Linux Lovely Penguin

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Tux (Linux Penguin)

The concept of the Linux mascot being a penguin came from Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Tux was created by Larry Ewing in 1996 after an initial suggestion made by Alan Cox and further refined by Linus Torvalds on the Linux kernel mailing list. Linus took his inspiration from a photograph he found on an FTP site , showing a penguin figurine looking strangely like the Creature Comforts characters made by Nick Park. The first person to call the penguin "Tux" was James Hughes, who said that it stood for "(T)orvalds (U)ni(X)" . However, many people observe that Tux is also an abbreviation of tuxedo, the outfit which springs to mind when they see a penguin.

Tux was originally designed as a submission for a Linux logo contest. Three such competitions took place; Tux won none of them. This is why Tux is formally known as the Linux mascot and not the logo. Pictures of some of the other contestants can be found here. Tux was created by Larry Ewing .

According to Jeff Ayers, Linus Torvalds had a "fixation for flightless, fat waterfowl" and Torvalds claims to have contracted "penguinitis" after being gently nibbled by a penguin: "Penguinitis makes you stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them." Torvalds' supposed illness is of course a joke, but he really was bitten by a Little Penguin on a visit to the National Zoo & Aquarium, Canberra, Australia [11]. Torvalds was looking for something fun and sympathetic to associate with Linux, and a slightly fat penguin sitting down after having had a great meal perfectly fit the bill.

Tux does not accurately portray any specific one of the nineteen species of penguin, although he somewhat resembles an Adelie or perhaps a Gentoo penguin. He is often dressed or portrayed differently, depending on context; for example, when representing the PaX, a Linux security patch, he wears a helmet and brandishes an axe and shield, and his eyes are red. Recently, Tux has been redrawn to blend more appropriately into "crystalized" desktop themes.