Posted on 01/11/2006 6:07:22 PM PST by KevinDavis
When the Mars rovers blasted into space to begin a 60-million mile journey to the Red Planet, Linux was there to help NASA get them off the ground.
In fact, some form of Linux has been present at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., for years, assisting researchers with projects that range from unmanned space flight to deep space exploration.
Even more amazing perhaps than multimillion-mile journeys through space is that on many of the desktops within the lab, Linux is the preferred operating system.
At the JPL, it is common to see Red Hat Inc., SuSE or Mandriva Linux running on users' desktops alongside Windows.
To Gary Brack, the group leader for real-time systems at the JPL, this is how things should be. Brack said the lab is not centrally managed and therefore lends itself well to using a mix of varied operating systems. Aside from Windows and several flavors of Linux, the lab also runs HP Unix, Mac OS and Solaris, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at searchopensource.techtarget.com ...
They use a lot of graphics workstations, which are not general use pcs, and they also use workstations that use a mainframe, which is the domain of Unix and Unix-like operating systems.
so linux seems more stable then
Washington - October 10, 1999 - The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, predictably, has been the subject of considerable public ridicule since the revelation that the Mars Climate Orbiter was accidentally sent into a fatal plunge through the Martian atmosphere as the result of an elementary measurement error.
NASA saved millions on not buying win-duhs licences.
yes i trade stocks, and i need to build a safe system
and going with linux plus as much spyware removal etc
in the end i will have to become a hack to keep abreast of the developments of phishing etc
so, linux is the platform im looking at that or mac or both i dont know yet
I'm seriously think about installing a linux os, but I don't know which one..
Nasty OSes, always making "elementary measurement errors"...
i have not looked into it but thought it was only one?
for pc's?
And you get to learn a whole bunch of new tricks getting a computer to do the things you want to do, instead of having it all shoved down your throat for $$$$$ by Microsoft.
One seriously biased 20 year windows slave, and 10 year *nix libertarian
Yes for pcs..
I know, GIGO... I was just running it up the flagpole to see who salutes.
thats exactly what i will be looking at,
actually it will be a dedicated cable line, only to the brokerage house, just os and web browser thats it..
point is to build simple, extremely secure dedicated system.
and linux will provide that, its on list to do ...
many people are having their internate based trading accounts wiped out due to key loggers and other things
Uh oh... distro wars...
Background: I started with Mandrake (4? 5?), switched to Red Hat up until RH 9 (though I didn't like it much from 7 on), and have searched around a while after that. Redmond Linux (became Lycoris and now is part of something else) was promising, but I haven't gone back.
If you're look for a "desktop", i.e. Windows replacement, and if you want to just play with it first before installing, I'd recommend Knoppix Live CD. I wasn't really happy with the subsequent installation to disk, and there were other issues I've long since forgotten, so I did not stick with Knoppix.
At a co-worker's suggestion I tried Suse 9, but again was rather unhappy. Recently I installed Suse 10... and am happy! Things don't work quite the same way as Windows, I will warn, and the free version is a bit light on installed apps, but I am overall happy.
Except when it comes to ripping/converting DVDs to Mpeg-4. There it is lousy (this seems to be one area in which Windows has the advantage). People have done it, but I'd be many hours downloading stuff through my slow dialup.
I've an old limited machine or two that uses Damn Small Linux.
If you install to a hard drive have a fallback system, so you can log on to the internet and search the forums for solutions.
Knoppix has given me the fewest problems. I just tried Damn Small. It's nice if you have an old laptop, and is a quick download. Ubuntu will send you free cd's, but they take a couple of weeks.
That one was the Canadian's fault.
I've used just about every disto there is at one time or another. I mostly use Red Hat but things like Knoppix are fun to play with. I had one Slackware machine with an uptime of almost two years. It had a DPT external drive array and was under faily heavy use. It was shutdown only because it had to be moved.
I've never had a Linux machine crash due to software failure. Ever. The same goes for versions of BSD.
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