muLinux is an Italian, English-language lightweight Linux distribution maintained by mathematics and physics professor Michele Andreoli, meant to allow very old and obsolete computers ( 80386, 80486 and

Pentium Pro The Pentium Pro is a sixth-generation x86 microprocessor developed and manufactured by Intel and introduced on November 1, 1995. It implements the P6 (microarchitecture), P6 microarchitecture (sometimes termed i686), and was the first x86 Intel C ...

hardware dating from 1986 through 1998) to be used as basic intranet/Internet servers or text-based workstations with a

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

- like

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. It was also designed for quickly turning any 80386 or later computer into a temporary, powerful Linux machine, along with system repair, education, forensic analysis and what the developer called ''proselytizing''. In 2004 reviewer Paul Zimmer wrote, "Although there are several other single-floppy Linux distributions, none can match muLinux's extensive and unique combination of useful features."Zimmer, Paul,
muLinux: A Brief Introduction
', The Linux Information Project, 2004, retrieved 16 August 2008 The last version update was in 2004, when further development of this "linux-on-a-floppy" distribution ended.

Name

The name ''muLinux'' comes from the

Greek letter The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

'' mu'' which is the SI symbol meaning ''one millionth'', harking to the very small size of this OS.mulinux.sunsite.dk,
muLinux official web page
'', retrieved 16 August 2008

Minimalist design

muLinux was based on the Linux 2.0.36 kernel.Saunders, Mike,
Roundup: MiniDistros
", ''Linux Format'', July 2005, retrieved 16 August 2008 Development was frozen in 2004 at version 14r0, with some of the code and packages taken from software releases going back to 1998 (owing only to their smaller sizes). An experimental, unstable version called Lepton had the 2.4 kernel. muLinux could be both booted or installed to a hard drive on an obsolete machine from

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

s. A highly functional UNIX-like, network-enabled server with a

Unix shell A Unix shell is a Command-line_interface#Command-line_interpreter, command-line interpreter or shell (computing), shell that provides a command line user interface for Unix-like operating systems. The shell is both an interactive command languag ...

could be had from but one floppy disk. Another floppy disk added workstation functionality and a legacy X Window VGA GUI came with a third floppy. One reviewer noted, "It's not gorgeous, but the whole X subsystem fits onto a single floppy. Egad." muLinux could also be unpacked and installed by a self-executable archive, or extracted directly, onto an old DOS or

Windows 9x Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding version ...

( umsdos) partition without harming the current OS. If the machine had a floppy disk drive muLinux also would run on an otherwise diskless computer and no

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

drive was needed. Owing to its minimalist design muLinux was a single-user OS, with all operations performed by the root user. It used the

ext2 ext2, or second extended file system, is a file system for the Linux kernel (operating system), kernel. It was initially designed by French software developer Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext). Having been designed ...

Linux native file system (rather than the slower Minix file system seen in other single-floppy takes on Linux). The OS was robust when used for text-based tasks along with basic file, light web page or email serving. It could also be adapted as a very tiny, stand-alone

embedded system An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is e ...

.''ACM Indexed scientific database'' (abstract): "Linux Journal" Volume 2000, Issue 75es
Using Linux in Embedded and Real-Time Systems
', July 2000, retrieved 16 August 2008 muLinux was sometimes installed by Windows users who wanted to learn about the commands and configuration of a

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

before taking the step of installing a full

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

distribution or BSD release, although on later computers this could easily be done with any one of many live CD distributions. Since the distribution was always wholly targeted at old hardware and meant to have a tiny footprint, Andreoli warned at the time that muLinux should not be used to ''evaluate'' Linux or open source software. The OS came with a lean and pithy

online help Online help is a form of user assistance that provides topic-oriented, procedural or reference information designed to assist in using a software application, web application or operating system. Online help linked to the application's state ( ...

system which also happened to be an introduction to UNIX, written in an English which the developer called "fractured." The OS had "cheery dialogues" and a friendly sense of humour sprinkled throughout.

System requirements

muLinux needed only minimal hardware, hence it would run on many thoroughly obsolete but still-working computers. Some machines from the later 1980s or very early 1990s may have needed additional SIMMs for enough RAM but overall, the requirements were only slightly higher than those for Windows 3.1 so a still-working machine which when new in 1992 ran Windows 3.1 would likely be able to handle a hard drive installation of muLinux: * 4 MB RAM if run from a hard drive * 16 MB RAM if booted from floppies, can ''boot'' from floppy with only 8MB * about 20 MB of hard drive space * an

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

80386 or later processor

Packages

muLinux came with many packages, each of which fit on one floppy. muLinux was somewhat unusual in that all of the packages were wholly optional. * SRV - basic server package with a web server, mail,

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

and more * WKS - basic work station package with mutt,

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

, ssh, pgp and many other

applications * X11 - legacy X Window 16 colour VGA environment (see below for

SVGA Super VGA (SVGA) or Extended VGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's Video Graphics Array, VGA specification. When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to ...

) along with early versions of both fvwm95 and Afterstep

window manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of window (computing), windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They ...

s (based on the

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

and

NeXTSTEP NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its ...

GUI respectively) * VNC - for virtual network computing * GCC - C compiler * TCL - Tcl/Tk+ scripting language, which also brings a few more X applications and tools * TEX -

TeX Tex, TeX, TEX, may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Tex Earnhardt (1930–2020), U.S. businessman * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer ...

typesetting system * PERL -

Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl was developed ...

interpreter with modules * EMU -

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and Dosemu

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...

s * JVM - Kaffe

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

virtual machine * NS1 -

X server along with part of a small but highly obsolete version of Netscape Navigator * NS2 - second part of Netscape Navigator Packages by other authors were also made available.

References

External links

muLinux official Web page
(Archived fro
here
) {{Linux Light-weight Linux distributions Floppy-based Linux distributions Linux distributions