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NFS 40th anniversary event

by Tom Lyon

Part of https://www.msstconference.org/ Love it or hate it, should be something for everyone

1 day, 3 hours

RFS

by Steve Simon

my memory is the major differences between the research RFS and USG’s RFS was the support of ioctls (as mentioned) and, Research RFS supported exporting file trees with an abstract name rather than the path on the source machine - a small but very useful change. research RFS could (i feel) be seen as the direct ancestor of plan9’s 9p protocol. -Steve

1 day, 10 hours

EUUG Spring 1990 Proceedings?

by Tom Lyon

Anyone holding onto this? Online anywhere? Can I borrow it for scanning? Thx.

2 days, 6 hours

CSIRO Unix

by Jonathan Gray

CSIRO is an Australian government research agency with a long history. Siromath, a commercial spinoff, had a binary redistribution license for Unix. The Siromath Unix was called SIRONIX. The Australian Unison computer was sold with SIRONIX. Siromath was also going to provide a version of Unix for the DCR/CSIRONET workstation. At some point they switched to a port of System V/68 from Neology/Softway. Does anyone know why? Or if the CSIRONET workstation got beyond the prototype stage? Did it get cancelled when CSIRONET was privatised? For more background notes see https://github.com/jonathangray/csiro-unix

1 week, 1 day

curator of 2.11BSD patches?

by John Bruner

Who is the curator of the 2.11BSD patches? I have a couple of candidate fixes for a future patch. Thanks. --John

2 weeks

Teletypes used for early Unix

by Thalia Archibald

Hello all, What teleprinter models were used at Bell Labs, particularly by the Unix groups? Judging by troff escape sequences, it expected a Teletype Model 37, and early all-caps support implies Model 33 usage. But I don’t have a sense of what users and the core developers used. I am working on building a Teletype Model 37 ASR emulator for my PiDP-11 with the goal of replicating the early Unix experience as accurately as possible without physical hardware. As I get deeper into research, I’ve learned of a variety of configuration options beyond what the operator could configure with buttons, e.g., sub-models which come with different components, optional components which can be installed later, and features that can be configured by a craftsman. Here are some examples: - Two-color was optional - The shift-out character set was configurable - An ASR could come without a tape reader/puncher - Half-line forward and reverse was optional - Character sizes varied, e.g., 72 chars per line at 10 chars per inch, adjustable up to 80 per line; or 86 per line at 12 per inch - The paper could be roll paper (friction feed)or flat-folded, form-feed paper with marginal perforations (sprocket feed) - Paper sizes varied, e.g., 3 to 8-1/2 wide or, for sprocket feed, up to 11 inches long and 9-1/2 wide - Some printed control characters; most didn’t - Holding a key could be configured to repeat the character - They could operate half-duplex (transmitted data is copied by the sender) or full-duplex (only received data is copied) - They could receive and transmit at various speeds That’s a lot of options and it’s not exhaustive. The Model 37 product catalog[0] has tables of many configurations and their catalog numbers. Is there a list of the teleprinters purchased by Bell Labs? With that, I could possibly narrow it down like how Warner Losh identified the PDP-7 model used for Unix V0. Thanks! Thalia Archibald [0]: https://ia800702.us.archive.org/32/items/TNM_Model_37_terminal_product_cata… [1]: https://bsdimp.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-pdp-7-where-unix-began.html

2 weeks, 1 day

off topic: StarTech.com parallel port printer server to give away

by arnold＠skeeve.com

Hi All. Cleaning up the basement, I found a parallel port printer ethernet server. It lets you put a parallel port printer onto your local network. It speaks the BSD lpr protocol. I used to use it on an HP LaserJet 6 printer. If anyone wants it for an old printer you might have laying around, please let me know, *privately*. It's yours for the cost of postage from Israel. Note, I no longer remember how I got it working with Linux, but I did... This was a llllooonnnngggg time agao. :-) Thanks, Arnold

2 weeks, 1 day

Re: upwards from ed (was: End of an era: the last ATC)

by Steve Simon

sam was my only editor from 92 when i discovered it until last year. under continual peer pressure i moved to zed on a mac which does many clever things i don’t need and even occasionally gets in the way, but (for me) it had one killer feature: i write go these days and use dozens of third party libraries. zed allows me to ask “what methods are available on this variable?” i would love to go back to sam but i fear adding treesitter and the rest needed to support this feature would kill one of us for sure. -Steve

2 weeks, 5 days

End of an era: the last ATC (USENIX Annual Technical Conference)

by Dan Cross

Folks, For those of you who were unable to attend, I took this photo yesterday, at the end of the closing remarks for ATC'25 in Boston: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tcaAFQgjGPn5s8Dh7 As most of you know, USENIX has sunsetted the conference, and this was the last time ATC will be run, though of course other USENIX conferences will continue in its place. But I wanted to be in the room as it ended, and I snapped this as everything was winding down, and am now sharing it with our community. For those of you who were able to attend, it was wonderful to see a number of familiar faces, and also meet some folks I've known of and interacted with here and elsewhere, face-to-face. USENIX also turned 50 this year, and the organization made sure to create space for reflection on its history; remembrances were shared by Clem Cole, Bill Cheswick, Doug McIlroy, Andrew Hume, Peter Honeyman, Tom Lyon, and others. On a personal note, I found this very meaningful: I was once told, "never meet your heroes." However, in the Unix community, by and large my heroes are wonderfully pleasant, generous, and kind people in real life, all of whom have either indirectly or directly had a profound influence on the course of my career and life. Thank you for that; it was an honor to share space with you. While ATC is ending, it is also clear that there is a vibrant research community flourishing, building on the legacy of work created by the USENIX community and shared through this conference. Many of you nurtured that community, laying its framework, shepherding and guiding its work, cultivating new generations of researchers while providing the basic tools we all depend on, and thus creating the fertile ground on which it now grows. What greater professional accomplishment could one hope for? Perhaps it is best not to think of this as an end, but an epoch marking the transition from one stage of the community's evolution to the next. - Dan C.

2 weeks, 5 days

formatting 1981 troff today?

by arnold＠skeeve.com

Hi All. As a back burner project, I have the sources for a book, given to me by the author, from around 1981. It was originally formatted using the device independent troff suite. It used the -ms macros plus an additional set of custom macros. I have the additional macros. The book used tbl and pic. A quick grep does not find any instances of .EQ, so it looks like eqn isn't needed. I would like to be able to format the book and generate PDF. What's the best way to go about this? Using groff in compatibility mode? Or the Heirloom troff suite? If the latter, what's the canonical location for it? I will be working on Linux, Ubuntu 24.04. Any and all advice will be welcome. Thanks, Arnold

3 weeks, 2 days

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