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Linux Linux Everywhere!!!An entire airplane booting Linux (with pictures)..

flickr.com — After we landed in Orlando I talked the Delta flight crew into rebooting the entire system. I think this is the first time that something Open Source has ended up on a full, frickin' plane! The flight crew thought I was nuts...but o well. At least the plane won't ever crash.

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  • ilbfib, on 10/12/2007, -81/+0leadstairway Your Extra ! Your Extra!!...
    http://www.osoq.com/funstuff/extra/extra04.asp?strName=leadstairway
    • slkuhn, on 10/12/2007, -38/+16Beats the hell out of paying for each installation....
    • BasouKazuma, on 10/12/2007, -28/+152What a crappy title for a digg submission.
    • Prysorra, on 10/12/2007, -44/+13"What a crappy title for a digg submission."

      No it's awesome. The value of your judgment of titles is now zero.
    • cyn0sure, on 10/12/2007, -5/+98That is cool they use linux for their in-flight media. I hate to pop your bubble though lunchbox, but the "entire plane" is not going to be running linux.
    • OnymousHero, on 10/12/2007, -4/+55The flight control software is not going to be Linux based (assuming it is FBW), thats just the entertainment software. Cool though anyway to see Linux running on an aircraft...

      / Aerospace design engineer.
    • afx1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+135"After we landed in Orlando I talked the Delta flight crew into rebooting the entire system."

      I can't even talk them into giving me extra peanuts...how'd you do that?
    • drjones78, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21On a sidenote, you guys ever seen all those little touchscreen video game consoles they have in bars that rediculously expensive?

      Saw one of the common types you usually see everywhere reboot one time... was watching the Red Hat Linux boot up sequence;)
    • zydeco, on 10/12/2007, -28/+18"I can't even talk them into giving me extra peanuts...how'd you do that?"

      Probably because the entertainment app crashes like crazy and they reboot it every flight anyway.
    • Konrad9, on 10/12/2007, -9/+27They wouldn't even let me get my luggage at the airport that wasn't my designated last stop, no ***** way would they do something like restart ANY kind of software if it wasn't absolutely required.
      Oh, and if you think Linux doesn't *ever* crash, you are a fool.
    • coit, on 10/12/2007, -12/+10If you wanted to see it reboot, all you had to do was to try and play one of the games, like Bedazzled. That gets it to reboot every time for me.... :-)

      I sure hope THAT system isn't running the plane.

    • emitemirp, on 10/12/2007, -9/+22Although everyone is digging zydeco down, I'll digg him up because of personal experience.

      On a 12 hour flight to Beijing, my personal multimedia system crashed on me 3 times! I was surprised the first time I saw that Linux boot screen. On the trip back it crashed once. Just my personal experience, YMMV. So I'll have to agree with zydeco.
    • archlich, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@drjones78

      There's a little power switch on the left side that makes waiting for it to reboot quicker =P
    • PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -7/+27@emitemirp

      "On a 12 hour flight to Beijing, my personal multimedia system crashed on me 3 times! I was surprised the first time I saw that Linux boot screen."

      How dare you debase the myopically utopian open source Digg community with your "Linux crashes" lies.

      BURN HIM HE'S A WITCH!
    • zydeco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17I didn't say LINUX crashed all the time, but the application on TOP of linux that ran the entertainment system, in-flight movies, whatever. And even the best crash-protected O/Ses (aside from something military) will get wedged HARD by a misbehaving application.

      A rock-solid operating system doesn't guarantee that your app is going to be rock-solid as well. Hasn't anyone out there actually shipped a program?
    • RadiatedAnt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1It's All About The Mother ***** Penguins!
    • elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Guys, please don't put real conversations as response to spam, if you do, then normal contributors can't read them once they block the spammers.
    • jonbritton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why are people assuming something crashed? If anything at all goes wrong, is slow, is "fuzzy" or skipping in the *device's* display (the flight attendants have no idea it's a computer or what OS it's running) they flip the switch off and on. Their DVD skipped and they shut the player off. They'll do it as often as it keeps happening.

      It's almost like they're not sysadmins working on servers with standard software...like they're average people whose television is "acting weird" and they're resorting to the same old tactics.

      Why is this an OS flame war? I flew Song, this happened, and they referred to it as "the movie player."
    • tastypastry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know the Photo Sketch Booth machines at Chuck E. Cheese? Running on Linux. I use to be a tech there.
    • jmacdonagh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I saw the same thing when I flew from D.C. to Salt Lake on a 757. They didn't reboot when we landed on the way there, but it did reboot when we got back.
  • schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -17/+68Many airplanes use Linux as their Entertainment Center O/S, but it goes beyond this, e.g.:

    Linux headed into Boeing anti-sub aircraft

    ,----[ Quote ]
    | Boeing has awarded Wind River Systems a contract to embed its version
    | of Linux into a new military aircraft, the company plans to announce
    | Monday along with a new batch of products built around the
    | open-source operating system.
    `----

    http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6100043.html?part=rss&tag=6100043&subj=news


    Over 30s VAX, Linux breeds Boeing's new jets

    ,----[ Quote ]
    | Hawker de Havilland, the local arm of aircraft engineering giant Boeing,
    | will retire its 30-year-old VAX system in favour of its new Linux-based
    | environment in the manufacture of parts for the company's next-generation
    | 787 jets.
    `----

    http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;1834585068;fp;2;fpid;1

    Here's one about the media center (as shown in the photo).

    ,----[ Quote ]
    | "Open source video games (and a future invitation for savvy linux game
    | developers to participate in Red)"
    `----

    http://www.letvafly.com/VADIFE.php
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -49/+90I've said it before and I'll say it again:

      The formatting of your comments makes them annoying to read.
    • Sanitarium, on 10/12/2007, -11/+24Give it a half hour before "Windows Blue Screen Of Death on an Airplane" reaches the Digg home page.
    • nfvs, on 08/30/2008, -18/+62@ilyag

      Actually I find them quite organized and informative, and he mentions his sources. Looks reasonable to me.
    • mraustin1337, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36@schestowitz:

      Your comment was better than the topic.
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -29/+11zoryn:

      He'd be a lot more organized and informative if he learned how to properly cite his sources while maintaining a conversational tone of voice in his writing and not resort to making up ASCII art that he sprinkles all over his text.
    • nfvs, on 08/30/2008, -9/+12He's quoting a couple of lines from a properly sourced article. How conversational can it be?
      Also, the "ASCII art" as you call it make them quite readable.
    • cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6----oOOO--(_)--OOOo------
      I see nothing wrong with his writing style
      ----oOOO--(_)--OOOo------
      It makes it easier to read
      ----oOOO--(_)--OOOo------

      Ok, lame... But it gets the point accross that its ***** ANNOYING.


    • cmost, on 10/12/2007, -13/+24"I've said it before and I'll say it again:

      The formatting of your comments makes them annoying to read."

      ...it also makes his quotations easier to spot...therefore, you should have no problem skipping them (and keeping your pie hole shut!) Nobody cares that you don't like his quote formatting!
    • BullTaco, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Linux not really that big in aviation electronics sector according to primary embedded industry survey:

      Embedded Systems Design Survey:

      http://www.dso.com/indepth/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190303159

      "
      Open-source OSes exerted their strongest pull among engineers and programmers working in the manufacturing sector; they gave a thumbs-up to Linux more than 38% of the time. At the other end, automotive and avionics makers hated it, presenting a closed door to open source 88% of the time.
      "
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -14/+10,----[ Quote ]
      | I've said it before and I'll say it again:
      |
      | The formatting of your comments makes them annoying to read.
      `----

      I've said it before and I'll say it again:
      Your constant bitching about the way people format their comments is annoying to read. You're contributing absolutely nothing to digg by continuing to do so. Welcome to blocksville, troll.
  • vwgtiturbo, on 10/12/2007, -40/+8Come on... "At least the plane won't ever crash." This is ridiculous. It may not crash as much as a Windows based machine, but it will crash... someday. It all depends on how you use your machine and the software that runs on it. And really, if the hardware fails, it doesn't matter what OS you are running, it will crash.
    Fanboys drive me nuts. I use *nix, I like it (don't LOVE it, but then again, I don't LOVE any software, I prefer to love tangible things), but to get all excited over this, like Linux is taking over the world... Move out of mom's basement, and contribute to society, for christ's sake.

    /rant
    • slkuhn, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10hey maybe its a joke... you know planes crashing...... ha :(
      dont be too quick to judge
    • wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11People who don't get a pun "drive me nuts".
    • TheTaoOfBill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I spend too much time on Digg if I not only got your pun but got which article and which joke it was in reference to.
  • LetsGoHawks, on 10/12/2007, -22/+6He was so excited about seeing Linux on an airplane he talked the flight crew into rebooting the system?

    That's pathetic.
  • ThinkFr33ly, on 10/12/2007, -16/+45Right... cause the same systems that run the TVs in the seats are in charge of actually controlling the plane. Ya, that must be right.

    Fanboy.
    • jakebarnes, on 10/12/2007, -14/+10Use of the word fanboy is dull-witted
    • brundlefly76, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I agree that this guy thought that the seatback entertainment and flight operations were the same system makes him a moron.
    • Stirk, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6The submitter thought that linux controlled the whole plane rather than just the media center. In what respect does this make him a "fanboy"? I'm not arguing with you, I would just like to know. I have not been too keen on the definition of fanboy lately.
    • jrconn00, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1No whats in charge of the rest of the airport the important stuff. Thats all unix....
    • elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, the entertainment applications and handheld radio devices such as cell phones both control the plane.

      (Why else would they make you turn them off?)
  • jsd8cc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Sorry, you're not the first: http://www.flickr.com/photos/milliped/116393699/
    Still pretty cool, though.
    • notsleepy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Neither was your pic the first:

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/notsleepy/100481938/
    • jsd8cc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3It's not mine, it was on the front page of digg a year ago. http://digg.com/linux_unix/Picture_of_Linux_crashing_on_an_airplane
    • JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10None of those are crashes. That's what the screen looks like when the kernel and init do their thing.

      You see those because the system's rebooted, most likely, because the software that runs ON TOP of Linux (which is not Linux) crashed. And it's not like an employee can go up to these screens attach a keyboard clean up the mess this user-land program may have made then start it up again . . so, they're going to reboot these things which is the only thing they even know.
    • jsd8cc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3...Which is why it was rightfully marked inaccurate.
  • jjesusfreak01, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Yeah, pretty lousy. Thats a Song airlines plane, and thats just the entertainment system running on Linux, nothing else. Nice plane though.
  • MrEnigma, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19I was on a Delta Song aircraft, and the system actually locked up. They had to reboot it, so I don't think it's all that stable. I took a photo and there are tons more on Flickr.

    http://flickr.com/photos/stolidsoul/305717420/
    • remydlc, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Locked up does not mean is not stable... Maybe they dont know the users password and is set up with autologin ;). Linux just wont crash just for a fly.
    • MrEnigma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, half the plane's controls were completely unresponsive, and we couldn't do anything. But they had to reboot the entire system, which took a good 15 minutes to do. Granted it may be a software issue, but I'm just saying, it's not perfect either.
  • heptahedron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11"The flight crew thought I was nuts...but o well. "

    Yes, and now the TSA thinks you're a terrorist. If a lightbrite of a cartoon character can create a city-halting bomb scare, I'm sure that asking about a plane's electronics could earn someone a one-way free trip to the No Fly List zone.

    I sincerely hope they don't over react and think you are a dangerous computer hAcKeR.
    • cpcouvillion, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11It's spelled haxx0r.

      (1337 gr/mm3r p0l1c3)
    • turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2for the record, the plane crashed, he didn't ask anyone for anything. it is personal appeal, a support method. he just wanted front paged.
  • ThinkFr33ly, on 10/12/2007, -13/+8JetBlue runs their entire company off of Windows: http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/casestudy.aspx?docid=88293

    I wonder if it's just a coincidence that they are one of only a handful profitable airlines in the United States.

    Delta, by the way, is definitely not among them.
    • MrEnigma, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Delta is actually making money now, their stock (DALRQ while in bankruptcy) is doing well, and when it's reissued in March when they came out of bankruptcy, should be strong.
    • joe90210, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1amazing!
    • Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6@ThinkFr33ly: And to think you have the audacity to use the word "fanboy" to describe other people in a comment above.

      Wow.
    • bmartin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I've never flown with JetBlue. Are they in the US? I've never heard of them.

      I usually go with whoever is the cheapest -- usually Continental or Southwest. You're falling for the correlation/causation fallacy. There are a lot of airlines losing money that run Windows.
    • ThinkFr33ly, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2@Phocion55 - "And to think you have the audacity to use the word "fanboy" to describe other people in a comment above."

      Why? Because I criticized somebody for coming to the conclusion that the OS that runs the TVs on a plane is the same OS that runs the plane? Or because I stated a fact, that Jetblue runs their entire company on Windows? Or because I repeated a claim, *made by the company itself*, that standardizing on Windows helped make them one of the few profitable airlines?

      Give me a break.
    • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2JetBlue is one of the best airlines around.

    • Phil246, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1aah the logical fallacy of false cause.
      Suppose if you saw that all those who died waking up in the morning had alarm clocks, would you instantly jump to the conclusion that alarm clocks kill?
    • meg33k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's not the OS that makes the company succeed. The tools are important but the people and the processes are what drive success. This statement is idealistic and suitable for someone that's been brain washed. That being said, I do like both OS's when applied in the proper way for the proper function.
  • Fjinks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4What a beatiful sight!
    • wormhole, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Too bad the color scheme makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
  • Lane5slacker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I had a system like that on my flight to Luxembourg. Except that ALWAYS had that reboot because the damned thing crashed and froze right after takeoff and the idiotic flight attendance didn't know how to fix it. Luckily, I had my thick copy of The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to keep me entertained for the rest of the (long) flight.
    • rajulkabir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There are long flights to Luxembourg??? I'd be surprised to see anything over 8 hours.
  • martyf, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2I was on a flight from Amsterdam and it had that system. It crashed CONSTANTLY the whole flight home, and I was never able to get a movie to play at all. Interesting, perhaps, but I ended up watching MP4's off my laptop instead.
  • storminnorman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I flew on one of those Song planes once, I got to watch that screen on half the monitors as it kept rebooting over and over and over and over again. thats enough to piss of even the most ardent fanboy. I was ok though, busted out my ipod video and watched my own movies.

  • fishfishfish, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I flew to Brazil a few years ago and was delighted to find that the in flight entertainment was one of these Linux-based machines. You could select from a number of different movies, play games and see where you were over the Atlantic. It didn't crash once, and kind of made up for the ***** food and lack of legroom.
  • tumbleweed05, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8cheap, stable, customizable in every way possible. who doesn't love linux?
    • rohanch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17... Microsoft
    • DieselDaddy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4People that want their computer to "just work" when they get a new wireless card or a new video card or any other such thing. Say what you want about MS but they made computers accessible to your average computer user. Linux just isn't as user friendly for Gradma as XP is.
  • johu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And I thought that Delta would have at least changed the horrible color medley in the planes when they merged Song back into Delta. Do those systems still have the music trivia game to play against the other passengers, and do they still have satellite TV?
  • Ratteler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Great. No let's get that Adobe CS2 suite on it so I dump Windows for ever.
    • avihappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Use Wine
    • Ratteler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Doesn't work, or I would.

      In fact, I just pleadged $50 to Crossover Office for getting Illustrator to run.
  • spz104, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I prefer to fly on planes running Windows ME
  • colifis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wonder what hardware those in-flight entertainment systems run? I just came back from Tokyo on a Northwest 747-400 and the system had to be rebooted twice. Then when we were on the ground in Minneapolis the thing was just sitting at some boot screen with a little Tux guy down in the corner. Luckily nowadays between my MP3 player, laptop and a good book I barely use the in-flight system. I find it's most useful function is to show the flight data.
  • ckedge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have a picture somewhere on a flight from Hong Kong - while using the UI it crashed to the console - but only my window did this, everyone else on the plane was still using theirs. Segmentation fault and kernel panic. Ah - here we are:

    http://blacktower.dyndns.org/china/public/slides/IMG_3086.JPG

    I'd better coral-cache that as soon as I post this :)
    .
    • rajulkabir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And what's the chance they actually had rights to 128.1.0.0 (registered to BBN)?

      It's a pet peeve nurtured by too many experiences with installations where they "never imagined" they'd one day be connecting to the public internet so they just appropriate other people's IP and DNS space.
  • flippedcracker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8i used to work for the company that put that system on that plane. i did the quality testing of the system. it's quite an incredible system (when it works). and it's not a mini-itx system for each seat. it's a box that controls up to 32 seats.
    • 3p0cHx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What client did each seat use? Was it a NX client? I'd like to hear more about the system/implementation.
  • protogenxl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31PENGUINS ON A PLANE !!!!
  • Cyber_Akuma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not really that surprising, many planes too.

    I guess, when you think about it, its a lot cheaper and more configurable to put linux on the pc imbedded in each seat than Windows. And if they arent running on an x86 based cpu then they really can't run Windows even if they wanted to.

    Windows was mostly designed to be a desktop/laptop os after all, it wasnt designed for specalized devices like this, although ive seen it used in some, but usually these devices either have their own os or linux.
    • Avalontor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yea, you might want to check out some facts before you post again. Microsoft embedded OS is what? Hint pick A) as in Apple, not B) as in BS.

      A) on gazillions of devices.
      or
      B)Hardly ever used in Set-top boxes, Thin clients, Digital media adapters, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones, Navigation devices, Medical devices, Portable media players, Home gateways, Digital cameras, Networked digital televisions, PDAs, Cash drawers, Receipt printers, Scanners

      and now in Ford cars.

      BTW I've seen the navigation and control center on a Cessna Citation Bravo during diagnostics being booted to a C: prompt.
  • anonymousabe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6nice. i just became a linux user and i am dual booting windows xp and ubuntu 6.10. I have the Beryl desktop manager installed and it is absolutely amazing. I wish I had tried linux sooner. i'm a new linux fan.
  • Ibanezfoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7What do you mean the plane won't ever crash? How do you know this? I've seen images of kernel panics on airplanes.... but that still doesn't answer why a plane won't crash just because it runs Linux.

    I run Linux on two racks full of servers... hard drives still fail, fans still jam up, and servers crash...
  • capnkid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1But can it run lin... oh wait, nevermind.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1So how is the entertainment system of the plane connected to the pilot systems?
    This submission is kinda wonky...
  • iNoles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yay for Orlando. There is penguins on a plane?
  • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Inaccurate? Video players would not consist of the "frickin' plane!".
  • seuaniu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2OK, so several people have mentioned that the airplane doesn't run linux for its flight-control systems. Obviously thats a good thing, since real-time linux is pretty new, and i'd like to see a longer testing period before I got on a plane that ran it :). IIRC, many large planes run a very customized QNX from SGI for their flight control systems. Also, The One and Only Burt Rutan has a homemade plane called the "Boomerang" that runs on an old apple laptop. Pre-OSX, I think.
    • irixman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2SGI made a customized QNX?

      QNX is a company that makes an operating system -- namely, Neutrino. SGI is a company that makes hardware and software -- namely, Octane, Ind[y/igo], Origin, etc and IRIX (get the name? hehehe)

      As an ardent SGI fanboy, I think you are wrong ;)

      Hehe, fishfishfish, looks like a midair collision ;-)
    • fishfishfish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Do you mean QNX RTOS (real time operating system). That's actually made by QNX Labs, not by SGI - they make Irix, or rather did, before they went *****-up. QNX is pretty cool to play around with. There was a freely downloadable QNX RTOS available from qnx.com a few years back. Quite fast, but not all that useful as a day-to-day OS.

      Edit: Sorry, Irixman. We posted at the same time... great minds think alike and all that.
    • seuaniu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You guys both got me on the irix thing. oops. I knew that sgi put out a unix, but just got the wrong one there
  • zxof, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0wont ever crash??? you sound like a genius mate
  • Septimus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Seen that exact system crash out during a movie. Then saw the entire dull boot sequence.

    You really are sad for asking to see that.
  • tasiefer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Standard Linux (or any Windows or Unix-based OS for that matter) will never be part of a critical function in the cockpit. The FAA's standard for software certification is covered by a set of guidelines referred to as RTCA DO-178B. It lays out 4 tiers of software from the most critical (Level A) to the least critical (Level D). There's also a non-existent 5th tier for functionality that is absolutely non-critical that is informally called Level E (at least at my company). The only way for a standard "off-the-shelf" OS to get on a plane is to be Level E, such as this system.

    Almost everything in the cockpit is Level D or higher, and as such must go through an unbelievable amount of testing and certification. At Level A, such as for a cockpit display, some small, quick examples of the testing include 100% structural code coverage, 0% dead code, and 100% decision-based coverage. Heck, even at Level C you can't dynamically allocate or deallocate memory at runtime. Since a box's OS is almost always certified to Level A, you can see why no standard OS will ever be used in a flight-critical application

    There are, by the way, Level A OSs available off the shelf that are based off of Unix-variants. Probably the two most popular are VxWorks and LynxOS-178. These OSs can be found on many aircraft (and spacecraft) today.
  • MCrass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's just the entertainment system that runs Linux, and the funny thing is, it's pretty unstable considering how little overall it does! I was on a flight from Hartford to Orlando late last spring and when they turned the system on, it locked after 2 of the movie previews. They rebooted the system, only half the plane could get a signal. Rebooted again, every 3rd seat was offline. Rebooted a few more times and eventually nothing worked at all.

    And they don't provide the flight crews with a keyboard or mouse, they were having to power-cycle the box.
  • FlyboyP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've done work for an in-flight entertainment and telephony system, and let me tell you, the underside of an airplane seat has got some nasty crap. Boogers, gum, vomit, spilled coke & coffee, raisins and of course, peanuts. Ever notice that funky ass smell when you get on a plane? It's the crap in the crevices that travels millions of miles every year. It never comes out until the cabin of the plane is overhauled.

    The wiring on these underseat boxes also gets knocked and kicked around a lot - when it shorts out, which it often does, it can cause the entire system to go down or reboot. If the system is down it can be several days before the plane stops overnight at an airport with technicians from the equipment vendor.
  • saigumi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3No crashes, the system just core dumps and drops a 10 pound bowling ball through someone's car.

    When the system starts resetting, every ubergeek on the plane starts offering the pilot advice and bitching about Windows which causes shockwaves more powerful than the engines that causes the plane to completely shatter killing everyone.

    The cleanup crew then spends days trying to piece together the problem, but everytime they ask for help, all they get is some insane babble about what needs to be done, but not actually how to do it and get called n00bs for not knowing.

    Someone posts the whole story on digg under the title "Breaking News!!! Bush Administration HATES Linux!!!!!!" with the summary of "title says it all" which gets a record 100,000 diggs causing digg's servers to melt and all of humanity to end.

    Thankfully, I fly United.
  • mobilehavoc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Linux Linux Everywhere!!!......except most people's desktops.
    • caleb4mj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Linux Community:
      1. Use Linux on desktops and learn to support yourself
      2. Stop paying per-seat licensing costs
      3. Profit!

      Capitalists:
      1. Use Linux to build products, outsource support AND development
      2. ??? (stop paying royalties?, hide from patent or GPL violation?)
      3. Profit!

      Well, at least its absurd.
  • feed, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I have to admit. That picture is really cool. That's quite a site seeing all those screens booting Linux just like at home. As a pilot and software engineer, I get to see 2 things I enjoy!
  • caleb4mj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yep, that's an entire plane booting Linux, alright. You can tell by the text display on the chair monitors. Its obviously booting up Linux, so this proves the whole FAA uses Linux for all their mission critical apps.

    If I had your brain I'd take it out and play with it.
  • saltoholic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I had a first hand experience with this one. I flew on a plane just like that. When I pulled up my in-flight menu, mine and only mine, crashed and rebooted allowing me to witness this start up screen.
    I thought it was cool at first but then I realized during the rebooting process all the media became mislabeled and instead of watching the DaVinci code I got stuck with Ice Age 2. I was pissed to say the least.
    • rajulkabir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ยป instead of watching the DaVinci code I got stuck with Ice Age 2. I was pissed to say the least.

      Trust me, you dodged a bullet.
  • bartel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"I think this is the first time that something Open Source has ended up on a full, frickin' plane!"

    Actually Linux runs on all sorts of systems on the planes and has been for at least 5 years. There are many systems that you would never think of (embedded or otherwise) on these planes and the OS of choice is the free open one.
    • BullTaco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1>the OS of choice is the free open one.
      Thats complete BS according to the survey link I posted above and any of the other posters on this thread that indicated a knowledge concerning RTOS's and avionics.
    • bartel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1survey vs engineer on the frickin job?
  • BetaMaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't see what the big deal is. This isn't the first instance of Linux running on a plane. I flew Spirit about three years ago, and at one point the system rebooted, and it was running Linux.
  • MrSprout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"That's it! I have had it with these ***** penguins on this ***** plane! It's time to open some Windows." - Bill Gates
  • LordHog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As others have pointed out, the image shows the IFE system booting. I am pretty sure the flight control computer running all the flight laws is not running on a Linux system. The flight control is probably running on a custom kernel/executive or possibly a certified RTOS either from Green Hills or VxWorks, though I can't be for certain. The IFE system that is shown in the image is probably from ***** Avionics Systems Corporation (MAS, ***** is the parent of Panasonic if memory serves me correctly) which is probably the biggest player in the IFE market. Also, have Thales, Rockwell Collins (small player now) another with others.
  • gostars, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Oh dear Lord I hope they were able to locate all the correct and properly functioning device drivers. And here's top hoping the interfaces in the cockpit are on standard 800x600.
  • andywa119, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Whilst on a flight from thailand I was using the display on the inflight entertainment system when for some reason I received a 'right' click type context menu. From there I could then browse the file structure and possibly delete files. I have not used Unix for several years but it looked like Unix to me with folders called bin etc, I could not repeat this security flaw.
  • aragami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1cool :-) interesting to see what kinda O/S they run the entertainment stuff on in planes :-),


    makes a change from the pictures of BSOD's on random things running windows,


    btw did anyone know the passport photobooths run windows? i was in one earlier this week and it was displaying the bsod :D luckily i hadn't put my money in before noticing though :-)
  • wimpwil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The more experienced people have already mentioned that obviously only the flight entertainment is running on linux.

    I pity the fool who thinks any PC OS won't crash or won't get any viruses - learn something about software before making bogus comments about it. (this doesn't include embedded linux forms - which usually isn't open source).

    in fact... because a large percentage of open source code is rarely subject to as much scrutiny as large corporation privatised software.... I find linux kernel + lotsa bloated crap in distros makes linux crash more than windows or mac osx. Nothing against linux kernel.... just the amazing amount of crap and duplicate crap that comes packaged with the kernel.

    Go properly managed open source!

  • rouslan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I saw the same thing happen while on a domestic flight. For some reason they rebooted the system and everyone could see the linux logo with what's booting on the IFEN (in-flight entertainment) system screens. Hopefully other companies will use Linux on thin-client systems-I've seen too many BSOD's.
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