Worlds largest physics project kicks off its operation by allowing the first light beam through its $10 billion LHC accelerator. There is an interesting news for Free and OpenSource software enthusiasts. Believe it or not Large Hadron Collider (LHC) runs on “Linux”.
Image: View of the Computer Center during the installation of servers. (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN) Source: Boston.com
Yes, CERN is running a custom Linux distribution called CernVM inside the LHC Computing Grid (LCG - https://lcg.web.cern.ch/LCG
). Its one of the Scientific Linux distribution running directly on the hardware.
The core reason behind choosing Linux for LHC is that, its not at a risk from the blue screen of death.
Following information has been revealed by Sean Michael Kerne on InternetNews.com:
CERN itself is no stranger to Linux and is one of the lead backers of the Scientific Linux distribution, which is a recompiled version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
VMWare also powers LHC Computing Grid:
Read the complete story – VMware Fusion Helps CERN Physicists Analyze Data From Coolest Place on Earth