Announcing the formal release of Caos Linux NSA 1 for x86 and x86_64!

The Caos team of developers and contributors from Infiscale are proud to announce the public release of Caos Linux NSA version 1. Caos Linux is a community-managed and openly-maintained distribution of Linux focusing on areas where Linux naturally leads and excels: high performance computation (HPC), servers (especially LAMP and general Web), and custom appliances (such as file servers and firewalls).

This release identifies the stabilization and validation of the core operating system, fully tested on some of the world's fastest public and private systems and architectures.

While Caos Linux NSA signifies a new focus in Linux distributions, it also represents a return to what got people involved with Linux in the first place. It is built using known standards and good practices of the open source community with the end users' input and needs taken into consideration. Features are never held back or forced in solely for monetary reasons; technical decisions are always made by technical people for technical reasons. Caos is clean, simple, solid, and fast while still maintaining the level of stability and resilience demanded by enterprise and high-performance computing.

Many distributions no longer focus on the core competencies that always made Linux so proficient, choosing instead to emulate Windows on the desktop and commercial Unix vendors on the server at the same time. In stark contrast to these diametrically opposed goals, the Caos core operating system has been tuned using very large and tightly-coupled HPC cluster systems. Careful tweaking and optimizations have resulted in a very streamlined, lightweight operating system still suitable for a large spectrum of uses, from simple desktops to petaflop supercomputers. Future development also includes a release for embedded systems.

Background:

The Caos project was founded in 2003 with the goal of creating a global open development structure for a completely community-maintained, RPM-based distribution of Linux. Shortly after the project's inception, the Caos developers also began work on CentOS, a rebuild of the source packages comprising Red Hat Enterprise Linux, to provide a development platform and transitional mechanism for Caos, their Community-Assembled Operating System. The team has attracted some very talented developers over the years and are now actively growing the project again due to a new resurgence in use, industry commitment, and great community feedback and support.

Development Team:

At the heart of Caos Linux lies a group of developers dedicated to high performance. These same developers have already produced some very well-respected projects: general-purpose Caos Linux 1 and 2, CentOS, Warewulf, Perceus, and RazorWire. Along with Caos Linux NSA, the soon-to-be-released Abstractual (cloud management system) and Equilibria (load balancer) projects now join this wide array of quality open source solutions.

The Caos development team is currently seeking software developers, package maintainers, technical writers, evangelists (including trade show booth staff), and other supporters. Internships are also available at Infiscale and other organizations currently assisting with development.

Cooperation with industry:

Currently several large commercial entities are standardizing on and supporting Caos Linux, and a number of very large high-performance cluster systems at Top500 are running or evaluating it as well. Caos Linux NSA is the only freely-downloadable Linux distribution that is certified as Intel Cluster Ready (ICR), guaranteeing out-of-the-box compatibility with independent software applications such as Abaqus, Anima, Fluent, Petrel, and numerous others. Caos is even available embedded on all Intel Motherboards supporting Rapid Boot.

The Caos developers are committed to working closely with vendors (both IHV and ISV) and have a history of being on the leading edge of new/custom features and latest hardware support. For example, the new Intel Nahalem CPU's are fully compatible with Caos and offer embedded capabilities, including built-in Perceus provisioning on all new Intel motherboards, so high-end hardware is often supported even before it comes out! The ability to use the latest and greatest hardware is no longer reserved solely for those running commercial operating systems.

About Infiscale:

In 2005 the developers of Caos and GravityPark decided to merge and create a new organization called Infiscale. Far too often, projects that begin as free and open source software disappear or become closed/commercial offerings at the first sign of success, leaving the community scrambling to find alternatives. Infiscale's goal is to keep open tools open and free projects free, to ensure the survival of the software many users in the community have grown to rely upon. Infiscale provides a corporate interface to open source projects when needed. For instance, vendors hoping to guarantee compatibility with their products or services may partner with Infiscale to facilitate this achievement. Infiscale can also provide support and consulting services for clients requiring assistance or service-level agreements. The funding provided by these commercial offerings allows Infiscale's development team to continue contributing great free software to the community.