Run Linux as a Windows Screensaver

zornorph writes "A software engineer at IBM has come up with a way to 'construct and package a Linux® LiveCD so that it will install using the standard Microsoft® Windows® install process and will operate as a standard Windows screensaver.'"

The Point?

[imemyself]

OK, other than the "cool factor", WTF is the point of this? Its nice to know what IBM's people are spending their time on...

IBM confirms it - OS2 is dead

[tomhudson]

FTFA :

OS/2 is finally being withdrawn on December 23, 2005. According to the IBM Web site on OS/2 Warp migration (see Resources), there is no replacement product from IBM. IBM suggests that OS/2 customers consider Linux.

... and the replacement runs under Windows. :-(

oh, the irony.

Isn't this just the same thing...

[Ruff_ilb]

As saying that Linux and windows can run at the same time on the same hardware, with quick switching between the two? Depending on how easy that is to do, this either makes the story a lot more or a lot less interesting.

One good reason...

[rkaa]

to use this, would be to in effect run Xscreensaver [jwz.org] on Windows! Using XP, I really miss those. And they will never be ported.

This caught my attention

[johansalk]

This Linux screensaver is from Nathalie Carrie and Arnaud Verhille, science teachers on Reunion Island, a French colony in the Indian Ocean. Verhille asks "Does anyone know where I can get a free Java," because he is concerned about encumbering his pupils with Sun®'s license conditions." Does it really matter? I'm of the opinion that schoolchildren on a remote Indian Ocean island are unlikely to do anything that would cause Sun to chase after them.

Re:As a Windows user

[chronicon]

Um, never heard of Knoppix, or the million other live linux distros out there I assume?

...or running Knoppix in Windows via QEMU [slashdot.org]? Or quick Damn Small Linux [ibiblio.org] in similar fashion?

What makes this newsworthy today? The bizarre "run it as a screensaver" factor? What's the point?

What does it do exatcly???

[elgatozorbas]

Am I the only one who doesn't understand xhat this thing does exactly? Does it
A) install Linux during the screensaver?
B) run Linux during the screensaver? What happens to windows? Why would you want to wait for the screensaver?
C)show a linux slideshow. What's the use of that?

Re:You know...

[ChrisA90278]

No, I figure you'd use something like "shutdown -h now" or "init 0" to exit. The creen saver stops when the process terminates. The big news here is simply that someone got Linux to run as a Windows userland process. OK not 100% new but then they thought to call it a "screen saver". It's cool to be the first to think of something.

Re:Why?

[radiotyler]

Unless you're a guy like me, that's trying to hone some very, very, very rusty *nix skills (4 years of Army Windows.. *puke*) and all you have available is a USB Drive, a Windows box, and 8 more months in the desert.

I think it's a great idea. I'm chomping at the bit for this download to finish.
-t

Re:What a pain®

[Urusai]

A trademark holder might pepper their missives with (R) and TM to assert their trademark. In my non-lawyerly opinion, you have no obligation to preserve someone else's trademark; you just can't use it on your own products/services. I can mention Coca Cola and Mickey Mouse all I want without such qualification. Disney, however, might refer to "Mickey Mouse (TM)" to let you know they claim a trademark on the name and to prevent you from claiming ignorance of the claim in court.

A similar foolishness runs through the media with the term "allegedly". Yes, they don't want to make a false accusation. But when you have a headline such as "Cops Arrest Man for Allegedly Smoking Crack", it's stupid. Allegedly smoking crack is not a crime and would not be a cause for arrest; smoking crack would be.

Pardon me, there's a knock on the door, brb...

Shock!

[DollyTheSheep]

A screensaver, that may make your more productive than the whole rest of your OS!

Re:Why not stand-alone?

[morgan_greywolf]

A lot of banks internal politics won't let them run a solution that isn't supported by a "major vendor". Besides which Diebold no longer loads new ATM's with OS/2 so they would have to develop their own or work with a smaller player who would.

I've seen ATM machines running Linux. In fact, Banrisul [wikipedia.org]
in Brazil replaced all of their MS-DOS-based ATMs with Linux some time ago. What defines a 'major vendor'? Is Red Hat? Is Novell/SuSE? What defines 'support'?

The thing is I often find the knee-jerk reaction of "We can't run something that isn't supported by a 'major vendor'" to more or less translate to "We can't run something that isn't supported by a vendor who's not giving us kickbacks."