From: "jack" <java@fireplug.net>
To: <cool@eklektix.com>
Subject: ThinLinux
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 13:06:46 -0800


Elizabeth

Thanks for your response to my request to list the Thinlinux distribution.

In response to your questions please note:

	1. Who are the people behind ThinLinux?

The FirePlug Consulting Group or more formally FirePlug Computers Inc., is
the corporate presence behind ThinLinux.  The "Group" is comprised of
Vancouver Internet pioneers who have been at the edge of new technology for
some 20 years.  One of their most recognised achievements was Canada's first
commercial Internet site, www.wimsey.com (best Canadian commercial site '94
and '95).  For years, the most frequently quoted web address on Canada's CTV
television news was "wimsey dot com."

The principals behind this scene were Stuart Lynne and Richard Pitt.  Stuart
had been working with fax software creation for Unix systems when, courtesy
of the University of British Columbia, in 1983 he linked his 1200-baud modem
to the Internet.  By 1986, this had led to the formation of Wimsey
Information Services and eventually to the development of Wimsey.com.  The
single SCO Unix system handled UUCP mail and news for a flat annual charge
that would cover its costs.  During this period, Richard's business, Pacific
Data Capture was administering SCO and other Unix systems for many Vancouver
and South Western British Columbia firms.  Richard had an early career in
photography and graphic design with related database oriented technology
software development.

In 1992 Richard joined with Stuart doing system administration at Wimsey.
Many of Richard's customers were already Wimsey customers, their consulting
business combined and the fit was a natural.  By early 1993, nearly all the
BBS (Bulletin Board systems) in Western Canada got their Internet e-mail and
UseNet news via Wimsey's modems.  Many of their original clients went on to
become competitors.  The fax business was sold to a U.S. based company in
order to concentrate on their more immediate internet developments.  Through
Stuart's excellent knowledge of the Internet and related access software,
the company progressed not only as an ISP but as a consultant and provider
of services to other ISP's.

Another current member of Fireplug's team, Bruce Balden (VP System
Engineering), came aboard Wimsey in 1995.  With degrees in Mathematics and
Physics as well as linguistics talents (5 languages), Bruce excels at
programming, encryption and system engineering.  The combination of
experience and knowledge increased the Wimsey team's innovative abilities.
Internet clients, at this time, where largely tied to their local ISP's
lines.  This was special frustrating for those who travelled, they generally
valued Internet access especially when they were away from their home or
office base and it resulted in large long distance bills.  The Wimsey team
developed a system called "Internet in a box" which combined hardware and
custom software to make a package that included the ability for customers of
one ISP to "roam into another's.  The user was able to simply use the e-mail
address and password as their identifier to log onto a remote ISP's system
as if they were on their local station.  This VIP (Virtual Internet
Presence) software was deployed on systems across Canada, and areas as
diverse as Denver CO. and Beijing China.

In late 1995, Wimsey was sold to a new start up iSTAR, with Fireplug
Computers formed to carry forward a number of software and system
development initiatives

	2.  What is your goal and why did you decide to create ThinLinux?

ThinLinux evolved from our need to deal with the rapidly changing Linux
technology, not only for our own projects such as the EDGE (which we all use
for our own home based office firewalls) but for our consulting customers'
products and projects. Unlike many traditional embedded OS's, Linux is
undergoing rapid and extensive changes on an almost daily basis. In order to
allow the underlying OS to evolve without completely invalidating a
product's own configuration and necessary binaries and scripts, we needed to
create a prototyping and production environment that dealt with this need
for versioning and cross version compatibility.

The rest of the ThinLinux product offering is based upon our long
established support and product development skills and techniques. ThinLinux
cannot stand alone, it requires support from the BIOS, hardware, human
interface design, production testing and customisation, and end user
support.


	3.  When did the project start and when was it first available for
download?

The original FirePlug IF-1 "Information Furnace" was created in mid 1997.
Another project for a customer intervened in its creation schedule so it was
never released. During the time since then, we decided that the speed
that the Linux technology is advancing at meant that keeping a firewall
module working correctly on a general purpose computer despite all the
operating system changes and addition of new/changed software simply was not
practical. Using a separate, stand-alone system was a much better idea, with
the general purpose Linux box as one of the protected systems.

The EDGE firewall software is just the firewall aspect of this original
IF-1 concept. In creating it, we looked at a number of the "minimal" Linux
configurations and worked initially with the Linux Router Project code base.
This code base was an excellent example of a software project with a single
purpose in mind. Since our background is really quite broad, and we had
already looked at a number of other uses in the home and office for services
and systems based upon Linux, we decided that what we really wanted was a
more general toolkit for the creation of network connected appliance
systems. In order to make this work easily and supportably over a long
period of time, we needed to introduce the concept of a separation of the
application from the underlying operating system - at least to the point
where upgrading the OS would allow configuration files and extensions to be
kept and expected to function correctly within the new base - in other
words, versioning.

So, out of the desire for a stand-alone firewall, we developed the initial
concept of breaking the IF-1 down into embedded applications on separate
hardware platforms. The way to do this was to basically re-do the Linux
Router Project concept completely.

The EDGE router project was conceived as a way to first of all give
something back to the Internet community as partial payment for all of the
synergy, help and interaction we have drawn upon over our development cycle.
It also served as a testing and feedback pool of customers for the long term
goal of the development of ThinLinux itself; the base upon which EDGE is an
application.

The initial release versions of EDGE were put out in late 1998. Since then,
thousands of downloads of the various versions have been taken to over 100
countries, and are in daily use by people not only for their homes, but for
small (and even some fairly large) businesses.

	4.  What do you think you have to offer that other Linux
distributions do not?
 
ThinLinux is not just a minimal version of Linux. It is a whole product line
of tools and techniques, support and services aimed at the large scale
manufacture and support of products using Linux as the embedded OS.

An example of the extended services not available from any other vendor to
our knowledge, is the ability to use PC hardware with not only no video
card, but no serial ports as well - completely without a port that could be
considered a "console". This involves modifications to the BIOS as well as a
number of manufacturing techniques that allow systems that are otherwise
absolutely identical down to the MAC address in the Ethernet port, and with
nothing but an absolute minimum boot ability via Ethernet, to be fully
configured, uniquely serialized/MAC addressed, burned in, and made ready for
delivery with no additional labour. The reduction in components that this
allows results in the extension of the market for such devices well beyond
what could result from the use of the traditional complete PC architecture
that others are using.

We work with product designers to customize the BIOS, product hardware,
manufacturing techniques, and ongoing product support and extensions.

This understanding and orientation towards the actual manufacture of large
numbers of a product is unique in the embedded Linux community.

As for the actual ThinLinux distribution, it also is unique in that it
reflects the reality of the Linux environment and the rapid changes that it
is undergoing. The versioning system allows prototyping with many different
setups, and the configuration facility allows rapid backtracking to
previously working versions if something goes wrong. In other distributions,
the configurations overwrite the original set-up. After a number of sessions
of interacting, changing, and testing, there is no way to return to an
otherwise working system if something goes wrong other than to completely
re-install. In ThinLinux, simply removing the configuration save file (or
substituting a previously working one) will return the system to sanity.

In addition, the ability to take a configuration save file and drop it onto
a new version of the base OS and in most cases have it work without changes,
allows a product manager to plan and issue updates as the state of the art
advances, without incurring either exhorbitant support costs, or the wrath
of the end user.

All in all, ThinLinux approaches the problem from the long term, high volume
production perspective.

************

Let me know if the above works for you.

Richard Pitt is among the Canadian computer industry's more frequently
quoted personalities. He has been interviewed by or contributed articles to
publications of all sizes, over the years, and appeared as an expert guest
on countless numbers of radio and television shows. If you go to
http://www.mediaontap.com/ingram-comdex/ you will see him in streaming video
from last weeks local Comdex show floor.

Regards, jack


Jack van den Akker 		java@fireplug.net
Tel:(604) 469 5995		http://www.thinlinux.org

http://edge.fireplug.net - free firewall software