Singapore Airlines puts a Linux PC in every seat

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

http://www.networkworld.com/cgi-bin/mailto/x.cgi?pagetosend=/export/home/httpd/htdocs/news/2007/082207-worldbeat-singapore-airlines-puts-a.html&pagename=/news/2007/082207-worldbeat-singapore-airlines-puts-a.html&pageurl=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/082207-worldbeat-singapore-airlines-puts-a.html

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. (...)

KrisWorld, Singapore Airlines' in-flight entertainment system, is a main focus of these efforts, offering on-demand movies, television shows, games and music to passengers. Now, the airline aims to raise the bar, rolling out a new version of KrisWorld that improves significantly on existing systems and hints at what passengers can expect to see on the Airbus S.A.S. A380 and The Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner, when these aircraft enter service. (...)

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. (...)

The heart of the KrisWorld system is the main server, which is equipped with "terabytes" of storage capacity to hold the content that's made available to passengers, Tong said. When passengers choose to watch a movie or listen to a CD, the content is streamed from the KrisWorld server to the seat's computer, which has 40G bytes of local hard-disk space and is based on a Via Technologies Inc. processor. (more at link)

[Parche]

1. Singapore

While I sell my share of Singapore Airlines trips, I doubt if that A-380 will make it off the
ground with all of the issues it is having......:hi:

[billyskank]

2. So "Linux isn't ready for the desktop," but it IS ready for the armchair.

Who knew?

[NewJeffCT]

3. And their flight attendants are very attractive, too

If I'm not mistaken.

[HERVEPA]

4. Attractive, but somewhat plasticy

Seemed like pasted on smiles. Country is kind of plasticy also.
Beautiful airport, though.
The stewardesses get kicked out when they reach a not-very-old age.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. This post is useless without pics. -nt

[NewJeffCT]

6. ask, and you shall receive

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Singapore_Airlines_flight_attendants.jpg

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. Meh. Brazilian flight attendants are WAY prettier. Nice attire, though. -nt

[MrCoffee]

8. airplane seats are small enough without sharing it with a PC

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. I suppose it will be embedded in the seat in front.

From Apple, we learn that PCs can be made very small indeed.