Airbus 380 To Have Linux In Every Seat

jpatokal writes "Singapore Airlines will be rolling out the A380 superjumbo on October 26th, and a surprise awaits in the seat of every passenger: their personal Linux PC, running Red Hat. In addition to running the in-flight entertainment, passengers can also use a full copy of StarOffice, and there's a USB slot for importing/exporting documents or plugging in your own keyboard/mouse. Screen size is 10.6" (1280x768) in economy, 15.4" in business and a whopping 23" in first class (along with free noise-canceling headphones). The system is already available on current B777-300ER planes and will also be outfitted on the upcoming B787 Dreamliners."

Comments

I always believed

[JRGhaddar]

Penguins CAN fly!

Re:I always believed

[Anonymous Coward]

Penguins CAN fly! You could get a whale to fly if you attached four 76,000-lbf Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines to it.

Re:I always believed

[JustOK]

Not if its on the watch list.

Re:I always believed

[Ultra64]

you know how big of a bomb someone can fit in "their own keyboard and mouse"?

One the size of a keyboard and mouse?

finally

[Anonymous Coward]

nerds can join their own version of the mile high club!

Re:finally

[maxwell demon]

Well, it gives a completely new meaning to the term "uptime" ...

Re:Delta/Song already uses Linux

[shawn443]

I see. They must have recompiled the kernel.

The Year of Linux on the Desktop

[jon_anderson_ca]

Yeah, right... when penguins fly!

Re:The Year of Linux on the Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

I have had it with these motherfucking penguins on this motherfucking plane!

Re:The Year of Linux on the Desktop

[BakaHoushi]

Reminds me of one of the funniest scenes from "The Critic."

"Who's flying the plane?!"
*Runs to the cokcpit to discover a penguin in a pilot hat flying it well*
"Phew... hey, wait a second, penguins can't fly!"
*plane starts to go into a nosedive*

Re:Dedicated turbine

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

The thing you're describing is called an APU. It's used to start the jet engines, and to power the aircraft on the ground, but in most commercial aircraft, it does not provide in-flight power once the main engines are running. Does it also run the slushie machine?

You haven't fully experienced mobility until...

[zaunuz]

...you've surfed pr0n at 20.000ft

How to crash at 27,000 feet

[WereRaven]

If I Wine do I get a Windows seat?

Re:Delta/Song already uses Linux

[RAMMS EIN]

You must be new here. You do _not_ talk about Linux crashing on Slashdot.

Re:In Singapore

[rbanffy]

They could easily subsidize the hardware required to run the system. Airlines would even demand they pay for the extra fuel the heavier computers would require ;-)

They could also go the thin client with beefy server route. Maybe not as good for a in flight entertainment system, but good enough for browsing and emailing.

But they will probably wait until people (read: their astroturf teams) start complaining OpenOffice is not Office and refuses to read their MSOOXML files before they announce their move that will "save" the airlines from the headaches of the previous system.

Never underestimate neither their weaseliness nor the depth of their pockets.

Re:Delta/Song already uses Linux

[jez9999]

I'm a unix guy all the way, and they told me I could not have access to the plane's
media 'mainframe' or I would have had a look to see what was wrong.

Wow, they sound like idiots. What airline wouldn't want a random passenger given root access to their systems?

Re:HUmmm, obligatory...

[Yoozer]

You mean a Beowulf flock ;).

Re:Delta/Song already uses Linux

[drix]

I'm a unix guy all the way, and they told me I could not have access to the plane's
media 'mainframe' or I would have had a look to see what was wrong. I am shocked--shocked--that in this day and age a bunch of non-technical people would be hesitant about letting you jack in to the "mainframe" of a fly-by-wire aircraft at 30,000 feet.

Igniting your shoes is so 2002.