Airbus 380 To Have Linux In Every Seat 332
jpatokal writes "Singapore Airlines will be rolling out the A380 superjumbo on October 26th, and a surprise awaits in the seat of every passenger: their personal Linux PC, running Red Hat. In addition to running the in-flight entertainment, passengers can also use a full copy of StarOffice, and there's a USB slot for importing/exporting documents or plugging in your own keyboard/mouse. Screen size is 10.6" (1280x768) in economy, 15.4" in business and a whopping 23" in first class (along with free noise-canceling headphones). The system is already available on current B777-300ER planes and will also be outfitted on the upcoming B787 Dreamliners."
industrial espionage (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, no wonder. (Score:3, Insightful)
Airlines are not going to put an OS synonymous with "crash" in front of passengers. Everything, right down to the lighting has to work well to keep the appearance of order. Anything else makes the passengers nervous and looking for another airline.
Re:FWIW (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Well, no wonder. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Dedicated turbine (Score:3, Insightful)
As for scarcity, power isn't a terribly scare resource on an airplane. Remember, the engines are producing tens of MWs of power at cruise speed. Taking even a couple of hundred KWs off the main shaft to power electrical systems is not really a problem.
Re:In Singapore (Score:5, Insightful)
While I would like to point out this is not about critical flight control systems (where I doubt any Linux would be certified as it costs a lot to be) and in-flight entertainment machines are OK to crash sometimes, the specific functionality is, probably, a win for Linux distros.
But, in the end, I suspect the real deal here is about price. The cheapest solution won. It would be hideously expensive to have Windows Vista PCs with Office 2007 on every seat of a jetliner.
Re:Too bad no internet right now... (Score:3, Insightful)
Pretty sure they are logging everything during flight and you've had a thorough identification before you entered the plane.
Re:In Singapore (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In Singapore (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I always believed (Score:3, Insightful)
About the same size of bomb they can fit into a laptop. They'd better open up every one of those on its way in, and I mean with a screwdriver. One terrorist in a nice suit with a business class ticket and a rigged laptop = boom.