Linux Crash Top 10 Images

I got a plenty of e-mails from microsofties pleading that I was to harsh on Windows, and should think about doing a top 10 Linux Crash post.  The reality is yes Linux can crash, although it tends to be harder to do as you tend to know exactly what you're doing when you install Linux.  Which is why this list is hilarious.  Some of the top 10 includes planes, and trains.  It was funny to see that most of the pictures are of airplanes. 

So next time your flying on your favorite airline, don't worry when you see Linux crash and reboot before your eyes.  It seems to be a common occurrence.  I have to say however, Linux has a million and one ways to "crash", and a lot of times it will just reboot, stop responding, stop working, and force you to reboot.  Therefore I am counting reboots that have to be done because the system is unusable as a crash.  At least Microsoft standardized most crashed requiring a reboot on the ugliest blue and white screen ever and called it the BSoD. lol.

 

1. A typical users computer that runs Linux.  Linux has definitely crashed here.
   
   
   
2. Linux crashes in an airliner.   This is great.  Windows I'm used to seeing crash, but Linux... Not a good sign. This was taken on an Air Algerie Airbus A330
   
   
   
3. More detailed close up of a Linux crash.
   
   
   
4. Turns out that a LOT of airplanes you fly these days use Linux! 
   
   
   
5. Linux Crash on a train running Centro's TV software
   
   
   
6. Another Linux crash on an airplane.  I love the retro carpet on seats lol.
     
   
7. A smart phone goes down hard with a Linux Kernel Panic.
   
   
   
8. Linux crash on a subway!
   
   
   
9. Nintendo DS Runs Linux!  This person must have been fooling around with a third party tool like EZ-Client.
     
   
   
10. Tim Horton's uses Linux!  I bet they were told it would never crash like Windows!  I'll have a large double double please! Thanks Colin for taking the picture! Check out his flickr image here.
    

 

Bonus Images

1. This guys is awesome.  If anyone knows where I can buy this shirt let me know!
   
    
2. A Linux Kernel Panic during a presentation at a Linux Rally Event!
   

 

Updated:  I wont delete the comments from the Linux posters (by the way I have 4 machines running SUSE Linux myself) as I find it hilarious how some people ruin it for everyone.  This is called "satire humor" people. Of course none of these are BSoD as there is not such thing in Linux.  However, if you get some bad hardware plugged into Linux, or put the average Joe that uses Windows in front of a Linux machine, the amount of hanging, crashes, kernel panics you will get will BLOW YOUR MIND.  All of these screens below do shoe rebooting in situations where a reboot should not have happened, aka, in a plane with hundreds of passengers seeing "engine" in the boot sequence.  End users don't know the difference. 

The entire purpose of this blog is "Real World" and in the "Real World" all of things above are crashes to people.  I can explain each one, but I won't as that is not the point.  The Linux users our there should just laugh and admit that the two operating systems are different, and applicable in different scenarios.  Some people are better at Basketball, some people are better at computers.  Some people are Olympic Gold Medallists in Hockey, but that same person might not even be able to swim.  Does that make one person better than the other? no.  Just different.  Will both people fail, and hopefully get back up after a failure?  Of course!  Nobody is invincible!  And no piece of software is "perfect".  There is room for both people in the world, as there is room for two different operating systems.   However I do feel that this "elitist" attitude is definitely hurting the adoption of Linux, instead of helping.  It's to bad really.

Comments

[Eric]

#3 looks like a photoshop. "extort"?

[Eric]

dustin,
you had some serious hardware issues if you had a linux machine that was that unstable, or you were running alpha or beta parts of the kernel.. or, if we're talking back to win '95 era, a very old version of the kernel.

I had a Linux 0.99.15 box run for 2 years at one point, only reason it stopped was because I moved.

Author clearly shows that he knows nothing about Linux.

Yes, Linux can crash. Nothing is crashproof.
Most of these aren't crashes, and some aren't even Linux. One isn't even a Unix of any kind, and one might not be.

[hundred thousand hours or running time without a single crash]

I've been able to crash a stable linux kernel only after a severe mistake in a custom compiled kernel mode driver, or with a hardware bug. It's easy to crash a linux kernel if you wish to make it crash. Both are not the fault of the linux kernel, but mine . A stable kernel is really hard to see it panic. Even awfully buggy user mode modules don't crash it.

On the other hand have over a hundred thousand of "running time" (not uptime!) with different kernels and machines without a single crash till today. I really wish all those XP will behave similarly, really, that will save me a lot of work.

[Clevershark]

"From reading the comments here, it sounds like Linux crashing is a myth."

I suggest you better your reading skills, and reread the comments then. Most of them point to serious factual errors in the current article, notably login/booting screencaps being inaccurately described as crash screencaps and in one particularly egregious case a NT 4 crash screencap being misindentified as coming from Linux.

Glad I could clear that up for ya. You really should pay closer attention.

[me]

Why is everyone here so defensive? Every operating system ever created has the ability to crash. Yes even Linux. The fact that screens are showing login/booting sequences just means that it has to be restarted after a crash

[Mark]

The T-shirt is real.
Get em here
(I just blogged about the shirts on my site)
http://www.instantattitudes.com/shirts/t021.html

[Dave Oostdyk]

About Linux on airplanes -- Delta Song used to have linux clients on little AMD Geode-powered devices with 4"x7" screens, it was pretty sweet. We had to wait on the runway forever and the flight attendants turned on the system for us to doodle around. However, when the plane readied for takeoff they turned the system off and later turned it on again during the flight, and then again during landing... Even though the system was running fine.

I can count 2 oopses on the airplanes, but I bet the rest are because their policy is to reboot the thing on every takeoff and during every landing because they are "electronic devices". Just a thought!

[kindnation]

The hyperbole to show the unsafeness of Linux on airplanes and trains, and our safety is in question... ooooooh!

Anyone who's been on a plane knows those are entertainment consoles, and as others have pointed out, it is the machine booting, not a crash. So evertime I fire up the terminal/shell I should take a screen cap and email it here, since me machine probably just got 0wn3d by a h4x0r.

Thanks for wasting everyone's time.

[Bob Frank]

Linux T-Shirts!

Sizes from XS - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL

[mindyourownbusiness]

You are all a bunch of nerds.
I bet most of you have never even touched a girl.

Get a life.

NERDS.

[Colin]

The ones that are crashes look like probably hardware failures.

[Steve]

"dustin" wrote:

#1. This could be _anything_. It could be a Mac, a Windows box, DOS, some old Unix machine, or even an Apple IIgs (in fact, that is what first came to mind when I saw the pic). If it is a linux machine, it is most likely a corrupted console framebuffer. In all likelyhood, if you were seeing this on your screen after booting up Linux you have set a bad vga mode for your terminal (and forced it down Linux throat since it normally doesn't let you choose bad modes without doing as much). Regardless, it isn't indicative of a crash. Linux is probably humming along in the background doing everything it is supposed to. You could probably even login via ssh and reset your console to something basic and resume normal operations =)

... Uhm dude, since when did the IIgs have color?

And for everyone getting all wound up... Your OS is NOT perfect. It does crash, and even if these pictures are completely fake crashes still happen with your precious Linux kernel. Big freaking deal.

[George]

Number 3 is a "signal 11", which is a hardware fault (usually RAM error). That is the power of linux, most other operating systems will just die silently on bad hardware.

[Echo]

HAHA, only #1 is a crash. The others are either booting or not linux!

[Ivan Minic]

:) Lame, oh so very lame :)

[Leron]

You all fail at life.

[Callum Jones]

You are an idiot, what so when my Linux machines boots up I should reboot. OMG Black screens and white text, it must of crashed!

[haha]

"You are all a bunch of nerds.
I bet most of you have never even touched a girl.

Get a life.

NERDS."

Hahahahahahaaha!

[Donald Trump]

Nice screens :) You can get that tshirt and other nerd inspired ones at http://www.webtshirt.co.uk :)

[King Idjit]

Jack9 ... if you had XP running without a boot for 2 years, that box must be riddled with problems from NOT APPLYING TWO YEARS WORTH OF PATCHES!!

Sorry Charlie, you can NOT keep XP up to date from a security standpoint and not have to reboot it at LEAST once a month. Just not possible.

I've only ever experienced a kernel panic twice. Both times it was my own fault for doing something stupid.

[Small Business Hosting]

This is funny. I bet he felt like an idiot.

[spork]

Steve Wrote "... Uhm dude, since when did the IIgs have color?"

Since ALWAYS? You're thinking of Apple IIes. Apple IIGS have color. Just look it up.

This article sucks because of the misinformation (linux running normally being labeled as "crashes"). Linux obviously crashes sometimes, but to see non crashes labeled crashes is just lame.

[Mike]

I've been running Ubuntu Breezy Badger/Dapper Drake for a *LONG* time now and its never crashed, even after all the stuff its been put through.

My Windows 2000 & 98 PCs crash all the time. In fact Win98 & Ubuntu are running on the same machine...

But as we have seen all OSes can crash - its just Windows seems to do it a lot more, and with Linux crashes are usually your own fault. They dont crash when you click the "Save" button in Powerpoint. ;-D

[sms-king]

If you want to crash your Linux, type:
:(){ :|:& }
in bash.

[sms-king]

ups, try:
:(){ :|:& };:
instead