13 Jan
2022
13 Jan
'22
5:27 a.m.
I try to avoid inserting non-Unix IBM stuff into TUHS, but since Clem
opened the door, ...
When I was at Yorktown 1975-77 and 1979-82, using Script (IBM's runoff)
on VM/370 was very pleasant from my perspective, for papers, manuals and
my three performance modeling books. IIRC when I got there Script output
went to Versatecs for draft output and to APS5 for camera ready. By
1979, DCF superseded Script and 6670s superseded Versatecs for draft
output. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCRIPT_(markup) and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Generalized_Markup_Language seem fair
to me.
While I'm inserting non-Unix stuff, and presuming some parallel between
Yorktown and Murray Hill, the culture discussions make me point out that
I intentionally avoided ties and suits my first couple of years, wearing
a turtleneck for my initial interviews. Then my wife insisted I start
wearing three piece wool suits, which were fine in the cold months
requiring driving, but I avoided them when the weather was warm enough
for me to cycle the five miles to the lab
(https://technologists.com/songs/swans.html)
CHS
On 1/12/2022 4:48 PM, Clem Cole wrote:
Dan/Branden -- don't forget that IBM had a flavor
of the runoff family
also at least by the early 1970s when I saw it. In fact, I learned it
before either the DEC ones for the PDP-10s which I saw next, and only
after that the UNIX family. We ran the IBM doc tool on TSS [often of
2741 style devices], and I think it ran on MTS. Pre-laser printer days,
although CS an XGP, it was only 200 dpi (and was on the PDP-10s). So
CMU computer center (IBM shop) even had a very high end printer with a
golf ball (serial) output device that was in a locked room that was
connected the 360 that they used to print 'special' letters on a fan
folded paper that was super high quality and then run through the
'burster' to remove the edges and make it single sheets [Acceptance
letters and other special things got printed on it by the computer
center for the administration]. I don't remember much about that part
of the process, other than the input/prep was from the IBM version of a
runoff like program and as an operator, we had to learn to make it go
and run things out on it as needed. But I do remember it was a PITA to
output to that thing, but the SW also worked on a traditional 2741. As
a member of the computer staff I had access to the 2741 in my office
(for APL work), but could set it up as a standard 2741 and type papers
on it late at night.
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 1:42 PM Dan Halbert <halbert(a)halwitz.org
<mailto:halbert@halwitz.org>> wrote:
On 1/12/22 13:06, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
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Hi, Dan,
At 2022-01-12T11:33:35-0500, Dan Cross wrote:
> I have some questions about the earlier history.
>
> I've been collecting a detailed narrative history not just of
the
*roff
> _programs_ but also of the development on the
language in the
roff(7)
> manual page. Below I'll share a current
chunk of it that is
planned for
> the next release (groff 1.23). It has been
heavily revised since
> groff 1.22.4. Many of my revisions have been motivated by
accounts from
> this list, from the "history of man
pages" (more of a history of
troff)
> at manpages.bsd.lv
<http://manpages.bsd.lv>, and the minnie TUHS
archive.
I used RUNOFF on TOPS-10 in 1971, I think, and eventually also on TENEX
and TOPS-20. It probably was available earlier than that. Your history
is covering the Unix side, but there is also a pretty robust DEC side.
It was available on pretty much all the DEC machines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TYPSET_and_RUNOFF
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TYPSET_and_RUNOFF> has some mentions.
Dan H.