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While reading a Windows 8.1 tips & tricks blog, I came across this conversation in the comment section where they were joking about the possibility of Linux being Batcomputer's choice of OS. Could it be true? A customized OS perhaps? Could the utility belt be running Java? I've searched for an answer which yielded nothing but some vague description of it being a supercomputer and that was it!

Batcomputer

Stormblessed
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Renae Lider
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    Of course not. He obviously used BSD, Bat Software Distribution. –  Mar 23 '15 at 18:40
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    “Could the utility belt be running Java?” That's tangential to being on Linux or not. Java can run on Linux, Windows, OS X, and others. – Arturo Torres Sánchez Apr 10 '15 at 19:21
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    @ArturoTorresSánchez I knew that. I mentioned it as a separate thing, since Java is a common language in electronic devices and such. – Renae Lider Jun 12 '15 at 02:49

3 Answers3

152

I've found one in-universe and one out-of-universe instance of Batman using an actual computer (e.g. as opposed to a Hollywood computer with customised graphic interface)

1960's Batman

The 1960s Batman series used a modified Burroughs Corporation B205.

Burroughs Corporation B205

The Batcomputer in that case was running the CTOS/BTOS Operation System.

Comicbook Version - 1990s

The panel below shows that the BatComputer uses seven Cray T932 "plug-in units" to provide backup processing power.

BATCOMPUTER COMPONENTS

In order to interface with his own BatComputer, Batman must be quite proficient in using Cray's own unix-based operating system; UNICOS

DavidW
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Valorum
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    @bpvxxvqd - It's from Batman The Ultimate Guide To The Dark Knight, Page 42. – Valorum Sep 27 '20 at 17:39
  • Valorum Different from that https://2.bp.blogspot.com/UVOgAFPZMQ1gwEK3QCocpO3cBP5JOnfDuk-yhypHwHwFmoOXf6B2SrvQ3ivVj-PFKOjddyKysA6B-PcRevPDHUixkoxSnCrJG4aj_ZsdMvzXvDTgM4BQFGicFCt1oSEeZfjv4wTuzQ=s1600 – bpvwvqd Sep 27 '20 at 19:13
  • There have been two editions of this book. The "updated" edition has a black pattern underneath the batcomputer; https://i.stack.imgur.com/sizSS.jpg. The version above is simply an edited version of that. – Valorum Sep 27 '20 at 19:18
  • Please What is the source of this image for batcomputer And who is its designer https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/casscain/images/3/32/Batcomputer.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100707234137 – bpvwvqd Oct 16 '20 at 22:35
  • @bpvxxvqd - Good question, don't know. Go ask it as a question on the site! – Valorum Oct 16 '20 at 22:57
74

Expanding on the answer of @jrg and @Richard, I think we can safely assume that we should consider the question as referring to times beginning from 1980s, since that's when UNIX systems actually appeared on the mainstream user/corporate market. Obviously neither *n*x OS was an option earlier than this rough date due to movie/comix readers/watchers (not to mention creative staff's) perception of the whole computer science; we got mainly blinkenlichten in movies from pre-1980 era due to little recognition of actual computer operating systems' looks.

To sum up:

a) Since we can assume Batcomputer was a mainframe during 1980-1990 era, it's highly probable it was shipped with some custom UNIX clone, however it is not unheard of entirely machine-specific systems, especially with high-end machines. He certainly hasn't used Linux during that time, because Linux hasn't been created by Torvalds yet.

b) Beginning with ca. 1995, Batman used T932, a most powerful variant of T90 supercomputer, running UNICOS, which is in turn based on UNIX ("CRAY T90 systems run Cray Research's industry-leading UNICOS operating system based on UNIX system V"); we can safely consider he ended doing so somewhere about 2005, when it was obsoleted by Cray X1; thus he most probably wasn't using Linux for this time (even though Linux already existed).

BATCOMPUTER COMPONENTS

c) Batman's Wayne Enterprise Mainframe (which is, most probably, used as the Batcomputer, since most of Batstuff is actually disguised as actual corporate property one or another) uses *n*x OS currently; see

n-map close-up

Wayne Enterprise Mainframe:~ en$ nmap -v 192.168.23.10

with

username:path$

being the common command prompt of e.g. bash shell.

Since custom *n*x OSes are ATM the usual choice for supercomputers nowadays, mainly due to maintainability and security provided, it's quite obvious Batman would choose one for his Batcomputer. Hard to say if it's Linux or Unix/BSD clone due to lack of data - but saying it's a Unix-like OS is quite a good guess IMO.

(as as side note, I'd also assume it's a custom-tailored, highly personalized distribution - mostly because that's the way a power admin would go with his personal mainframe)

BTW:

The batman-adv kernel module has been part of the official Linux kernel since 2.6.38.

("B.A.T.M.A.N.", Wikipedia) chuckles

DavidW
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    UNIX was available well before 'the 1980s'. – mrr Apr 28 '14 at 05:06
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    @MilesRout: Quite so. A major clue is that all UNIX timestamps are calculated from 00:00 on 1 Jan 1970. According to this timeline it originated in 1969 and was "widely available outside of Bell Labs" by 1975: http://www.unix.org/what_is_unix/history_timeline.html – Royal Canadian Bandit Apr 28 '14 at 08:38
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    @MilesRout "beginning from 1980s, when UNIX systems actually appeared on the market" - I'm not saying that there weren't any UNIX before that date, only that they didn't contribute to a serious market share, quote: "During the late 1970s and 1980s, Unix developed into a standard operating system for academia." - first UNIX appeared ca. 1974; you're right it was available, you're wrong if you're trying to point my inacurracy, because there isn't one; being "wideliy available outside Bell Labs" doesn't mean anything, as it's the 7th ed, ca. 1979, that actually defined Unix in userspace. –  Apr 28 '14 at 11:28
  • @MilesRout remember that a movie/comic book has to use a hardware/software that is cryptic but identifiable to some degree; that's why many movies have snippets of actual code when there's something "hacky" going on. Also, providing an actual solution (e.g. UNIX) before most of movie/comix designers knew that it existed is something very unlikely. –  Apr 28 '14 at 11:34
  • and yes, I am aware that first versions of "UNIX" (not even functionally what we consider a UNIX today) were made before 1970; we could argue that a wheelbarrow was the first working UNIX implementation if you desire so... I mostly consider this "UNIX timeline" discussion a straw man agrument, as actually reading carefully the statement I've used is enough to show that your points are irrelevant to the statement at hand. –  Apr 28 '14 at 11:41
  • Nice answer, although I disagree that the WE mainframe is the bat computer. It's been shown the bat computer is local to the cave, and he has more than enough wealth to have his own personal super computer, which is a much more secure solution than using his companies mainframe. – Sonny Ordell Dec 12 '14 at 17:18
  • Part c) also resembles CISCO iOS. I think the username:path$ is pretty common for CLIs, even if they're custom-written. –  Apr 11 '15 at 02:19
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    What movie is that last screenshot from? – Faheem Mitha Jun 04 '15 at 22:59
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    Unironically, nmap was put in that movie for this exact question! – Jamie Clinton Sep 10 '18 at 23:38
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    @FaheemMitha Justice League: Doom. – TylerH Aug 07 '19 at 15:10
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However, Batman does use nmap (bottom of the page).

Computer screen displaying "Enter Passcode" and 5 boxes, overlaid with a text graphics popup labeled "Luther Corp Key Generator" also containing 5 boxes and a few lines of terminal output. (click to zoom).

Therefore, it is entirely likely and possible that he uses a Linux distro of some sort.

DavidW
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jrg
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    nmap is available for all platforms. – Lèse majesté Apr 27 '14 at 06:28
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    It's interesting though that even Batman forgets what services are running on his own network. – Peter Apr 27 '14 at 08:25
  • nmap can be found on Windows, Linux, Unix and etc; http://nmap.org/book/inst-windows.html – Valorum Apr 27 '14 at 10:18
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    the command line on the screenshot is clearly *nx - the 'username:path$' prompt shown on the shot is rather uncommon* on Win boxes... with rather uncommon meaning you won't see it until somebody decides to intentionally change his prompt in WinDOS to mislead you –  Apr 27 '14 at 16:41
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    @vaxquis you should post that as an answer, since unlike this one about using nmap, that point actually does provide a pretty significant argument in favor of Linux on the Batcomputer. – Matthew Najmon Apr 27 '14 at 17:11
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    This says "Wayne Enterprises Mainframe". Is that necessarily "Batman's computer"? – jpmc26 Apr 27 '14 at 19:34
  • @vaxquis: Couldn't that also appear from an SSH session or if he's running Cygwin or MinGW? – Lèse majesté Apr 28 '14 at 03:29
  • @jpmc26 Batcomputer is obviously formally a "Wayne Enterprises Mainframe", since (probably) most of the Batstuff is disguised as Wayne Enterprises property one way another. –  Apr 28 '14 at 11:29
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    @Lèsemajesté or it could be BeOS, running VMware, running virtualized Windows 8.1 running Cygwin with Wine cmd with prompt carefully disguised as *n*x one... –  Apr 28 '14 at 11:30