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Tux (mascot)

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For other uses, see Tux (mascot) (disambiguation).
The concepts behind Tux, the Linux mascot, were developed in email exchanges on a public mailing list.

Tux is the official mascot of the Linux kernel. Tux, created by Larry Ewing in 1996, is a chubby penguin that looks content and satisfied. The concept of the Linux mascot being a penguin came from Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel.

Tux was designed for a Linux logo contest. Pictures of some of the other contestants can be found here. The winning logo was created by Larry Ewing using the GIMP (a free software graphics package) and was released by him under the following condition:

Permission to use and/or modify this image is granted provided you acknowledge me lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP if someone asks. [1]

According to Jeff Ayers, Linus Torvalds had a "fixation for flightless, fat waterfowl" and Torvalds claims to have contracted "penguinitis" after being gently nibbled by a penguin: "Penguinitis makes you stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them." Torvalds' supposed illness is of course a joke, but he really was bitten by a Little Penguin on a visit to Canberra, Australia [2]. Torvalds was looking for something fun and sympathetic to associate with Linux, and a slightly fat penguin sitting down after having had a great meal perfectly fit the bill.

Tux has become an icon for the Linux and FLOSS community, with one British Linux user group adopting a penguin at Bristol Zoo. He is much more famous than his big friend, GNU, a peaceful and shy gnu that represents the GNU Project.

Tux, in the form of the PaX logo
Tux with "Bob" Dobbs' hair and pipe, as the Slackware mascot
File:Robin Tux.jpg
Robin Tux

He is often dressed or portrayed differently, depending on context; for example, when representing the PaX security algorithm, he wears a helmet and brandishes an axe and shield, and his eyes are red.

Tux is the star of a Linux game called Tux Racer, in which the user guides Tux down a variety of different icy hills on his belly, trying to catch herring and beat the time limit. Tux is also a character in the webcomic User Friendly.

In some Linux distributions, Tux greets the user during booting, with multi-processor systems displaying multiple tuxes.

It is sometimes claimed that the name was derived from Torvalds UniX, a name suggested by James Hughes, rather than the explanation that penguins look vaguely as if they are wearing a tuxedo.

TUX is also the name of Linux kernel-based web server.

Tributes to Tux

  • Ted the penguin is a character in the popular Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomic. Ted, as the pet of the only Linux guru in the strip, is clearly a tribute to Tux.
  • Tuxowulf is the hero of spoof epic poem of the similar name (Beowulf).
  • During the 2006 student protests in Chile. The students used the logo of Tux like symbol of the movement denominated informally like “Penguins' Revolution,” since the Chilean uniform in certain way comes near to the appearance of a penguin

Video games

Tux has taken on a role in the Linux community similar to that which Mario holds in the Nintendo community. As such, several video games, mostly open source and/or for Linux, have starred Tux, including:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tux.
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