Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset

The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS) is a Unix-like operating system kernel that can run on Intel 8086-compatible microprocessors. ELKS, formerly known as "Linux-8086", is a small subset of Linux and can run on machines with limited processor and memory resources, including machines with 16-bit microprocessors that are not supported by Linux.

ELKS is free software and is available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

History

* 1995 - Development of Linux-8086 by Linux kernel developers Alan Cox and Chad Page starts as a fork of the standard Linux.
* Early 1996 - The project is renamed ELKS, Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset.
* 1997 - The first website http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ (now offline) is created.
* August 8, 1997 - ELKS 0.0.63 is released.
* June 22, 1999 - ELKS 0.0.77 is released. This version is the first that is able to run a graphical user interface (the [http://www.microwindows.org/ Nano-X Window System] ).
* July 21, 1999 - ELKS boots on a Psion 3a PDA (SIBO architecture).
* January 10, 2000 - ELKS 0.0.82 is released, the first official version which includes the SIBO port.
* March 3, 2000 - The [http://sourceforge.net/projects/elks/ ELKS project] is registered on SourceForge, the new website is http://elks.sourceforge.net/. [ [http://sourceforge.net/projects/elks/ SourceForge ELKS project page] ]
* January 6, 2001 - Alan Cox declares the project "basically dead". [January 6, 2001 [http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=56220 project status update] from Alan Cox]
* June 17, 2001 - ELKS 0.0.84 is released.
* April 29, 2002 - ELKS 0.1.0 is released, this is the first beta version. [ [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=3232&package_id=3148&release_id=87385 ELKS 0.1.0, the first beta version] ]
* December 18, 2002 - EDE (the Elks Distribution Edition, a distribution based on the ELKS kernel) version 0.0.5 is released. [ [http://lwn.net/Articles/18400/ Announce of the EDE 0.0.5 release] ]
* January 6, 2003 - ELKS 0.1.2 is released. [http://elks.sourceforge.net/ Official ELKS website] ]
* May 3, 2006 - ELKS 0.1.3 is released, the first official release after a long hiatus in development. [ [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=3232&package_id=3148&release_id=414456 ELKS 0.1.3, currently the last released version] ]

More than 30 developers have contributed to this project since the Linux fork.

Current status and usage

The development, as of 2006, has restarted. The latest released version is 0.1.3 and the latest EDE version is 0.0.5b. [ [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=3232&package_id=68748 EDE SourceForge download page] ]

ELKS runs on IBM personal computer-compatible systems and on Psion SIBO PDAs. It has been used as the base for the FlightLinux real-time operating system for spacecrafts. [ [http://flightlinux.gsfc.nasa.gov/ FlightLinux official website] ]

See also

* IBM Personal Computer
* Psion 3

References

External links

* [http://elks.sourceforge.net/ Official ELKS website]
* [http://compsolutions.ath.cx:86/elks/ Temporary site with recent CVS snapshots]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.debath/ ELKS development tools]
* [ftp://ftp.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pub/elks/ FTP site with old ELKS source files]