Geek Time with Linus Torvalds
September 27th, 2010 | Published in Google Open Source
Linus Torvalds and Jeremy Allision were both in Sao Paulo, Brazil a few weeks ago for LinuxCon, where they were both presenters. Later in the week when they were waiting to go on a safari at the Sao Paulo Zoo, Jeremy seized the opportunity to go on a trip down memory lane when he asked Linus about the Sinclair QL they each owned while growing up. Because it was so hard to get software for it in Finland, Linus wrote his own assembler and editor (in addition to Pac-Man graphics libraries). They continue to reminisce about more archaic hardware like floppy drives, microdrives, 512 K RAM expansion packs and the Acorn Archimedes.
It’s a geek fest for fans of British computers from the ‘80s! Who knew that the Sinclair QL would play a role in the development of the modern free operating system?
By Ellen Ko, Open Source Team