Arthur Krewat:
On 5/29/2018 4:11 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
> "I don't always use computers, but when I do, I prefer PDP-10s."
>
> B B B B - Dan C.
Write-in for President in 2020.
===
Only if he's Not Insane.
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
Long ago, at Caltech, I ran a VAX which had a mix of DZ11s and
Able DH/DMs. The latter were indeed much more pleasant, both
because of their DMA output and their fuller modem control.
For the DZ11s we used a scheme that originated somewhere in
the USG-UNIX world: output was handled through a KMC11.
Output interrupts were disablled on the DZ; a program
running in the KMC fetched output data with DMA, then
spoon-fed it into the DZ, polling the status register
to see when it was OK to send more, then sending an
interrupt to the host when the entire data block had
been sent.
The KMC, for those fortunate enough not to have programmed
it, has a very simple processor sort of on the level of
microcode. It has a few specialized registers and a
simple instruction set which I don't think had all four
of the usual arithmetic ops. I had to debug the KMC
program so I had to learn about it.
When I moved to Bell Labs a few years later, we didn't
need the KMC to drive serial lines--Dennis's stream I/O
code was able to do that smoothly enough, even with DZ11s
on a VAX-11/750 (and without any assembly-language help
either!). But my experience with the KMC was useful
anyway: we used them as protocol-offload processors for
Datakit, and that code needed occasional debugging and
tweaking too. Bill Marshall had looked after that stuff
in the past, but was happy to have someone else who
wasn't scared of it.
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
> From: Paul Winalski
> DZ11s ... the controller had no buffer
Huh? The DZ11 did have an input buffer. (See the 'terminals and communications
handbook', 1978-79 edition, page 2-238: "As each character is received ...
the data bits are placed ... in a .. 64-word deep first-in/first-out hardware
buffer, called a 'silo'.")
Or did you mean output:
> if you were doing timesharing it could bring the CPU to its knees in
> short order
The thing that killed an OS was the fact that output was programmed I/O, a
character at a time; using interrupt-driven operation, it took an interrupt
per character. So for a 9600 baud line, 9 bits/character (1 start + 7 data + 1
stop - depending on the line configuration), that's about 1000 characters per
second -> 1000 interrupts per second.
The DH11 used DMA for output, and was much easier on the machine.
Noel
Lars Brinkhoff <lars(a)nocrew.org> reports on Mon, 28 May 2018 10:31:56 +0000:
>> But apparently the inspiration came from VMS:
>> http://web.archive.org/web/20170527120123/http://www.unixtop.org:80/about.s…
That link contains the statement
>> The first version of top was completed in the early part of 1984.
However, on TOPS-20, which was developed several years before VMS, but
still from the same corporation, we had the sysdpy utility which
produced a similar display as top does.
>From my source archives, I find in score/4-utilities/sysdpy.mac the
ending comments:
;462 - DON'T DO A RLJFN AFTER A CLOSF IN NEWDPY
;<4.UTILITIES>SYSDPY.MAC.58, 2-Jun-79 14:15:54, EDIT BY DBELL
;461 - START USING STANDARD TOPS-20 EDIT HISTORY CONVENTIONS, AND
; REMOVE OLD EDIT HISTORY.
...
;COPYRIGHT (C) 1976,1977,1978,1979 BY DIGITAL EQUIPMENT \
CORPORATION, MAYNARD, MASS.
I therefore expect that there was 460-entry list of log messages that
predated 2-Jun-1979, and likely went back a few years. Two other
versions of sysdpy.mac in my archives have also dropped log messages
before 461.
Even before TOPS-20, on the CDC 6400 SCOPE operating system, there was
a similar tool (whose name I no longer recall) that gave a
continuously updated display of system-wide process activity. That was
available in at least late 1973.
I suspect that top-like displays were added to most other interactive
operating systems, as soon as screen terminals made updates convenient
without wasting console paper. One of the first questions likely to
be asked by interactive users is "what is my job doing?".
In a TOPS-20 terminal window, you could type Ctl-T to get a one-line
status report for the job that was currently running from your
terminal. For many users, that was preferable to sysdpy, and it was
heavily used.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Nelson H. F. Beebe Tel: +1 801 581 5254 -
- University of Utah FAX: +1 801 581 4148 -
- Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB Internet e-mail: beebe(a)math.utah.edu -
- 155 S 1400 E RM 233 beebe(a)acm.org beebe(a)computer.org -
- Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/ -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: Lars Brinkhoff
> I'm surprised it appeared that late. Were there any other versions or
> similar Unix programs before that?
The MIT ~PWB1 system had a thing called 'dpy', I think written at MIT based on
'ps' (and no doubt inspired by ITS' PEEK), which had similar functionality.
Seems like it never escaped, though. Man page and source here:
http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/unix/man1/dpy.1http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/unix/s1/dpy.c
The top of my hard-copy man page says 'November 1977', but I suspect it dates
back further than that.
Noel
On this day in 1936, notable mathematician Alan Turing submitted his
thesis "On Computable Numbers", thereby laying the foundations for today's
computers.
Sigh; if only he hadn't eaten that apple... And we'll never know whether
it was murder or suicide.
-- Dave
> I still find pic really useful ... > I don't know of any other tool
that lets you do drawings like that
Unix had "ideal", a remarkable language by Chris Van Wyk, based on complex
numbers and capable of some constraint solving. Its code seemed to be
lost but can now be found in one of the online v10 repositories. I've
been meaning to try to resurrect it. If anyone has already done so,
I'd love to hear about it.
I, too, have some pic macros, though no big coherent packages, to do
things like polar coordinates and solving for the intersection of lines
and circles. I have even in extremis made filled triangles with scripts
that massage PostScript by deleting corners of filled rectangles. Then
from triangles you can, with patience, make polygons.
Doug
A worthy question.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Haight <dickhaight(a)gmail.com>
Date: Thu, May 24, 2018 at 2:53 PM
Subject: unix
To: jpl.jpl(a)gmail.com
Recently I was asked if I still had a spare deck of the Unix-25 cards.
Hadn’t thought of them in years. But it made me realize that 2019 will be
the 50th. Is anyone working on something to mark the anniversary?
Hello,
I'm curious about the history of "top". As far as I can see, the first
version was written by William LeFebvre and posted to net.sources in
1984. I'm surprised it appeared that late. Were there any other
versions or similar Unix programs before that?
Best regards,
Lars Brinkhoff
All, I've just received the following e-mail. I am not able to physically
get these documents, but if you are interested in them, feel free to contact
Mel yourself.
Cheers, Warren
----- Forwarded message from meljmel-unix(a)yahoo.com -----
Date: Wed, 23 May 2018 13:30:09 +1000 (AEST)
From: meljmel-unix(a)yahoo.com
To: Warren T <wkt(a)tuhs.org>
Subject: Old Unix manuals, TMs, etc
Hi,
I started working at Bell Labs in 1971 and although
not in the computing science research department, I
was in another department down the hall. As a result
I have many old Unix manuals, TM's and other papers
that I wish to dispose of. I found you when I did a
search to see if there was anyone who might want them.
Appended below is a list of what I have. If you are
interested in any of it or know who else might be, please
let me know. If I can't find anyone to take them I guess
I'll just throw them out.
Mel
meljmel-unix(a)yahoo.com
==========
These are the old Unix Manuals I have:
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January, 1976
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 3
Published by the UNIX Support Group
March, 1977
UNIX User's Manual
Release 3.0
T.A. Dolotta
S. B. Olsson
A.G. Petrucceli
Editors
June 1980
Laboratory 364
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
Murray Hill, NJ 07974
The C Programmer's Handbook
AT&T Bell Laboratories
February 1984
M. I. Bolsky
P. G. Matthews
System Training Center
Copyright 1984
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854
Unix System V Quick Reference Guide
Copyright 1985 AT&T Technologies, Inc
307-130
UNIX TIME-SHARING SYSTEM
PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Research Version
Ninth Edition, Volume 1
September, 1986
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Murray Hill, New Jersey
The Vi User's Handbook
by Morris I. Bolsky
Systems Training Center
Copyright 1984 AT&T Bell Laboratories Incorporated
Copyright 1985 AT&T Technologies, Inc
Unix Research System Programmer's Manual
Tenth Edition, Volume I
Computing Science Research Center
Murray Hill, New Jersey
1990, American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Bell Laboratories Division
ISBN 0-03-047532-5
A. G. Hume
M. D. McIlroy
October, 1989
Unix Research System Papers
Tenth Edition, Volume II
Computing Science Research Center
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Murray Hill, New Jersey
1990, American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Bell Laboratories Division
ISBN 0-03-047529-5
A. G. Hume
M. D. McIlroy
January, 1990
----------
These are old Unix Technical Memorandum and Papers I have:
The C Reference Manual
January 15, 1974
TM: 74-1273-1
D. M. Ritchie
Programming in LIL: A Tutorial
June 17, 1974
TM: 74-1352-6
LIL Reference Manual
June 19, 1974
TM: 74-1352-8
A Description of the UNIX File System
September 16, 1975
Author J. F. Maranzano
The Portable C Library
May 16, 1975
TM: 75-1274-11
Author: M. E. Lesk
Lex - A Lexical Analyzer Generator
July 21, 1975
TM: 75-1274-15
Author: M. E. Lesk
Introduction to Scheduling and Switching under UNIX
October 20, 1975
TM: 75-8234-7
Author: T. M. Raleigh
Make - A program for Maintaining Computer Programs
December 5, 1975
TM: 75-1274-26
Author: S. I. Feldman
UNIX Programming
Brian w. Kernighan
Denis M. Ritchie
? 1975 ?
Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974
"This paper is an introduction to programming on Unix.
The emphasis is on how to write programs that interface
to the operating system."
The C Language Calling Sequence
September 26, 1977
TMs: 77-1273-15, 77-1274-13
Authors: A.C. Johnson, D.M. Ritchie, M.E. Lesk
Lint, a C Program Checker
September 16, 1977
TM: 77-1273-14
Author: S. C. Johnson
The M4 Macor Processor
April 1, 1977
TM: 77-1273-6
Authors: Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie
C Reference Manual
Dennis M. Ritchie
May 1, 1977
Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974
C Language Portability
September 22, 1977
Author: B. A. Tague
Variable Length Argument Lists in C
June 12, 1978
Author: Andrew Koenig
An Introduction to the UNIX Shell
July 21, 1978
TM: 78-1274-4
Author: S.R. Bourne
SED - A Non-Interactive Text Editor
August 15, 1978
TM: 78-1270-1
Author: Lee E. McMahon
UNIX Shell Tutorial
July 14, 1981
TM: 81-59322-5
Author: J. R. Mashey
Awk - A pattern Scanning and Processing Language
Programmer's Manual
June 19, 1985
Authors: Alfred V. Aho, Brian W. Kernighan, Peter J. Weinberger
TMs: 11272-850619-06TM, 11276-850619-09TM, 11273-850619-03TM
Yacc: Yet Another Compiler-Compiler
July 31. 1978
TM: 78-1273-4
Author: Stephen C. Johnson
RATFOR - A Preprocessor for a Rational Fortran
October 22, 1976
TM: 76-1273-10
Author Brian W. Kernighan
Miscellaneous undated (but old) papers:
On the Security of UNIX
Dennis M. Ritchie
A New Input-Output Package
D. M. Ritchie
The Unix I/O System
Dennis M. Ritchie
Programming in C - A tutorial
Brian W. Kernighan
? Date ?
==========
----- End forwarded message -----
