International Space Station Upgrades Its Laptops to Debian Linux

While people on the Earth have been using laptops with much newer operating systems, crews of the ISS (International Space Station) finally trade their outdated Windows XP laptops with new ones. Unfortunately, instead of opting for those preinstalled with Windows 8, these new laptops will use Debian Linux.

There are 140 laptops on board the space station with around 80 are turned on at any one time. These machines are used to serve critical tasks such as telemetry, crew support and internal networks. They handle about 50GB of data each week the space station receives and puts out each week. But these old laptops are already prone to frequent crashes.

Linux is used instead of Windows 8, because crews in ISS need a software platform that is reliable and stable, that would give them in-house control. The team also says that Debian-based laptops are easier to adapt, adjust and patch. The transition from Windows XP to Debian proved to be easy as the team took no more than one training session.