BSD Daemon

The original BSD Daemon as drawn by John Lasseter, mascot of the Berkley Software Distribution

The BSD Daemon is the mascot of the original Berkeley Software Distribution of the Unix operating system. The name is derived from a common Unix application called a daemon, which is a program that runs in the background, typically with no human intervention. The BSD Daemon commonly carries a triton (also known as a pitchfork) to denote a daemon's forking of processes.

The BSD Daemon was originally drawn by artist John Lasseter. While Lasseter was on sabbatical from Walt Disney in 1988, Marshal Kirk McKusick hired him to draw the cover art for his book, "The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD Operating System", and purchased the rights to the image. After its publication, it soon became the official BSD mascot.

In old English, the word "daemon" means a deified being - that is, one who is half man and half god. Although some have claimed that its name is "Chuck" because it wears Chuck Taylor shoes, this is incorrect. The BSD Daemon has no official name, but may be referred to as "beastie".

The BSD Daemon is sometimes paired with the Linux operating system mascot, Tux the penguin. They appear together in humorous wallpapers and drawings. The BSD Daemon was also constructed in Legos by Eric Harshbarger, the same artist who created the Lego model of Tux.

Related Topics

• Hexley, the mascot of the open source Darwin operating system
• Tux, the Linux mascot
• Unix

External links

• More BSD Daemon images
• The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD Operating System