Terra Soft partners with computer manufacturer

Terra Soft Solutions Inc.’s year-long search for a hardware manufacturer to package its Linux operating system is over.

The Loveland-based software development company has formed a partnership with Total Impact Inc. of California. Terra Soft’s Yellow Dog and Black Lab Linux operating systems now will come pre-installed on Total Impact’s G4 briQ computers.

“We have moved into a very unique relationship whereby our company now provides an integrated hardware and software, high performance computing solution,” company CEO Kai Staats said. “In essence, we now sell complete computers with Yellow Dog or Black Lab Linux preinstalled and configured.”

Linux is an open-source operating system that offers end users an alternative to proprietary operating systems like Microsoft Windows. Any Internet user can download Linux for free and customize the source code. But re-packagers of the system — like Terra Soft — can sell unique improvements and customer support as long as they also provide buyers with the complete source code for their version.

Terra Soft will begin selling the briQ as independent units running on the Yellow Dog Linux system or as a group of interconnected computers running on the Black Lab Linux system. The Black Lab briQ is ideal for customers who need a supercomputer but can’t afford the astronomical price, company officials said. A group of briQs running on Black Lab can be used to support several computers working in conjunction on the same problem. For example, a California company that ordered 16 of the Black Lab-equipped briQs said the system could be used to develop a panoramic mosaic from a set of Mars Pathfinder images.

Staats said that Terra Soft’s next goal is to bring the company’s Power PC Linux operating systems to the mainstream, marketing the systems to individual users and office network administrators.

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