MuLinux
Encyclopedia
muLinux was an Italian
, English
-language lightweight Linux distribution maintained by mathematics and physics professor Michele Andreoli, meant to allow very old and obsolete computers (80386, 80486 and Pentium Pro
hardware dating from between 1986 through 1998) to be used as basic intranet/Internet servers or text-based workstations with a UNIX
-like
operating system
. It was also designed for quickly turning any 80386 or later computer into a temporary, powerful Linux machine, along with system repair, education, forensic analysis and what the developer called proselytizing. In 2004 reviewer Paul Zimmer wrote, "Although there are several other single-floppy Linux distributions, none can match muLinux's extensive and unique combination of useful features." The last version update was in 2004, when further development ended.
which is the SI
symbol meaning one millionth, harking to the very small size of this OS.
muLinux could be both booted or installed to a hard drive on an obsolete machine from floppy disk
s. A highly functional UNIX-like, network-enabled server with a Unix shell
could be had from but one floppy disk. Another floppy disk added workstation functionality and a legacy X Window VGA GUI
came with a third floppy. One reviewer noted, "It's not gorgeous, but the whole X subsystem fits onto a single floppy. Egad." muLinux could also be unpacked and installed by a self-executable archive, or extracted directly, onto an old DOS
or Windows 9x
(umsdos
) partition without harming the current OS. If the machine had a floppy disk drive muLinux also would run on an otherwise diskless computer and no CD ROM drive was needed.
Owing to its minimalist design muLinux was a single-user OS, with all operations performed by the root user. It used the ext2
Linux native file system (rather than the slower Minix
file system seen in other single-floppy takes on Linux). The OS was robust when used for text-based tasks along with basic file, light web page or email serving. It could also be adapted as a very tiny, stand-alone embedded system
.
muLinux was sometimes installed by Windows users who wanted to learn about the commands and configuration of a Unix-like
operating system
before taking the step of installing a full Linux
distribution or BSD release, although on later computers this could easily be done with any one of many live CD
distributions. Since the distribution was always wholly targeted at old hardware and meant to have a tiny footprint, Andreoli warned at the time that muLinux should not be used to evaluate Linux or open source software. The OS came with a lean and pithy online help
system which also happened to be an introduction to UNIX, written in an English which the developer called "fractured." The OS had "cheery dialogues" and a friendly sense of humour sprinkled throughout.
s for enough RAM
but overall, the requirements were only slightly higher than those for Windows 3.1 so a still-working machine which when new in 1992 ran Windows 3.1 would likely be able to handle a hard drive installation of muLinux:
Packages by other authors were also made available.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-language lightweight Linux distribution maintained by mathematics and physics professor Michele Andreoli, meant to allow very old and obsolete computers (80386, 80486 and Pentium Pro
Pentium Pro
The Pentium Pro is a sixth-generation x86 microprocessor developed and manufactured by Intel introduced in November 1, 1995 . It introduced the P6 microarchitecture and was originally intended to replace the original Pentium in a full range of applications...
hardware dating from between 1986 through 1998) to be used as basic intranet/Internet servers or text-based workstations with a UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. It was also designed for quickly turning any 80386 or later computer into a temporary, powerful Linux machine, along with system repair, education, forensic analysis and what the developer called proselytizing. In 2004 reviewer Paul Zimmer wrote, "Although there are several other single-floppy Linux distributions, none can match muLinux's extensive and unique combination of useful features." The last version update was in 2004, when further development ended.
Name
The name muLinux comes from the Greek letter muMu
- Language :* Mu , Μ or μ, a letter in the Greek alphabet* Mu , represented by the Japanese kana む or ム* 無, Mu , a Japanese and Korean word important in Zen practice...
which is the SI
Si
Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Measurement, mathematics and science :* International System of Units , the modern international standard version of the metric system...
symbol meaning one millionth, harking to the very small size of this OS.
Minimalist design
muLinux was based on the Linux 2.0.36 kernel. Development was frozen in 2004 at version 14r0, with some of the code and packages taken from software releases going back to 1998 (owing only to their smaller sizes). An experimental, unstable version called Lepton had the 2.4 kernel.muLinux could be both booted or installed to a hard drive on an obsolete machine from floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
s. A highly functional UNIX-like, network-enabled server with a Unix shell
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
could be had from but one floppy disk. Another floppy disk added workstation functionality and a legacy X Window VGA GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
came with a third floppy. One reviewer noted, "It's not gorgeous, but the whole X subsystem fits onto a single floppy. Egad." muLinux could also be unpacked and installed by a self-executable archive, or extracted directly, onto an old DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
or Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...
(umsdos
UMSDOS
Linux has several filesystem drivers for the File Allocation Table filesystem format. These are commonly known by the names used in the mount command to invoke particular drivers in the kernel: msdos, vfat, and umsdos....
) partition without harming the current OS. If the machine had a floppy disk drive muLinux also would run on an otherwise diskless computer and no CD ROM drive was needed.
Owing to its minimalist design muLinux was a single-user OS, with all operations performed by the root user. It used the ext2
Ext2
The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system ....
Linux native file system (rather than the slower Minix
Minix
MINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel....
file system seen in other single-floppy takes on Linux). The OS was robust when used for text-based tasks along with basic file, light web page or email serving. It could also be adapted as a very tiny, stand-alone embedded system
Embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
.
muLinux was sometimes installed by Windows users who wanted to learn about the commands and configuration of a Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
before taking the step of installing a full Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
distribution or BSD release, although on later computers this could easily be done with any one of many live CD
Live CD
A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
distributions. Since the distribution was always wholly targeted at old hardware and meant to have a tiny footprint, Andreoli warned at the time that muLinux should not be used to evaluate Linux or open source software. The OS came with a lean and pithy online help
Online help
Online help is topic-oriented, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software. It is a form of user assistance. Most online help is designed to give assistance in the use of a software application or operating system, but can also be used to present information on a broad...
system which also happened to be an introduction to UNIX, written in an English which the developer called "fractured." The OS had "cheery dialogues" and a friendly sense of humour sprinkled throughout.
System requirements
muLinux needed only minimal hardware, hence it would run on many thoroughly obsolete but still-working computers. Some machines from the later 1980s or very early 1990s may have needed additional SIMMSIMM
A SIMM, or single in-line memory module, is a type of memory module containing random access memory used in computers from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. It differs from a dual in-line memory module , the most predominant form of memory module today, in that the contacts on a SIMM are redundant...
s for enough RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
but overall, the requirements were only slightly higher than those for Windows 3.1 so a still-working machine which when new in 1992 ran Windows 3.1 would likely be able to handle a hard drive installation of muLinux:
- 4 MB RAM if run from a hard drive
- 16 MB RAM if booted from floppies, can boot from floppy with only 8MB
- about 20 MB of hard drive space
- an Intel 80386 or later processor
Packages
muLinux came with many packages, each of which fit on one floppy. muLinux was somewhat unique in that all of the packages were wholly optional.- SRV - basic server package with a web server, mail, sambaSambaSamba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and more - WKS - basic work station package with muttMutt (e-mail client)Mutt is a text-based email client for Unix-like systems. It was originally written by Michael Elkins in 1995 and released under the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version....
, lynxLynx (web browser)Lynx is a text-based web browser for use on cursor-addressable character cell terminals and is very configurable.-Usage:Browsing in Lynx consists of highlighting the chosen link using cursor keys, or having all links on a page numbered and entering the chosen link's number. Current versions support...
, sshSecure ShellSecure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
, pgpPretty Good PrivacyPretty Good Privacy is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security...
and many other Unix shellUnix shellA Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
applications - X11 - legacy X Window 16 colour VGA environment (see below for SVGA) along with early versions of both the Windows 95Windows 95Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
ish fvwm95FVWM95FVWM95 is a window manager for the X Window System based on the popular FVWM 2 window manager. It is similar to the original FVWM, but is designed to closely resemble the look of Windows 95....
and the NextStepNEXTSTEPNeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
ish AfterstepAfterStepAfterStep is a stacking window manager for the X Window System. The goal of AfterStep's development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improved aesthetics and efficient use of system resources, and was used in such distributions as MachTen...
window managerWindow managerA window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment...
s - VNC - for virtual network computing
- GCC - C compiler
- TCL - Tcl/Tk+ scripting language, which also brings a few more X applications and tools
- TEX - TeXTeXTeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth and released in 1978. Within the typesetting system, its name is formatted as ....
typesetting system - PERL - PerlPerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
interpreter with modules - EMU - WineWine (software)Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...
and DosemuDOSEMUDOSEMU, alternatively rendered dosemu, is a compatibility layer software package that enables MS-DOS systems, DOS clones such as FreeDOS, and DOS software to run under Linux on x86-based PCs ....
emulatorEmulatorIn computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
s - JVM - KaffeKaffeKaffe is a clean room design of a Java Virtual Machine. It comes with a subset of the Java Platform, Standard Edition , Java API, and tools needed to provide a Java runtime environment. Like most other Free Java virtual machines, Kaffe uses GNU Classpath as its class library.Kaffe, first released...
JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
virtual machine - NS1 - SVGA X server along with part of a small but highly obsolete version of Netscape NavigatorNetscape NavigatorNetscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
- NS2 - second part of Netscape NavigatorNetscape NavigatorNetscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
Packages by other authors were also made available.