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6407 discussions

by Diomidis Spinellis

I remember being told back in the 1980s that vi would set the terminal to "cooked mode" when vi was in "insert mode", so as to reduce expensive context switching for each character typed. Only vi's "command mode" would set the terminal to "raw mode" so as to provide immediate feedback on each (command) character typed. This would be a clever system performance optimization, and would also explain designing vi around distinct insert and command modes. However, I can't find such evidence even as far back as BSD 1. It seems that in insert mode ESC was processed like any other character. https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo/blob/BSD-1-Snapshot-Develop… Cooked mode was only entered when scrolling in order to receive interrupts. https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo/blob/BSD-1-Snapshot-Develop… Also, for this scheme to work ESC would need to be mapped to an interrupt key, so as to allow exiting the cooked mode through the corresponding signal handler. Again, grepping for ESC, did not show me any such code. I also remember being told that this optimization was what allowed twenty students to concurrently perform interactive editing on a VAX 11/780 (running 4.2BSD and then 4.3BSD), and that Emacs was not provided to students because it was always operating in raw mode. Was I misled? Was there perhaps a hacked version of vi that worked in this way? -Diomidis

2 years, 2 months

Four windowing systems on SunOS

by Kevin Bowling

Cameron Kaiser has written up a nice survey on some windowing systems that can run under OS/MP or SunOS https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2022/10/if-one-guis-not-enough-for-your-sparc.h…

2 years, 2 months

Re: vi in cooked mode?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Diomidis Spinellis > I remember being told back in the 1980s that vi would set the terminal > to "cooked mode" when vi was in "insert mode", so as to reduce expensive > context switching for each character typed. > ... > However, I can't find such evidence even as far back as BSD 1. Maybe you're thinking of Multics Emacs, which had such a capability: https://multicians.org/mepap.html Noel

2 years, 2 months

[OT] Usenix Conference in Sydney - anybody else?

by Warren Toomey

Hi all, I'll be attending the Usenix SREcon22 Asia/Pacific Conference which is being held in Sydney, Australia on the 7-9 December. Is anybody else attending? If so, it'd be nice to catch up with some other TUHSers :-) https://www.usenix.org/conference/srecon22apac/program Cheers, Warren

2 years, 2 months

Re: Early Unix and Keyboard Skills

by Douglas McIlroy

> Touch typists can spot an illtyperate programmer from a mile away. > They don't even have to be in the same room. I once thought of touch typing as employment of all fingers. Then I met Fred Grampp. Using only four fingers, he typed as fast as most good programmers. He knew where to hit, with a kinesthetic sense that had progressed beyond dependence on "home keys". It was an athletic performance, astonishing to watch. Doug

2 years, 2 months

early Unix papers, from Jim Joyce

by Rich Morin

Some of you may recall my friend Jim Joyce, who was an early proponent of Unix. IIRC, he taught the first course on Unix at UCB. Later on, he started and ran mail-order bookstores and seminars specializing in Unix-related topics, helped to found Unix Review, etc. In any event, I have about a cubic foot of early Unix papers, saved from Jim's files after his death. It's quite likely that all of these papers are already available in collections, but I'd like to make sure that any exceptions don't get lost. Also, the printed copies may have some independent historical merit. Suggestions? -r

2 years, 2 months

Re: Four windowing systems on SunOS

by Nelson H. F. Beebe

Larry McVoy reports today: >> People like Sunview's api enough that there was an Xview toolkit which >> was Sunview ported to X10/X11. The interface was nicely documented in three editions of a book (I have no entry for the second edition): @String{pub-ORA = "O'Reilly \& {Associates, Inc.}"} @String{pub-ORA:adr = "981 Chestnut Street, Newton, MA 02164, USA"} @Book{Heller:1990:XPM, author = "Dan Heller", title = "{XView} Programming Manual", volume = "7", publisher = pub-ORA, address = pub-ORA:adr, pages = "xxviii + 557", year = "1990", ISBN = "0-937175-38-2", ISBN-13 = "978-0-937175-38-5", LCCN = "QA76.76.W56 D44 v.7 1990", bibdate = "Tue Dec 14 22:55:18 1993", bibsource = "http://www.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/master.bib", acknowledgement = ack-nhfb, } @Book{Heller:1991:XPM, author = "Dan Heller", title = "{XView} Programming Manual", volume = "7A", publisher = pub-ORA, address = pub-ORA:adr, edition = "Third", pages = "xxxvii + 729", month = sep, year = "1991", ISBN = "0-937175-87-0", ISBN-13 = "978-0-937175-87-3", LCCN = "QA76.76.W56 H447 1990", bibdate = "Mon Jan 3 17:55:53 1994", bibsource = "http://www.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/master.bib", series = "The Definitive guides to the X Window System", acknowledgement = ack-nhfb, } I have the first edition on a shelf near my campus office chair, and continue to use olvwm as my window manager on multiple O/Ses, for 30+ years. Every window manager designed since seems to fail to understand the importance of user customizable, and pinnable, menus, which I exploit to the hilt. The menu customization goes into a single, easy to edit, text file, $HOME/.openwin-menu. Compare that to the Gnome desktop, with hundreds of files, many of them binary, stored in hidden directories under $HOME, and for which any corruption breaks the window system, and prevents login (except via a GUI console). Also. olvwm does not litter a default desktop with icons for applications that many of use would never use: just a simple blank desktop, with menu popups bound to mouse buttons. With olvwm, you can have any number of virtual desktops, not just the 2 or 4 offered by more modern window manaugers, and unlike some of those, windows can be dragged between desktops. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Nelson H. F. Beebe Tel: +1 801 581 5254 - - University of Utah - - 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/ - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 years, 2 months

Memoir Marks the 25th Anniversary of First Transgender Employment Policy

by Mary Ann Horton

This may be a bit off-topic, so please forgive me. Lucent is central to the book. I want to let you know I had a memoir published today, on the 25th anniversary of Lucent's historic policy. Here's the main part of the press release. > Before 1997, transgender workers were routinely fired when their > employers found out they were changing their sex. That changed on Oct. > 28, 1997, when Lucent Technologies became the first Fortune 500 > company to formally commit that it would not discriminate based on > "gender identity, characteristics, or expression". Dr. Mary Ann > Horton, who instigated the change, has written a memoir, Trailblazer: > Lighting the Path for Transgender Inclusion in Corporate America. > "When I led transgender-101 workshops, my personal story was people's > favorite part. They wanted more, and Trailblazer is the result," said > Horton. "It will be released on the 25th anniversary, Oct. 28." > > Horton was a software technology worker at Lucent in Columbus, Ohio, > when Lucent added the language. It allowed Mary Ann, then known as > Mark, to come out in the workplace without fear of reprisal. When she > didn't need to spend energy hiding part of herself, her productivity > soared, and she was promoted. Three years later, she persuaded Lucent > to cover gender-confirming medical care in their health insurance. She > blazed the trail for Apple, Avaya, Xerox, IBM, Chase, and other > companies to follow. Nokia blogged about it today. https://www.nokia.com/about-us/careers/life-at-nokia/employee-blogs/25th-an… You can find the book at https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Lighting-Transgender-Equality-Corporate-… If you read it, please post a review to Amazon. -- Thanks, /Mary Ann Horton/ (she/her/ma'am) maryannhorton.com <https://maryannhorton.com> "This is a great book" - Monica Helms "Brave and Important" - Laura L. Engel Available on Amazon and bn.com! <https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Lighting-Transgender-Equality-Corporate-…>

2 years, 2 months

SunOS4.1.3, etc., on GitHub

by Rich Salz

Sorry if this is a repost. No idea of the legality, and therefore no idea how long it will stay: https://twitter.com/nixcraft/status/1586276475614818305 is the tweet and https://github.com/Arquivotheca/SunOS-4.1.3 is the repository with this README, below. Many other OS's there too. README <https://github.com/Arquivotheca/SunOS-4.1.3#readme> This is the SunOS 4.1.3 SUNSRC CD-ROM. It contains the source in 3 forms. 1. plain text source, as a ufs tree, rooted at the top level of this filesystem. Symlinks to the SCCS hierarchy are in place. 2. SCCS hierarchy, rooted at SCCS_DIRECTORIES. 3. a tar image of the SCCS hierarchy, in a file named 4.1.3_SUNSRC.tar. This is rooted at ./SCCS_DIRECTORIES. Please see the SunOS 4.1.3 Source Installation Guide for further details.

2 years, 2 months

Version 3.1 of Installing and Using Research Unix Version 7 note is up the blog

by Will Senn

Following up on my v6 udpate a couple of weeks ago, I've updated my v7 note to use OpenSIMH and bring it up to date. In addition, I've switched the multi-session notes over to DZ-11 from DC-11 cuz it supports 9600 over telnet. Here's the link: http://decuser.blogspot.com/2022/10/installing-and-using-research-unix_29.h… Changes since revision 2.1 (2/3/2022) Revision 3.1 (10/29/2022) - minor revision: Changed over to DZ-11 vs DC-11 for serial connections which allows for 9600 baud connections. Revision 3.0 (10/28/2022) - major revision: Started using OpenSIMH Restored the learn notes which went missing between 2.0 and 2.1 Updated host notes for Macos Monterey Cleaned up a number of lingering issues This note covers building a working v7 instance from tape files that will run in the OpenSImH emulator. First, the reader is led through the restoration of a pristine v7 instance from tape to disk. Next, the reader is led through adding a regular user and making the system multi-user capable. Then, the reader is shown how to make the system multi-session cable to allow multiple simultaneous sessions. Finally, the system is put to use with hello world, DMR style, and the learn system is enabled. The note explains each step of the process in detail.

2 years, 2 months

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