Universal Linux

[bbto]

hi every one,

i need some help about the Universal linux OS

my instructor mention the universal linux in class, he said it will the the future OS
the OS will be on the server, client can connect to the server and use the OS, they dont need to have a OS on they machine.

i want to know more about it, is there any article about the universal Linux?
the instructor did mention there is a article from America something talk about
i just cant remember the name, and i google universal linux, it didn't give me what i want

thanks

[linuxguymarshall]

I think he may have been referring to cloud computing.

[juancarlospaco]

We are, i mean Debian are the Universal Operating System, see...

http://www.debian.org/Pics/lennybanner_indexed.png

:)

[Technique13]

We are, i mean Debian are the Universal Operating System, see...

http://www.debian.org/Pics/lennybanner_indexed.png

:)

haha, i loled..

[3rdalbum]

I don't think he was literally talking about a product called "Universal Linux". It sounds more like a concept, and not a very original concept at that (I remember hearing something similar in the early 1990s).

[decoherence]

Perhaps what your instructor meant was that open source development results in systems that are 'universal' in that anyone can use them and adapt them to their needs. The linux kernel is one such system, as is most of the operating system built around it.

And everybody knows Plan 9 is the OS of the future. :lolflag:

[JohnnySage50307]

Over the years of studying Computer Science, I have heard of tales and dreams of "The Universal OS" and speculations that Linux in all its manifestations could be it. The fact that your teacher mentioned that you could use a machine that didn't have the OS does imply cloud computing, but I think he was talking more of a grand dream the whole of the Computer Science world was crying for around the turn of the century.

Nonetheless, Linux in any flavor is a pretty good canidate, especially since it now has emulations of other OSs so you can run Win32 or Mac exclusive software on them.

[earthpigg]

all computers will always need an operating system -- at the very least, something needs to tell your computer what to do when someone pushes buttons on the keyboard, and how to connect to the internet. :P

as for a very basic operating system that essentially just starts a web browser and allows you to connect to the internet...

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

[JohnnySage50307]

Eh, yes and no when you mention that all machines require an OS. If you classify BIOS as an OS of sorts, then you're absolutely correct. One of the PhD canidates in my department are researching a means to set up BIOS to send out an aloha protocol to a server and just run remotely off of that server. By strictest definition, there is no OS on the remote machine, only on the server. And, oddly, the way he's going is basically cloud computing on steroids!

[3rdalbum]

One of the PhD canidates in my department are researching a means to set up BIOS to send out an aloha protocol to a server and just run remotely off of that server.

I don't know why you'd try using the Aloha protocol for that, but many/most BIOSes already have the ability to boot from network. Specify the IP address of a computer that's running some diskless server software, and the client will boot across the network.

In fact, when I was writing my original reply, I was thinking about an ad I saw in the early 1990s for some diskless server software that could boot Macintoshes.