- Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X
Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X, or LGX (pronounced "igg-drah-sill"), was an early
Linux distribution developed byYggdrasil Computing, Incorporated , a company founded byAdam J. Richter inBerkeley, California .Yggdrasil was the first company to create a
Live CD Linux distribution. cite web | url = http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20051031235811490 | title = The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin, by Dr. Peter H. Salus - Ch. 20 | date =1 November 2005 | first = Peter H | last = Salus | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | publisher =Groklaw ] . Yggdrasil Linux was described as a "Plug-and-Play " Linux distribution, automatically configuring itself for the hardware.The last release of Yggdrasil was in 1995.
Yggdrasil was the World Tree ofNorse mythology . The name was chosen becauseYggdrasil took disparate pieces of software and assembled them into a complete product. Yggdrasil's company motto was "Free Software For The Rest of Us".Yggdrasil was compliant with the Unix
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard . [http://linux.feldt.com/meeting_notes/1996/0215/ygg_pnp.html Linux SIG - Yggdrasil's Plug and Play Linux ] ]History and releases
Yggdrasil was announced on
24 November 1992 . cite web | title = ANNOUNCE: Alpha release of turnkey Linux/GNU/X system on CDROM | url = http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1992/11/25/16649 | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =24 November 1992 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | work = linux-activists mailing list | publisher = Kernel Trap ]On
8 December 1992 the first alpha release was made, named as Yggdrasil GNU/Linux/X (LGX), and described by its creators as "a bootable Linux/GNU/X-based UNIX(R) clone for PC compatibles". Yggdrasil's alpha release contained the 0.98.1 version of theLinux kernel , the v11r5 version of theX Window System supporting up to 1024x768 with 256 colours, various GNU utilities such as their C/C++ compiler, the GNU debugger, bison, flex, and make,TeX , groff,Ghostscript , the elvis andEmacs editors, and various other software. Yggdrasil's alpha release required a386 computer with 8MB RAM and 100MB hard disk. The alpha release was missing some thesource code of some of the packages, such as elvis. cite web | title = Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alpha release Linux/GNU/X unix clone on CDROM for PC's | url = http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1992/11/25/16676 | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =25 November 1992 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | publisher = Kernel Trap | work = linux-activists mailing list ]A beta released was made on
18 February 1993 . cite web | title = THE YGGDRASIL LINUX/GNU/X OPERATING SYSTEM DISTRIBUTION BETA CDROM | date =18 February 1993 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | work = Order form | publisher = Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated | url = http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/historic-linux/ftp-archives/sunsite.unc.edu/Sep-29-1996/docs/distributions/yggdrasil/announcement ] . [http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20041115#fdow DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD ] ] The beta's cost wasUS$ 50. LGX's beta release in 1993 contained the 0.99.5 version of the Linux kernel, along with other software fromGNU and X. By22 August 1993, the Yggdrasil company had had sold over 3100 copies of the LGX beta distribution. cite web | title = Re: Linux CD-ROMs in general --> Yggdrasil in particular | url = http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1993/8/22/40419 | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =22 August 1993 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | publisher = Kernel Trap | work = linux-activists mailing list ]The production release version carried a pricetag of US$99. However, Yggdrasil was offered for free to any developer whose software was included with the CD distribution. cite web | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =
17 March 1993 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | title = Re: Linux Foundation | work = linux-activists mailing list | publisher = Kernel Trap | url = http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1993/3/17/26677 ] . According to an email from the company's founder the marginal cost of each subscription was $35.70. [http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1992/11/30/16884 Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alpha Linux/GNU/X && Windows/NT SDK/DDK | KernelTrap ] ]Early Yggdrasil releases were also available from stores selling CD-ROM software. [http://timeguy.com/cradek/01161921561 Archaeology ] ]
By
1995 , Yggdrasil was believed to be defunct.Yggdrasil, Incorporated
Adam J. Richter started the Yggdrasil company together with
Bill Selmeier . Richter spoke toMichael Tiemann about setting up a business, but was not interested in joining forces with Cygnus.Richter was a member of
League for Programming Freedom . cite web | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =30 November 1992 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | title = Improvements to Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X CDROM offer | work = linux-activists mailing list | publisher = Kernel Trap | url = http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-activists/1992/12/1/16961 ] Richter was using only a 200MB hard disk when building the alpha release of LGX, which prohibited him from including the source code of some of the packages contained in the CDROM.Yggdrasil Incorporated published some of the early Linux compilation books, such as "The Linux Bible: The GNU Testament" (ISBN 978-1883601201), and contributed significantly to file system and X Window System functionality of Linux in the early days of their operation.
The company moved to
San Jose, California in 1996. cite web | url = http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1996/04/msg00816.html | title = Yggdrasil Debian replacement CD's have arrived | first = Adam J | last = Richter | date =17 April 1996 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | work = debain-user mailing list | publisher = Debian.org ] In 1996, Yggdrasil Incorporated released the Winter 1996 edition of "Linux Internet Archives"; six CDs of Linux software from Tsx-11 and Sunsite, the GNU archive on prep.ai.mit.edu, the X11R6 archives including the free contributed X11R6 software from ftp.x.org, the Internet RFC standards, and a total of nine non-Yggdrasil Linux distributions. [ cite web | title = Linux Internet Archives | work = New Products | publisher = Linux Journal | date =1 May 1996 | accessdate = 2007-10-11 | url = http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/111 ]The company remained active until at least year 2000, when it released the
Linux Open Source DVD , but its website was taken offline afterwards and the company has not released anything since.The company once made an offer to donate 60% of the Yggdrasil CDROM sales revenues to
CSRG , but founder Adam J. Richter later indicated that the company would lose too much money and changed the offer accordingly, while still maintaining donations to CSRG. [http://www.dnull.com/bsd/oldnews/bsdnew1861.html *BSD News Article 1861 ] ]
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