Linus links to the author's page[1], which is delightfully still online after all these years. That page links to a nice tutorial[2] explaining how the author used The Gimp to draw the original penguin logo.

[1] https://isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/

[2] https://isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/notes.html

Was lucky enough as a kid to receive an answer by this extremely kind person when asking for permission to modify Tux for a local LAN party flyer

and a mean looking version with GNU boxing gloves! https://isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/older.html

For context, here is the semi-official Linux logotype that preceded the penguin:

https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/logos/platypus/llogo.gif

I think the idea was that platypuses give the idea of being put together by disparate parts. Once the cute penguin showed up on the scene it quickly took over however.

I vaguely remember the Linux logo hunting phase and the platypus. The platypus made sense to me, but I get the appeal of Tux. And it's funny that it would be more than a decade from the first time I used Slackware before I realized what Slackware was named for, lol.

> I think the idea was that platypuses give the idea of being put together by disparate parts.

Once retired, the platypus was handed down to the Darwin people of course, to go with their Frankenstein NEXTSTEP/Mach/BSD kernel.

http://www.hexley.com/

Haha. I don't know what it is with open software projects and cute animals. There's also Golang's. I find them out of place (mixing cute things with technical matters), but I shouldn't complain.

> I find them out of place (mixing cute things with technical matters)

I love beautifully engineered software that's represented by a whimsical cartoon character or other non-vector-perfect hand-drawn art.

Don’t forget Ferris!

I thought the platypus was Slackware's, not Linux's, mascot at some point.

As in the old Walnut Creek CD-ROM releases:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLV_JkEWgAAOcdU?format=jpg

Fun fact: The penguin used to have a contender: https://xenia-linux-site.glitch.me/

I got an avatar made in the style (male though).

The penguin was a fairy aka little penguin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_penguin

He was bitten when on Philip Island. You can't get that close to the penguins anymore.

https://www.phillipislandpoint.com.au/attractions/phillip-is...

You can get quite close to the colony at St Kilda Pier:

https://stkildapenguins.com.au/skp/?page_id=93

Also you can find them on the north coast of Tasmania, commonly sitting alongside boardwalks etc.

I wonder what the next movement will be that recreates the same emotions and feelings that earlier mailing groups, kernel hackers, and slow internet created. Some sense of discovery and pushing the envelope.

I think that is more a matter of being young (a kid or young adult) as opposed to related to any specific technology. Think of all the books that you could potentially read if you wandered into a library. Decades of knowledge waiting to be discovered.

For everyone who hoped to read about the programming language instead of penguins:

https://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/logo.shtml

https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/logo.html

I remember being exceptionally excited when I got TWO penguins on boot on my dual Celeron machine.

I remember seeing some penguins on boot on airline entertainment systems. It was amusing. It's definitely something they could configure off, but didn't.

I remember being excited about more than one penguin as well. They even got little suns on their bellies when I booted on a Sparc64 machine!

I definitely remember Tux showing up in boot, but I don't remember when it started appearing or when it disappeared. (when/what kernel version).

It can be compiled out of the kernel (that's what most distributions do these days), or disabled with a boot option. Try:

  $ zgrep CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_SHA224 /proc/config.gz
  $ grep logo /proc/cmdline

It appeared on the CentOS 7 install I made earlier this year.

Fortunately, only about 8 or 9 show. 96 would fill up the screen.

(I had trouble on some new hardware with the usual automated install, so I watched what was happening.)

AFAIK, it's still there if/when using framebuffer mode.

I really liked Linus' explanation of how an animal (versus an abstract shape) as a logo can have huge benefits.

When you compare Red Hat's hat logo vs Linux's penguin... you can't really have a hat do as much as a penguin. A penguin can smile, and pose, and do things, where a hat can only sit there doing nothing.

You can even put the hat ON the penguin.

Always a pleasure to hear the boss speak!

see also, Tux Racer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tux_Racer

Once the Penguin was settled on as the logo, it really went everywhere.

Is there an easy way to play Tux Racer today on a mac?

I think the most up to date fork is Extreme Tux Racer

I hope this is not too off-topic, but I can't be the only one here who thought 'I don't remember any distro called Linux Logo...' before clicking and seeing my mistake. Cute nostalgia either way.

love these kinds of stories. warms the heart.

I'm always reminded of the Slackware 96 release on Walnut Creek around this time. Fond memories of making disk sets to install on my inherited 486 laptop