What is "pardus"

Pardus may refer to:

• Saint Pardus, patron saint of Larino, Italy
• Dan Pardus, an American NASCAR driver
• Pardus (operating system), a GNU/Linux distribution developed in Turkey
• Panthera pardus, the scientific name for the Leopard
• Pardus (browser game), graphical browser-based MMORPG
• Pardus, Pennsylvania, a community in the United States

Pardus is a Linux distribution developed with support from the Turkish government. Pardus’ main focus is office-related work including the use in Turkish government agencies. Despite that, Pardus ships in several languages. Its ease of use and availability free of charge has spawned numerous communities throughout the world.

Pardus is an award-winning graphical browser-based MMORPG written in PHP and C/ C++ and set in a futuristic universe where players interact and compete in space. It is a persistent-universe, open-ended game with a player-driven economy. Players travel through hundreds of "sectors" or solar systems while trading, building or battling with Non-Player Characters ( NPCs) and other players. There are dozens of spacecraft models in Pardus, which can be customized with different weapons, armor and other equipment. Pardus characters do not have a defined 'class'.

Partially inspired by classic computer games such as Elite and Master of Orion II, Pardus was developed and published by the Austrian company Bayer&Szell OG. Alpha testing of the game began September 2004 and the core feature set was finished by October 1, 2006.