The Origin and Evolution of Tux
Tux was created in 1996 by Larry Ewing, after the suggestions from Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox. That’s right, we can all read Wikipedia, but the History is always more complex than what it seems. Before jumping to conclusions, we have to keep in mind that most of the discussions from the time were as email listing. Even if it is not written, everyone had their own reasons to pick a penguin as the mascot. Let’s put back in context, in 1996 the Linux Kernel is under heavy development. The most famous leaders are Linus Torvalds (initiator of the project) and Alan Cox (considered to be the second head). And of course, the developers want a logo, something to face Windows (in full expansion at the time). A lot are talking about a shark, or something as strong as BSD Daemon. But Torvalds comes up and pushes the idea of a penguin, declaring that
In fact, Torvalds was just gently nibbled by a Little Penguin in a National Zoo in Australia, but the idea was there.
He was also influenced maybe by the short movie “Creature Comforts”, which also featured a very similar penguin.
But when it comes to justification, it is always better to have the opinion of the instigator:
Because yes, there was a lot of other logos. In fact, of at least three logo competition, Tux won absolutely none of them. So this is why we say that it is a mascot and not a logo. From there, Larry Ewing created that “sympathetic” penguin using Gimp in 1996. The image is under GNU and the sources can be found at his personal page.
Linux developers started using the new mascot from there. The most famous signatures that you will find everywhere around the web are from David Navarro
and Paul Gray
The name itself comes from James Hughes:
Public Reception
At first, let’s say that Tux was not as appreciated as expected. After all, Torvalds sent a fat penguin against the most powerful company of the time: Microsoft. And Tux did not even win any logo competition. However, the penguin managed to find its place next to Beastie, thanks again to Torvalds:
In 2009, Tux was even replaced by Tuz, the Tasmanian devil to protest against its extinction. Designed by Andrew McGown and Josh Brush, Tuz was exposed for the linux.au.conf conference.
Conclusion
It may seem unimportant now, but there is in fact a whole story behind Tux. Everything from its origin to its spread was coordinated by the developers, and we can say that they did an incredible job. Now that we are aware, we can fully enjoy incarnating Tux in SuperTux and SuperTuxKart. Who said that the penguin was in Mario’s shadow? Do you know anything more about Tux? Have any questions? Please let us know in the comments.
