Linux history

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Linux is a surprisingly successful operating system. Despite many of its distros having no graphical interface and/or not running with popular applications like Microsoft Office or the Adobe creative suite, its still managed to gather more than 80 million users by some estimates, and Linux support alone pulls in more than $1 billion in revenue each year. (Thats pretty impressive for an open-source system!) All of this leads to one important question...

Whats up with the penguin?

This amiable little fellow is the recognizable face of Linux, which totally makes sense. Linux is supposed to be powerful and flexible, which are two things that certainly come to mind when describing a penguin. Or maybe a python? No, now that I think of it, definitely a python. Not a penguin. Penguins are, in fact, slow, clumsy and weirdly adorable. There are operating systems that are like that, but its not what youd typically say of Linux.

Well, the penguin is fat, slow, and his name is Tux, thank you very much. He definitely doesnt cut a very intimidating figure, and everybody knows it. In fact, from the sketch, this particular penguin kind of looks like it gorged itself, and [has] just burped. No, thats not a competitor disparaging the mascot, thats actually a direct quote from the beautiful mind behind Linux, Linus Torvalds himself. To continue on with Torvalds musings:

Its sitting there with a beatific smile the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another burp coming. Not FAT, but you should be able to see that its sitting down, because its really too stuffed to stand up. Think bean bag here.

So, basically, yes Tux is derpy as the dickens and yes, hes supposed to be that way. But how did he even get this calling in the first place?

It all started back in 1996, when Linux was just becoming its own entity. Some of Linuxs earliest supporters, including Torvalds himself, came to the realization that Linux needed a mascot. So, the brainstorming began. Some of the early suggestions included things like eagles and sharks, until Torvalds himself mentioned that he was fond of penguins.

After that, the brainstorming took a new tack: How do you make a penguin cool? How do you make it noble? Somebody suggested sketching a penguin holding up the globe. To this, Torvalds responded:

Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think cuddly. Take another breath, and think cute. Go back to cuddly for a while (and go on breathing), then think contented so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring. Still with me?

In fact, Torvalds may not have been in his right mind. He has occasionally told the story of being on vacation and finding himself bitten by a ferocious penguin, which caused him to contract the definitely-real disease penguinitis,* which has the symptom of making one stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them. Ahem. For whatever reason, the idea of a penguin stuck, and quickly caught peoples imagination.

Larry Ewing actually came up with the now-famous sketch using GIMP (appropriately enough), and it was a mailing list subscriber named James Hughes who decided the name should be Tux, which supposedly stands for Torvald is UniX. Yeah, we recognize that acronyms dont work like that, just roll with it. Ever since,, the baffling bird has been the mascot of the worlds most popular open-source operating system.

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--jeremy