From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoterminal
Pseudoterminals were present in the DEC
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Equipment_Corporation> PDP-6
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-6> Timesharing Monitor at least as early as 1967,
and were used to implement batch processing. They are described in the documentation for
the succeeding TOPS-10 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOPS-10> on the PDP-10
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-10>.[6]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoterminal#cite_note-6> Other DEC operating
systems also had PTYs, including RSTS/E <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSTS/E> for
the PDP-11 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11>, as did the third-party TENEX
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TENEX_(operating_system)> operating system for the
PDP-10.
Implementations of Unix pseudo terminals date back to the modifications that RAND and BBN
made to a 6th Edition in the late 1970s to support remote access over a network.[7]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoterminal#cite_note-7> Modern Unix
pseudoterminals originated in 1983 during the development of Eighth Edition Unix
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Version_8_Unix> and were based on a similar feature
in TENEX.[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoterminal#cite_note-8> They were
part of the 4.3BSD-Reno <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.3BSD-Reno>, with a rather
cumbersome openpty() interface defined for use.[9]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoterminal#cite_note-9>
[In absence of a more authoritative source]
On Aug 15, 2025, at 3:28 PM, ron minnich
<rminnich(a)gmail.com> wrote:
so the question of pseudo tty came up today.
My memory is that it started with TOPS-10, though I doubt I know enough. Vague memory
says there was a PTY: device.
Further, I believe pty came in from UCB ca 1977 or so?
I'm wondering if people who were Present at the Creation can fill in the gaps.
Thanks