International Space Station moves from Windows to Linux, for greater reliability
"We migrated key Windows to Linux, why do we need an operating system that is stable and reliable."
In particular, the "tens of laptops" will make the move to Debian 6. These notebooks will join many other systems aboard the ISS that is already running various versions of Linux, such as Red Hat and Scientific Linux. As far as I know, after this step, there will be a single-board computer running Windows ISS. Beyond stability and reliability, Keith Chuvala the United Space Alliance, says he wanted an operating system that "would give us the self .. So, if we need to fix, modify or adapt, could" It is worth noting ISS laptops that used to run Windows XP, and we know they were infected by at least one virus in the course of his life: in 2008, a Russian cosmonaut aboard brought a laptop with W32.Gammima.AG worm, which quickly spread to other phones on board. The transition to Linux will be essentially the ISS immunize against future infections.
The laptops that were upgraded belong OpsLAN station. The computer uses the OpsLAN to carry out day to day activities, such as the display of warehouse inventory control, scientific experiments, or check your current position. Presumably used laptops custom Win32 applications to run on Windows XP, and now these applications have been rewritten to run on Linux - hopefully not emulated in wine. For astronauts and cosmonauts in the plan, will be trained by the Linux Foundation.
To be honest, we should not be too surprised by ditching Windows. Linux is the operating system of the scientific community of choice. Large Hadron Collider at CERN is controlled by Linux. Ground stations of NASA and SpaceX are using Linux. Laboratory technicians DNA sequencing using Linux. Indeed, for applications that require absolute stability, which are more scientific experiments, Linux is the obvious choice. The fact that the entire operating system is open source and can be easily customized for each experiment is obviously a big draw, too.
In other news, the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2, which also runs Linux, is due to an update soon. Robonaut 2 (pictured) was delivered in the last mission of the space shuttle Discovery in 2011, and for the moment is just a torso with two arms - but later, in 2013, climbing legs and a pack of batteries delivered. The ultimate goal is to see if humans and robots can be used safely in zero gravity, with Robonaut to do housework (vacuuming, changing filters) and possibly unsafe tasks during space walks, too. Sharing is sexy
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