Tux, as originally drawn by Larry Ewing
Tux is a penguin character and the official mascot of the Linux kernel.[1] Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux distributions depict Tux in various styles. In video games featuring the character female counterparts, named Penny and Gown, accompany him. The character is used in many other Linux programs and as a general symbol of Linux.
Origins
The story behind Tux, Canberra Zoo
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[2] and further refined by Linus Torvalds on the Linux kernel mailing list.[3] Torvalds took his inspiration from a photograph[4] he found on an FTP site,[5] 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)".[6] However, tux is also an abbreviation of tuxedo, the outfit which springs to mind when one sees 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.[7] Tux was created[8] by Larry Ewing using the first publicly released[9] version (0.54) of GIMP, a free software graphics package. It was released by him under the following condition:
Permission to use and/or modify this image is granted provided you acknowledge me
[email protected] and The GIMP if someone asks.
[10]
A little penguin, also known as the fairy penguin in Australia and the blue penguin in New Zealand, inspired Torvalds to suggest using a penguin as the Linux mascot
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."[11] Torvalds' supposed illness is a joke, but he really was bitten by a Little Penguin on a visit to the National Zoo & Aquarium, Canberra, Australia.[12] 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.[13]
In an interview Linus commented on the penguin bite:
I've been to Australia several times, these days mostly for Linux.Conf.Au. But my first trip—and the one when I was bitten by a ferocious fairy penguin: you really should keep those things locked up!—was in 93 or so, talking about Linux for the Australian Unix Users Group.
[14]
A Tux rangoli by students at GNUnify'13, Pune
Uses
In some Linux distributions, Tux greets the user during booting, with multi-processor systems displaying multiple images of Tux, one for each processor-core. Tux appeared as a character during one arc in the webcomic User Friendly. TUX is a Linux-based web server. In 1999, Corel Linux Deluxe included a free Linux Penguin (Tux).[15]
Video games
Tux as the player character protagonist of
SuperTuxTux has taken on a role in the Linux community similar to that which Mario holds in the Nintendo community. He has been featured in open-source look-alikes of other mainstream games, such as Tux Racer, Extreme Tux Racer, Tux Math Scrabble, TuxWordSmith Tux Math, SuperTux, SuperTuxKart, and Tux Paint. As such, several computer games, mostly free and open source and/or for Linux, have included Tux, including:
- OpenArena: contains a character named "Penguin," who is a man dressed in a costume resembling Tux.
- Pingus: A Lemmings clone in which the lemmings are replaced by penguins in reference to Tux.
- FreedroidRPG: An ARPG featuring Tux as the main protagonist who has to save the world from a robot apocalypse.
- Team Fortress 2 has an in-game Tux doll, which is awarded to Linux players from February 14th to March 1st, 2013.[16]
- SuperTux: a platform game inspired by Super Mario Bros.
- Tux Kart and SuperTuxKart: Kart racing games similar to the Mario Kart series.
- Tux Math Scrabble: Math version of the popular family game starring Tux.
- TuxWordSmith: Scrabble in over 80 languages starring Tux.
- Tux Paint: A drawing program for young children, most likely inspired by Kid Pix.
- Tux, of Math Command: a free software math tutoring arcade game.
- Tux Typing: a free software educational game designed to teach typing.
- Tux Racer/Extreme Tux Racer: A game similar to snowboarding video games, in which the player controls Tux sliding downhill on his belly rather than humans snowboarding down a track.
- FreeCiv: A Civilization-like game; the leader name of the Antarctican civilization is "Tux". In addition, the Colossus is an enormous Tux statue, depending on the tile set selected.[citation needed]
- WarMUX: A turn-based strategy game inspired by Worms, featuring many free and open source software mascots, including Tux.
- Frozen Bubble: A free software puzzle game, featuring Tux-esque penguins.
- LinCity-NG: A free software strategy game that allows you to build a Tux statue.
Female Tux versions in video games
Some games that star Tux also include explicitly female penguin characters, allowing the players to play as one of those characters instead of Tux. One such female penguin is Tux's friend "Gown". Gown is variously depicted as being a pink version of Tux (XTux) or as having a somewhat less fat appearance and wearing items of clothing such as a red and white short skirt and a hair bow (e.g. TuxKart and A Quest for Herring). In SuperTux and SuperTuxKart, there is a different female penguin called "Penny" who is purple and white (SuperTuxKart once had Gown and still has a map called "Gown's Bow"). In the upcoming Tux 2 there is supposed to be a female penguin called "Trixi", and in FreeCiv the female leader name for the Antarctican civilization is "Tuxette".
Tux in popular culture
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, anamorphic penguin mascot's name is Tux.[17]
- In the show Out of Jimmy's Head, a wisecracking, comedian penguin who often tells bad puns and jokes is called Tux.[citation needed]
- In the show The Penguins of Madagascar, an episode revealed the penguin Private's name used to be Mr. Tux.
- In a Froot Loops commercial, Tux appears as a squeaky dog toy as the "secret weapon" to distract a pack of dogs pulling a sled containing a villain.
Other uses
- Tux had an uncredited use in the Al Gore's Penguin Army video.
- There is a Pet (creature who will fight alongside your character) in the online game DragonFable that is a penguin named "Linus". Along with the tagline on the pet, he is shown to be a version of Tux.
- Tux has been adapted to a designer toy called a Gwin and is distributed by October Toys. It is redesigned by different artists and sold in short collectible runs through the October Toys website and other collectable vinyl toy sites. There are also artists who buy a blank Gwin to hand paint and customize as a one-off art piece.
- In 2010, a monument to Tux was erected in Tyumen (Russia) by the local Linux Users Community.[18]
- Tux has also been made as a virtual pet under the name Tux Droid by Kysoh for Linux and Windows, has many features including reading tweets from Twitter and checking the weather.
- There is a free guitar tab reading/editing program called TuxGuitar, which features Tux holding a guitar as its mascot.[19]
Tuz
Tuz was the mascot of the 2009 linux.conf.au conference. It has been chosen by Linus Torvalds as the logo for version 2.6.29 of the Linux kernel[20] to support the effort to save the Tasmanian devil species from extinction[21] due to the devil facial tumour disease.
The image was designed by Andrew McGown and recreated as an Inkscape SVG[22] by Josh Bush,[23] and released under Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA.[24]
Media
- Tux variants
High-quality 3D vectorized Tux
Tux plush toy from Novell
See also
References
This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Tux", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.
External links
