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Linux Desktops Send NASA Rovers to Mars
joestar writes "It's not a secret that Linux has been used at NASA for a long time, and it appears that they have been using it quite extensively on the desktop. From the article: 'At the JPL, it is common to see Red Hat Inc., SuSE or Mandriva Linux running on users' desktops alongside Windows. [...] that's still a lot of Linux on the desktop.' More surprisingly, they seem to be reluctant to use Linux on servers: 'Our personal view is that Linux, period, is only for the desktop. We don't run our main servers on Linux, because there are too many flaws in main Linux kernel.'"
Linux's kernel may be flawed, but the GUI is perfect, right?
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
Any organization that manages to screw up metric and imperial on a several billion dollar project has no right to comment on "flaws in the kernel".
I thought they used space shuttles to send things to other planets. Oh, the things you learn...
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
It's ironic, isn't it, that most companies and corporations find the exact opposite to be true.
Says something about Nasa, don't it?
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if bill gates' wife was admitted to the hospital and put on life support managed by one particular OS, which OS do you think he'd actually trust?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
In Brack's group however, the name of the game is exclusively Mandriva Linux. In fact, it should be noted that this Mandriva deployment is the largest in the world.
"In terms of [Linux] distros for the overall lab though, we actually run more Red Hat Linux," Brack said. But, regardless, that's still a lot of Linux on the desktop.
So let me get this straight, the name of the game is exclusively Mandriva Linux, but they actually run more Red Hat Linux?
Is Mandriva really exclusive to the game? or is that actually Red Hat? I'm so confused.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
oh, right, thie is JPL ... :-)
Linux dominates the server market, and the NASA says it sucks. But they use Linux for desktops, where the market is dominated by Windows - which sucks.
:-S
Now I'm confused!
I keep pressing the escape button, but I can't seem to get off this crazy planet. What am I doing wrong?
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
In NASA Linux is only for desktops!
Stupidity is an equal opportunity striker.
Fellow slashdotter Bill Dog
But I read it on Slashdot! you mean its not true! Oh the shame! ;)
That's a desktop machine, of course.
For someone with a Very Big Desk.
This was the first thing that popped into my head:
http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
Most of that "life support stuff" has been running on low-level embedded control systems and, in more complicated cases, proprietary UNIX variants, since before either Win2K or his wife were a twinkle in Bill Gates' eye.
Systems like that, used in medical, industrial and military applications, make Win2K look as stable as an overweight donkey on ice skates. Windows, like most general-purpose things, is a clumsy, plodding hack that does a mediocre-at-best job of a variety of things instead of a really good job at one. Linux, as the term is used most of the time, falls under the same category, albeit perhaps somewhat less clumsy and plodding. I wouldn't trust a desktop PC to run my toaster.
Generally, control devices used in critical applications like life support machines are rock solid. There are some PLCs at the plant I work in that have been running continuously for years in a harsh environment (aluminum foundry) without incident.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
For what's it worth, these are the same guys who lost a $125 million Mars probe because they failed to do a conversion from imperial to metric units of measure. (Who in science and engineering still uses imperial anyway?) D'oh!
Insert witty sig here.
"...and a group of them are using FreeBSD!"
Ahhh, now I know the rovers will be safe!
"I'm sorry Fred.
The only way we'll let you off of your Windows ME box and onto XP, Linux, or a Mac, is if you design a rocket to launch that machine into a star."
I'm scared. I mean, what are they comparing the linux kernel to? God OS?
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)