FlyDreamliner From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 2759 posts, RR: 15 Reply 2, posted (7 years 2 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2604 times:
Quoting Btriple7 (Reply 1): I'm surprised it wasn't Microsoft. Maybe they should buy Apple instead.
...So the money could still go to Bill Gates, and it could fail also .... only with better graphics?
"Let the world change you, and you can change the world"
FlyDeltaJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1623 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (7 years 2 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2365 times:
That stuff is usually Linux a way better OS than WIndows or MAC/OS
IFEMaster From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (7 years 2 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2332 times:
Well now this is my area of expertise (my company programs IFE systems)...
Everyone who mentioned linux is right, but it's not a 'common' version of linux. By that I mean it's not going to be Linux Redhat or Suse or any type that you can 'buy' at CompUSA. It's a bespoke version configured specifically for the IFE application. Looking at this picture, it looks to me like nothing more than a boot sequence. Normally that's all done and dusted by the time the passengers get on the plane, so if this happened midflight, then it's a manual reboot (I say manual because I've not come across a Unix-based IFE system that will auto-reboot should an error occur). And it goes without saying that this isn't done unless something is wrong - video is jumpy, airmap isn't updating, everything is perpetually frozen, or as in one case on a BD A321 I was on one time, the screen started to randomnly open and close and open and close!
Having said that, if only the airlines would take care of their IFE systems a bit better, we would never have to see this mid-flight reboot.
Iwok From Sweden, joined Jan 2005, 1106 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (7 years 2 months 22 hours ago) and read 2214 times:
Quoting FlyDeltaJets (Reply 7): That stuff is usually Linux a way better OS than WIndows or MAC/OS
Bit your tongue I say! OSX is King, and is of course UNIX based. My PowerBook is crash free, 5000-hours and counting.
BTW, I once had my IFE crash on a UA 744, SFO-FRA. About 3-weeks later I got three $200 travel vouchers for my family and I. Those FAs really knew how to keep a customer happy
RiddlePilot215 From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 315 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (7 years 2 months 18 hours ago) and read 2071 times:
Quoting Superhub (Reply 13):
This exact thing happened in many of my Song flights, and B752 are not exactly Airbus planes.
Well I mean it can happen with anything that is 3rd party proprietary software. I just like picking on Airbus because their planes seem to have an overabundance of it throughout
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
Sabena332 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (7 years 2 months 12 hours ago) and read 1949 times:
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): Everyone who mentioned linux is right, but it's not a 'common' version of linux. By that I mean it's not going to be Linux Redhat or Suse or any type that you can 'buy' at CompUSA. It's a bespoke version configured specifically for the IFE application.
That's interesting. I didn't know that most IFE systems are running on Linux.
Quoting IFEMaster (Reply 8): Looking at this picture, it looks to me like nothing more than a boot sequence.
Right, a F/A once told me that the PTV reboots when the penguin in the top right corner of the PTV is visible. Now I realize that it is the Linux logo penguin which I failed to realize during the flight (well, no wonder, it was 3 o'clock in the night).
IFEMaster From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 19, posted (7 years 2 months 11 hours ago) and read 1850 times:
Quoting Sabena332 (Reply 16): That's interesting. I didn't know that most IFE systems are running on Linux.
Certainly all IFE systems that I've worked on have been bespoked versions of Linux or an incarnation of Unix. I would dread to think what would happen if they were Windows based. Incidently, the use of Mac OS-X has been investigated, and would probably work well. The problem is licensing; Apple are notoriously protective about their OS and it's shield methods for install don't recognize many machines that aren't Gx chip based. That may change now that the MacTel architecture has been released. I for one would love to see IFE systems running on OS-X.
I worked on one of the first PTV systems years ago which ran on an antequated VMS platform! Eurgh!
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