The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS) is a Unix-like operating system kernel that can run on Intel 8086-compatible microprocessors. ELKS, formerly known as Linux-8086, is a small subset of Linux and can run on machines with limited processor and memory resources, including machines with 16-bit microprocessors that are not supported by Linux.
ELKS is free software and is available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
History
- 1995 - Development of Linux-8086 by Linux kernel developers Alan Cox and Chad Page starts as a fork of the standard Linux.
- Early 1996 - The project is renamed ELKS, Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset.
- 1997 - The first website http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ (now offline, archived version) is created.
- August 8, 1997 - ELKS 0.0.63 is released.
- June 22, 1999 - ELKS 0.0.77 is released. This version is the first that is able to run a graphical user interface (the Nano-X Window System).
- July 21, 1999 - ELKS boots on a Psion 3a PDA (SIBO architecture).
- January 10, 2000 - ELKS 0.0.82 is released, the first official version which includes the SIBO port.
- March 3, 2000 - The ELKS project is registered on SourceForge, the new website is http://elks.sourceforge.net/.[1]
- January 6, 2001 - Alan Cox declares the project "basically dead".[2]
- June 17, 2001 - ELKS 0.0.84 is released.
- June 24, 2001 - Charilaos Kalogirou adds TCP/IP networking support.
- November 17, 2001 - ELKS 0.0.90 is released
- April 20, 2002 - Charilaos Kalogirou adds virtual memory support with disk swapping capability.
- April 29, 2002 - ELKS 0.1.0 is released, this is the first beta version.[3]
- December 18, 2002 - EDE (the Elks Distribution Edition, a distribution based on the ELKS kernel) version 0.0.5 is released.[4]
- January 6, 2003 - ELKS 0.1.2 is released.[5]
- May 3, 2006 - ELKS 0.1.3 is released, the first official release after a long hiatus in development.[6]
- February 19, 2012 - ELKS 0.1.4 is released, this version fixes compilation BUGs of version 0.1.3 and remove unused codes. This version is in memory of Riley Williams.[7]
More than 30 developers have contributed to this project since the Linux fork.
Current status and usage
As of January 2012, ELKS is under sporadic development. The CVS repository was migrated to Git in February 2012, and numerous patches from the Linux-8086 mailing list were committed to the ELKS Git repository. The latest released version is 0.1.4[5] which includes updated floppy disk images, and the latest EDE version is 0.0.5b.[8]
ELKS runs on IBM PC compatible systems and on Psion SIBO PDAs. It was planned to be developed into the FlightLinux real-time operating system for spacecrafts, but the project it was intended for (UoSAT-12) eventually settled on the qCF operating system from Quadron Corporation instead.[9]
See also
References
External links
