Pengiuns Can Fly: Panasonic Putting Linux in Every Seat
Here is an interesting story about Singapore Air loading up each in flight seat with a copy of RedHat Linux. This is one of sure signs that Linux has really grown up. … or many become a kid again?
Flying in economy class doesn’t have to be a miserable experience. To make flying more enjoyable for its passengers, Singapore Airlines Ltd. is adding bigger screens, more in-flight movies and a PC, running Red Hat Inc.’s distribution of the Linux operating system, in every seat on its newest planes. …
The latest version of KrisWorld is based on Panasonic Avionics Corp.’s eX2 in-flight entertainment system and was jointly developed by the two companies. The system consists of a central Linux server that connects to a network of PCs installed in every seat on the aircraft. The KrisWorld software offers an improved user interface and each economy-class seat is fitted with a 10.6-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that offers resolution of 1,280 pixels by 768 pixels.
For those of you who are wondering, StarOffice? Airline systems tend to use a pretty old but really stable version of any given platform. This is because the entire aviation industry has this “only tried and tested will do” mentality.
Of course, the opportunity to have a full computer on each seat is still a really big help. Maybe this will encourage me to ride Singapore Airlines the next time I travel.
