Caldera OpenLinux: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:30, 15 August 2024

Revision as of 07:31, 15 August 2024

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{{SCO Controversy}}

'''Caldera OpenLinux''' ('''COL''') is a defunct [[Linux distribution]]. [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]] originally introduced it in 1997<!-- or was it 1996? OpenLinux 1.1 came in 1997, when was OpenLinux 1.0 released? --> based on the German [[LST Power Linux]] distribution, and then taken over and further developed by [[Caldera Systems, Inc.|Caldera Systems]] (now [[SCO Group]]) since 1998. A successor to the Caldera Network Desktop put together by Caldera since 1995, OpenLinux was an early "business-oriented distribution" and foreshadowed the direction of developments that came to most other distributions and the [[Linux]] community generally.{{citation needed|reason=Sweeping assertion|date=November 2019}}

=={{anchor|OS|CND|CND1.0PI|CND1.0PII|CND1.0|CNDB}}Caldera Network Desktop==

{{Infobox OS

| name = Caldera Network Desktop

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = [[Caldera (company)|Caldera]]

| family = [[Linux]]

| released = 1995 (Previews)

| discontinued = yes

source_model = Mixed

| working_state = Defunct

| latest_release_version = 1.0

| latest_release_date = {{Release date and age|1996}}

| kernel_type = [[Monolithic kernel]]

| license = Mixed

| website =

| successor = OpenLinux

}}

[[Image:ND1.jpg|Back of Caldera Network Desktop 1.0 box|thumb|200px|right]]

At this point in 1995 Ransom Love and Ray Noorda took note of the technologies that Caldera put together, specifically:

* Caldera built on the Linux kernel which ran on [[x86]], [[PowerPC]] and [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]] architectures. Caldera Network Desktop was based on [[Red Hat Commercial Linux]].<ref name="Petreley_1996_Caldera"/><ref name="Hughes_1996_CND"/>

* Its [[wide area network]]ing was far more advanced than the Microsoft networked OSes at the time ([[Windows for Workgroups 3.11]] and [[Windows NT 3.51]]), due to its being [[Unix-like]].

* Caldera included a version of Novell's [[IPX]] [[network protocol]] and a [[Client (computing)|client]] for [[NetWare]].

* The [[Willows Application Programming Interface for Windows]] (APIW){{citation needed|date=May 2014|reason=Wasn't Willows still developed by an independent company?}} code written for Caldera's operating system would run on Unix, Microsoft Windows, and Apple [[Macintosh]], as well as Caldera's system itself.

* Caldera also incorporated LISA (Linux Installation and System Administration),<ref name="Hughes_1996_CND"/> which had been developed by the German [[Linux Support Team]] (LST) for their own Linux distribution.<ref name="LST_1997"/>

More than just a [[Software componentry|component]] for Novell, Caldera had assembled the components needed to create a [[Value-added reseller|VAR]] platform. However, Caldera faced a [[bootstrapping]] problem. OEM VAR applications often depended crucially on other companies' [[business software|commercial]] [[Application software|applications]]. Since these other applications hadn't been ported to [[Linux]] yet, they couldn't meaningfully port their own applications. Caldera responded by creating a [[Object file|binary applications package]], which allowed Linux to run [[UnixWare]] and [[OpenServer]] applications, the Linux [[Application Binary Interface]] (ABI) project,{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} and by assisting [[Santa Cruz Operation]] (SCO) in creating the Linux Kernel Personalities.<ref name="SCO_UW7"/>{{disputed inline|for=LKP did not arrive until years later|date=November 2019}} Linux Kernel Personalities was worked on to bring Linux application compatibility to [[SCO Unix]] (formerly UnixWare) and OpenServer. "''The idea was to enable [[Software developer|developers]] to write for both, Unix and Linux, with a common Application Programming Interface (API) and common Application Binary Interface (ABI). That way, developers didn't have to work so hard, and Unix users, the client base we inherited from SCO, could run Linux applications.''"<ref name="Vaughan-Nichols_2003"/>{{disputed inline|for=Cited source is talking about post-SCO acquisition Caldera International, not Caldera Network Desktop era|date=November 2019}}

Caldera also supported [[Alan Cox (computer programmer)|Alan Cox]] in his work on [[Symmetric multiprocessing|SMP]].{{when|date=May 2014}}<ref name="Cox_BKL"/> If Linux displaced Unix on the Intel x86 platform, then [[Sun Microsystems]] wouldn't have a low-end Unix path. This point becomes more interesting in light of SCO's litigation eight years later [[SCO v. IBM|against IBM]] in 2003.{{Relevance inline|paragraph|date=November 2019}} That is, [[IBM]] was not the company involved in the SMP work, and moreover, the company most directly involved is the company that later became the [[SCO Group]], essentially SCO suing IBM for work it itself did.{{citation needed|date=May 2014|reason=When did they support Alan Cox? Caldera, Inc. was not the same company as Caldera Systems, Inc. (and its successors). Caldera Systems, Inc. was not the successor of Caldera, Inc., but a spin-out. Therefore it is important to sort out the dates and names.}}

In 1995, when [[XFree86]] was still very hard to configure and unreliable on most chipsets, Caldera had shipped with MetroLink's [[Motif (software)|Motif]] and XI Graphic's [[Accelerated-X]].<ref name="Leibovitch_1997"/>

Known releases:

* ''Caldera Network Desktop 1.0 Preview I'' (1995-05)<ref name="Linuxmisc"/>

* ''Caldera Network Desktop 1.0 Preview II'' (1995-09<!-- release date based on printed manual -->) with Linux kernel 1.2.13<ref name="Leibovitch_1997"/>

* ''Caldera Network Desktop 1.0'' (scheduled for 1995-11<!-- according to dates mentioned in Preview II -->, released 1996-02-05<ref name="CND"/>)

* ''Caldera Network Desktop Bundle'' (scheduled for 1995-12<!-- according to dates mentioned in Preview II -->, released 1996-02-05)

Caldera Network Desktop was produced and sold until March 1997.<ref name="Leibovitch_1997"/>

=={{anchor|OpenLinux|1.0|1.1|1.2|1.3|1.4|2.0|2.1|2.2|2.3|2.4|3.0|3.1|3.1.1|Lite|Base|Standard|Deluxe|eDesktop|eServer|eBuilder|Workstation|Server|NetWare for Linux}}Caldera OpenLinux==