Linux
Richards designed the first Linux version in late 2001 and produced a number of proof of concept systems including "Doom on a Disk", a bootable mini-CDROM based version that ran the free version of ID Software' DOOM game. The CDROM was given out as a free demonstration at Linux World that year.
Smallfoot itself was the result of a number of internal and external projects that Richards was working on at the time. The initial idea behind Smallfoot came from a project that he was working on to build a custom Linux distribution, based on Red Hat 5 for Linetex Computers based in Woking and a project that a colleague sitting across the room was working on for Deutsche Bahn (an embedded Openserver solutions for platform messaging).
Alan Bristow, then the IT director at Linetex commissioned SCO Professional Services to build a shrink-wrapped Linux distribution for a project called eSP, a PC based systems management and monitoring platform.
Soon after this, the late Chuck Zenkus (IT director and project director) from Incredible Technologies approached Caldera Systems in Utah with the idea of creating a Linux development and OS platform for its new TouchIT system.
Caldera Systems did not have the engineering bandwidth at the time and so subcontracted the work out to SCO in the UK. (Note: Caldera Systems completes its acquisition of the SCO OS business in mid-2001. The Incredible Technologies deal was part of an early strategic delivery deal initiated prior to the acquisition. SCO Professional Services Group deliver the ITS work, not Caldera Systems (formerly LST) in Erlangen, Germany, where the OpenLinux development was done).
Richards was tasked with developing a stateless Linux OS platform and development environment. The basic requirements of the OS were that it could remain stable and secure in the field, whilst performing 3D SDL/OpenGL graphical operations and stereo 44.1 kHz wave playback on a moderate CPU platform. The TouchIt system had just 32MB of RAM and was based on a Celeron 500. Of this 32MB, 16MB was actually shared on the motherboard by the i815 graphics card.
TouchIt was shown at the 2001 ATEI in Las Vegas, opposite Nolan Bushnells' UWink system. UWink was also based on Linux, but had a special button in the cash box that needed to be pressed to shut it down without corruption. It took 3 minutes to boot.
Conversely, TouchIT took 33 seconds to boot into game and the power cord could just be pulled to power down the system. TouchIT survived over 40,000 hours of testing without a single OS failure while UWink died if you pulled out the power whilst running too often.
These two platforms formed the knowledge base for Smallfoot.
It was at this point that Ransom Love visited the UK offices and viewed a demonstration of Smallfoot. Further funding and support followed.
Read more about this topic: Smallfoot, History, Version One