Yggdrasil Linux
| Yggdrasil Linux | |
 Yggdrasil Linux running in the 3.1 version of 86box emulating an ASUS P/I-P55T2P4 | |
| Creator: | Adam J. Richter |
|---|---|
| Architecture: | i386 |
| Date Released: | 1992 |
Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X, also known as Yggdrasil or LGX, is an early Linux distribution that could be considered the first live CD Linux distribution. It describes itself as a “Plug-and-Play” Linux distribution, automatically configuring itself for the hardware. Yggdrasil, named after Norse mythology's world tree, aimed to provide a complete Linux system on a single CD.
Contents
Releases
There were 6 releases of Yggdrasil however you can only download 5 of them from here...
1992 Alpha
The 1992 alpha release was announced on the 25th of November 1992. The first release was on the 8th of December, 1992. The CD-ROM was in the ISO-9660 filesystem meaning you could view the contents from DOS, other Unix systems and Macintoshes as per the mailing list(?)
This release contained the following software on the CD-ROM:
- Linux 0.98.1 kernel,
- X windows (v11r5) for VGA displays with support for higher resolutions such as 1024x768 256 colors using the ET4000, ET3000, Paradise, or Genoa chip sets, and the standard Xlib/Xt development environment,
- GNU utilities, including GNU C and C++, the GNU debugger, bison, flex, GNU make,
- TeX and groff typesetting packages,
- Ghostscript: a postscript interpreter that can drive a variety of printers and also display in an X window,
- elvis and GNU emacs text editors,
- kermit 5A telecommunications program, and
- an installation script that uses the extended filesystem, which supports long filenames and symbolic links just like the BSD file system,
- iso9660 filesystem with support for the Rock Ridge extensions for reading CDROM's (used by this CDROM distribution),
- lots of other useful programs too numerous to mention.
A 386/486 CPU, 8MB RAM, high-density floppy, 100MB IDE, SCSI or ESDI disk (200MB with sources), SCSI CDROM drive with an Adaptec 1542B, Ultrastor 14F, Future Domain TMC-1660/1680, Seagate ST01/02, or Western Digital 7000fasst SCSI controller were required for this version of Yggdrasil. The alpha distribution consists of the CDROM, and 3.5" and 5.25" high-density bootable filesystem floppies.
The alpha release was missing some of the source code of some of the packages, that being because Adam states on the announcement thread "The main limitation that I had to deal with in the alpha release was that a tar file of the initial CDROM filesystem had to fit on my 200MB disk. I won't have this limitation when I cut the beta release, so /usr/src will be much more complete. It is my intention to eventually be able to build the CDROM by saying "cd /usr/src ; make install""
