Familiar Linux is a discontinued

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

for

iPAQ The iPAQ is a discontinued line of Pocket PC devices produced from 2000 until 2010. It was first unveiled by Compaq in April 2000. iPAQ included Personal digital assistant, PDA-devices, smartphones and GPS navigation device, GPS-navigators. ...

devices and other personal digital assistants (PDAs), intended as a replacement for

Windows CE Windows CE, later known as Windows Embedded CE and Windows Embedded Compact, is a discontinued operating system developed by Microsoft for mobile and embedded devices. It was part of the Windows Embedded family and served as the software foun ...

. It can use OPIE or GPE Palmtop Environment as the graphical user interface.

Technical details

It is loosely based on the

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

ARM distribution, but uses the ipkg package manager. It contained Python and XFree86.

History

In May 2000, Alexander Guy took a kernel that had been worked on by Compaq programmers, built a complete Linux distribution around it, and released the first version of Familiar (v0.1). The first version was released in May 2000. It was developed as part of the Handhelds.org project.

Reception

According to a 2004 review by IBM developerWorks, Familiar Linux needed more polish and "could gain mass acceptance if a dual-boot procedure were made possible".

References

External links

*
Linux.com interview with the original author
Linux ARM Linux distributions Linux distributions Discontinued Linux distributions {{linux-stub