[clug] Origin of Tux

[tridge at samba.org]

Duncan,

 > Tux is actually a fairy penguin. This is a much smaller bird than the Emperor
 > penguin that zoos like to show off - it's found on parts of the southern coast
 > of Australia. There's a breeding colony on Philip Island (in Westernport Bay,
 > 90Km or so SE of Melbourne) where you can see them come in off the sea every
 > evening. I lived in Canberra in the mid 90s when Linus paid a visit there, and
 > some of the guys from CLUG (Canberra Linux Users Group) took him down to Philip
 > Island. I didn't go, but heard shortly afterwards about some kind of biting
 > incident, so suspect those stories have an element of truth in them.

The "biting incident" was at the National zoo and aquarium in
Canberra. I used to have some photos of that trip to the zoo, but lost
them in a house move (they are probably in some box in my loft).

Linus already liked penguins before his visit to Canberra, so it is a
bit hard to say whether the visit to the zoo here was really the
deciding factor in choosing a mascot, but it makes a nice story :-)

For me the really memorable thing about that visit was a lot of
CLUGers playing Linus in network doom. Doom for Linux got released the
day Linus arrived in Canberra, and my network got a really good
workout at a BBQ that week.

Cheers, Tridge