Editing Sinclair QL (section)

=== Linux ===

[[Linus Torvalds]] has attributed his eventually developing the [[Linux kernel]], likewise having [[Preemption (computing)|pre-emptive multitasking]], in part to having owned a Sinclair QL in the 1980s. Because of the lack of support, particularly in his native [[Finland]], Torvalds became used to writing his own software rather than relying on programs written by others.<ref>{{cite AV media | people = Torvalds, Linus (speaker) |title = Presentation: "The Origins of Linux," |date = 19 September 2001 | via = [[YouTube]] |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTWCPoUt8w&t=9m13s  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/WVTWCPoUt8w| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|time = 9:13}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In part, his frustration with [[Minix]] on the Sinclair<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moody |first=Glyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIU1scm4w6QC |title=Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution |date=2009-02-18 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-7867-4520-3 |pages=90 |language=en}}</ref> led years later to his purchase of a more standard [[IBM PC compatible]] on which he would develop Linux. In ''[[Just for Fun (book)|Just for Fun]]'', Torvalds wrote, "Back in 1987, one of the selling points of the QL was that it ''looked'' cool", because it was "entirely matte black, with a black keyboard" and was "fairly angular". He also wrote he bought a floppy controller so he could stop using microdrives, but the floppy controller driver was bad, so he wrote his own. Bugs in the operating system, or discrepancies with the documentation, that made his software not work properly, got him interested in operating systems. "Like any good computer purist raised on a 68008 chip," Torvalds "despised PCs", but decided in autumn 1990 to purchase a [[I386|386]] custom-made IBM PC compatible, which he did in January 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Torvalds |first1=Linus |url=http://archive.org/details/justforfun00linu |title=Just for fun : the story of an accidental revolutionary |last2=Diamond |first2=David |date=2001 |publisher=New York : HarperBusiness |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-06-662072-5 |pages=43–60}}</ref>