KYZO has announced the release of the commercial version of its popular PizzaBox Linux completely pre-installed in a tiny, bootable CompactFlash card. It's called the PizzaBox Linux distribution because a prototype server was built in a Pizza Hut Takeout box. Now, KYZO ships every copy of the commercial version of PizzaBox Linux in — you guessed it — a pizza box!

Two high profile users of the… free PizzaBox Server include NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and also the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL). The commercial version is the same basic software as the free version, which will still be available, but differs in one significant respect: it is shipped pre-installed in a bootable Flash-ROM and comes with the circuit board you need to make it boot in any 486 (or above) PC.

The package is ideal for embedded systems which can't afford the resources of desktop PCs or where the environmental stresses make magnetic media disk drives unsuitable and unreliable. The PizzaBox Linux system includes File, Print & CD sharing, remote access (for full remote administration), UPS monitoring, Tape backup, Hardware monitoring, APM. It will automatically accept both SCSI & IDE hard drives and comes with a sophisticated, JavaScript enabled, web management interface.

A list of supported devices, including controllers for Ethernet, SCSI, and IDE, is provided on the KYZO web site. Additional options listed, also useful for embedded Linux based applications, include the M-Systems DiskOnChip (DOC) Flash solid state disk (SSD), Advanced Power Management (APM) functions, and LM79 Compatible Environmental Monitoring.

About PizzaBox Linux

The PizzaBox File Server is a Linux and Samba based File, Print and CD Thin Server designed to run from Flash ROM on standard PC hardware. It is based on a custom distribution of Linux developed entirely in-house. The Windows compatible File, Print, & CD services are provided by Samba, and the Web administration is run using Apache. All the software on the system is GPL / GNU / open source software, or has been written in-house.

One of the main benefits of the PizzaBox File Server is that the operating system occupies just 6 MBytes of space and can therefore easily run from within a Flash ROM. The ROM can be made read-write for the purpose of software updates, and then made read-only again for normal (protected) operation. The PizzaBox File Server's software is streamlined to be a File/CD Server. These factors improve its performance, robustness, and reliability. Separating the operating system from the data also makes maintenance a lot easier, especially disaster recovery.

A completely FREE evaluation copy of the PizzaBox File Server is available, specifically adapted to run from a mechanical hard drive. It is called the PizzaBox – take a look why! . For further information email James Stevens at [email protected].

 
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