MuLinux: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:18, 14 November 2017

Revision as of 14:00, 7 February 2018

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==Name==

The name ''muLinux'' comes from the [[Greek letter]] ''[[Mu (letter)|mu]]'' which is the [[SI]] symbol meaning ''one millionth'', harking to the very small size of this OS.<ref name="mu">mulinux.sunsite.dk, ''[http://mulinux.sunsite.dk/ muLinux official web page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914014537/http://mulinux.sunsite.dk/ |date=2008-09-14 }}'', retrieved 16 August 2008</ref>

==Minimalist design==

muLinux was based on the Linux 2.0.36 kernel.<ref name="Saunders">Saunders, Mike, "[http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/pdfs/LXF68.round.pdf Roundup: MiniDistros] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001152250/http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/pdfs/LXF68.round.pdf |date=2006-10-01 }}", ''Linux Format'', July 2005, retrieved 16 August 2008</ref> 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]]s. A highly functional UNIX-like, network-enabled server with a [[Unix shell]] 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."<ref name="Saunders"/> muLinux could also be unpacked and installed by a self-executable archive, or extracted directly, onto an old [[DOS]] or [[Windows 9x]] ([[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]] drive was needed.<ref name="Zimmer"/><ref name="Saunders"/>