System76, Inc. is an American computer manufacturer based in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, specializing in the sale of

notebook A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooking. History ...

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

s, and

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

s. The company utilizes

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

, and offers a choice of

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...

or their own Ubuntu-based

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

Pop!_OS Pop!_OS is a free and open-source Linux distribution, based upon Ubuntu, and featuring a customized GNOME desktop environment known as COSMIC. The distribution is developed by American Linux computer manufacturer System76. Pop!_OS is prim ...

as preinstalled operating systems.

History

System76 was founded by Carl Richell and Erik Fetzer. In 2003, Fetzer registered the domain ''system76.com'' to sell computers with

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

operating systems preinstalled, but the idea was not pursued until two years later. The number 76 in the company name is a reference to 1776, the year the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

took place. Richell explained that the company hoped to spark an "open source revolution", giving consumers a choice to not use

proprietary software Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source software to be non-free because its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner exercises a legal monopoly afforded by modern copyright and int ...

. In mid-2005, the founders considered which

to offer, with

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...

openSUSE openSUSE () is a free and open-source software, free and open source RPM Package Manager, RPM-based Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project. The initial release of the community project was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0. Addi ...

, Yoper and other distributions evaluated. Ubuntu was initially dismissed, but Richell and Fetzer changed their mind quickly after a re-evaluation. Richell liked Canonical’s business model of completely

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

, backed by commercial support when needed. The first computers sold by System76 shipped with Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger preinstalled. In response to Canonical switching to the

GNOME A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

desktop from the Unity interface for future releases of Ubuntu in May 2017, System76 announced a new shell called Pop. The company announced in June 2017 that it would be creating its own Linux distribution based on Ubuntu called

Products

System76's computer models are named after various African animals. System76's firmware partly disables the

Intel Management Engine The Intel Management Engine (ME), also known as the Intel Manageability Engine, is an autonomous subsystem that has been incorporated in virtually all of Intel's processor chipsets since 2008. It is located in the Platform Controller Hub of mod ...

; the Intel Management Engine is proprietary firmware which runs an operating system in post-2008 Intel chipsets.

Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS is a

developed by System76, based on

. and using the GNOME Desktop Environment. It is intended for use by "developers, makers, and computer science professionals". Pop!_OS provides full disk encryption by default as well as streamlined window management, workspaces, and keyboard shortcuts for navigation.

Community relations

The company has sponsored the Ubuntu Developer Summit,

Southern California Linux Expo The Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) is an annual Linux, open source and free software conference held in Los Angeles, California, since 2002. Despite having Linux in its name, SCALE covers all open source operating systems and software. It i ...

, and other Open Source/Linux events and conferences. Their official support forums are hosted by

Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. is a UK-based privately held computer software company founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. Canonical employs staff ...

, the primary developer of Ubuntu. System76 is an active member in the Colorado Ubuntu Community, serving as the corporate sponsor for Ubuntu LoCo events and release parties in downtown Denver.

References

External links