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Comment by xorcist | Hacker News Reader

For context, here is the semi-official Linux logotype that preceded the penguin:

https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/logos/platypus/llogo.gif

I think the idea was that platypuses give the idea of being put together by disparate parts. Once the cute penguin showed up on the scene it quickly took over however.

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I vaguely remember the Linux logo hunting phase and the platypus. The platypus made sense to me, but I get the appeal of Tux. And it's funny that it would be more than a decade from the first time I used Slackware before I realized what Slackware was named for, lol.

> I think the idea was that platypuses give the idea of being put together by disparate parts.

Once retired, the platypus was handed down to the Darwin people of course, to go with their Frankenstein NEXTSTEP/Mach/BSD kernel.

http://www.hexley.com/

Haha. I don't know what it is with open software projects and cute animals. There's also Golang's. I find them out of place (mixing cute things with technical matters), but I shouldn't complain.

Don’t forget Ferris!

> I find them out of place (mixing cute things with technical matters)

I love beautifully engineered software that's represented by a whimsical cartoon character or other non-vector-perfect hand-drawn art.

I thought the platypus was Slackware's, not Linux's, mascot at some point.

As in the old Walnut Creek CD-ROM releases:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLV_JkEWgAAOcdU?format=jpg

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