Tux/Citable Version

Tux the penguin, the Linux mascot

Tux the penguin is the mascot for the Linux operating system, originally drawn by Larry Ewing.

History

An early sketch of Tux

On the 1st of May 1996, a discussion was started on the Linux kernel mailing list of what to use as the Linux logo. Early on, some proposed that it should be a fierce animal, however Linus Torvalds, the project coordinator, selected the penguin because he is very fond of them. Showcasing Linus' sense of humor and irony, he is allegedly fond of them because he was once bitten by one. Soon afterwards, a hacker named Alan Cox suggested that the logo should be "a picture of the BSD daemon flat out on the floor with stars around its head and a penguin in boxing gloves standing on top." Not liking the notion of officially endorsing a mockery of another system, Linus posted his favorite penguin image and emphatically stated that the concept was final, and requested that someone with artistic skills draw a similar image under an appropriate license.

The name

Early on, some referred to the penguin as 'Linnie'. This did not last for long, however, as the name 'Tux' caught on. The name 'Tux', coined by Henning Schmiedehausen, has a two-fold meaning, as both an acronym for Torvalds Unix and, as a pun, an abbreviation of tuxedo. Humorously, Henning's first suggestion was to name the penguin "Homer", due to its resemblance to the television character Homer Simpson. As a joke, Tux was later re-drawn by Anton Johansson as an image of Homer morphed into a penguin.

How it was drawn

Larry Ewing drew the original penguin in Linux with The GIMP, version 0.54, on his 486 DX2/50, and rendered the final smoothness with an SGI Crimson because his monitor at home was an 8-bit display. He has documented his work online, and a complete description of the methods he used can be found on his website.

A Tux the penguin doll

Tux in popular culture

Tux has appeared in a number of magazines and television broadcasts. He has also been replicated in dolls (see photo at right), articles of clothing, stickers, and other similar paraphernalia. Because it is one of the more popular search results for "penguin" on Google Images, it has also been used in many home and small business projects, such as fliers and newsletters. Tux has also been portrayed as a symbol of a person's geekiness. It can often be found in computer gaming magazines, laying on a user's desk even while the person pictured is running Microsoft Windows. Tux has also appeared in many open source video games, such as Tux Racer (also known as 'Planet Penguin Racer') and TuxKart, as well as several educational tools, such as Tux Paint.

Variants

Tux is not a mere static logo. From the beginning, the image was meant to be played with and re-drawn in a "goofy" manner. Popular versions of Tux include that in the Crystal icon set, the Slackware logo, which features Tux smoking a pipe, and that of PaX, which displays Tux as a viking. The Crystal Tux has been shown depicting him as many things, such as a skateboarder and a ninja.

"Don't take the penguin too seriously. It's supposed to be kind of goofy and fun, that's the whole point. Linux is supposed to be goofy and fun (it's also the best operating system out there, but it's goofy and fun at the same time!)." - Linus Torvalds

External links

A Complete History of Tux