23 Jan
2020
23 Jan
'20
2:49 a.m.
The first edition ran on pdp-11, not pdp-7.
Tukey buttered parsnips at the labs, but Brits did
so several centuries before.
Contrary to urban legend, patent was not invoked to
justify the Unix pdp-11; word-processing was. The
quiz does not make this mistake.
The phototypesetter did not smell. The chemicals
for (externally) devoloping photo paper did.
Shahpazian is Dick Shahpazian; Maranzano is Joe Maranzano.
cagbef addresses out of bounds.
I appreciate Rob's discretion about the Waterloo theft.
Doug
23 Jan
23 Jan
5:06 a.m.
New subject: Unix quix
The answers to the quiz are the answers to the quiz. Whether they are
correct may be hard to verify, and cagbef is what my notes have so who
knows?
I've added a word to eliminate the castigation of CAT's hygiene.
-rob
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 7:50 AM Doug McIlroy <doug(a)cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
The first edition ran on pdp-11, not pdp-7.
Tukey buttered parsnips at the labs, but Brits did
so several centuries before.
Contrary to urban legend, patent was not invoked to
justify the Unix pdp-11; word-processing was. The
quiz does not make this mistake.
The phototypesetter did not smell. The chemicals
for (externally) devoloping photo paper did.
Shahpazian is Dick Shahpazian; Maranzano is Joe Maranzano.
cagbef addresses out of bounds.
I appreciate Rob's discretion about the Waterloo theft.
Doug
9:56 p.m.
New subject: Unix quix
Rob Pike <robpike(a)gmail.com> writes:
The answers to the quiz are the answers to the quiz.
Whether they are
correct may be hard to verify, and cagbef is what my notes have so who
knows?
The question is missing a part:
16. Sort the following into chronological order: a) PWB 1.2, b) V7, c)
Whirlwind, e) System V, f) 4.2BSD, g)
MERT.
cagbef|c a g b e f
From an file George Rosamond sent me in 2009:
http://leahneukirchen.org/trivium/unixquiz-solution.txt
I also collected some more sources:
http://leahneukirchen.org/trivium/2009-01-18
hth,
--
Leah Neukirchen <leah(a)vuxu.org> https://leahneukirchen.org/
24 Jan
24 Jan
8:44 a.m.
New subject: Unix quix
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 8:57 AM Leah Neukirchen <leah(a)vuxu.org> wrote:
Rob Pike <robpike(a)gmail.com> writes:
MERT absolutely predates PWB 1.2. MERT has papers starting in 1975 while
pwb 1.2 is 1978 or 1979. By the time pwb 1.2 was coming out, it had
mutated to UNIX/RT... MERT was V4 while releases of PWB were V6 based. And
the link for the graph (which are often horribly sourced for the early
stuff) is dead.
Warner
The answers to the quiz are the answers to the
quiz. Whether they are
correct may be hard to verify, and cagbef is what my notes have so who
knows?
The question is missing a part:
16. Sort the following into chronological order: a) PWB 1.2, b) V7, c)
Whirlwind, e) System V, f) 4.2BSD, g)
MERT.
cagbef|c a g b e f
From an file George Rosamond sent me in 2009:
http://leahneukirchen.org/trivium/unixquiz-solution.txt
I also collected some more sources:
http://leahneukirchen.org/trivium/2009-01-18 hth,
--
Leah Neukirchen <leah(a)vuxu.org> https://leahneukirchen.org/
8:49 p.m.
New subject: Unix quix
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:45 PM Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
MERT absolutely predates PWB 1.2. MERT has papers
starting in 1975 while
pwb 1.2 is 1978 or 1979.
I can not say, I have any knowledge so I would trust Rob's sources, but ...
I also what I would have thought MERT predates PWB. Heinz, are you able to
illuminate any of these details?
MERT was V4 while releases of PWB were V6 based.
I can verify and agree with the later of PWB 1.x being 6th edition, but the
MERT tidbit is interesting/thought-provoking. I frankly would have
expected the MERT folks to have started with something closer to 5th and
then tracked any significant differences as possible.
10:34 p.m.
New subject: Unix quix
Clem Cole writes:
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:45 PM Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
My very fuzzy memory would put MERT at v4 or v5. I think that the department
had an 11/40 running v3 back when it was in building 2. I recall a much bigger
machine, I think an 11/70, after the move to building 6. I think that Heinz's
office was across the hall from the room that had the 516 and the SS1, the 11/70
was across the hall and left a couple of doors from Heinz's office. I'm pretty
sure that I used that machine to do the docs for the IC test system since the
department that I was in then didn't have a UNIX system. I do have a v6 manual
from back then so that's where things were at the end of my time there. Anyway,
from a timing thing I'm guessing that MERT was v4 or v5.
Jon
MERT absolutely predates PWB 1.2. MERT has papers
starting in 1975 while
pwb 1.2 is 1978 or 1979.
I can not say, I have any knowledge so I would trust Rob's sources, but ...
I also what I would have thought MERT predates PWB. Heinz, are you able to
illuminate any of these details?
MERT was V4 while releases of PWB were V6 based.
I can verify and agree with the later of PWB 1.x being 6th edition, but the
MERT tidbit is interesting/thought-provoking. I frankly would have
expected the MERT folks to have started with something closer to 5th and
then tracked any significant differences as possible. 
26 Jan
26 Jan
6:03 a.m.
New subject: Unix quix
Jon, your dates are correct on MERT. I think UNIX v6 was introduced
in 1975. So we may have used v4 in 1973 and then upgraded to V6
later on in preparation to the general release of MERT 0. Clem, you may
be able to confirm this from the MERT 0 manual you borrowed from me.
Thanks.
Heinz
On 1/24/2020 8:34 AM, Jon Steinhart wrote:
Clem Cole writes:
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:45 PM Warner Losh
<imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
My very fuzzy memory would
put MERT at v4 or v5. I think that the department
had an 11/40 running v3 back when it was in building 2. I recall a much bigger
machine, I think an 11/70, after the move to building 6. I think that Heinz's
office was across the hall from the room that had the 516 and the SS1, the 11/70
was across the hall and left a couple of doors from Heinz's office. I'm
pretty
sure that I used that machine to do the docs for the IC test system since the
department that I was in then didn't have a UNIX system. I do have a v6 manual
from back then so that's where things were at the end of my time there. Anyway,
from a timing thing I'm guessing that MERT was v4 or v5.
Jon MERT absolutely predates PWB 1.2. MERT has papers
starting in 1975 while
pwb 1.2 is 1978 or 1979.
I can not say, I have any knowledge so I would trust Rob's sources, but ...
I also what I would have thought MERT predates PWB. Heinz, are you able to
illuminate any of these details?
MERT was V4 while releases of PWB were V6 based.
I can verify and agree with the later of PWB 1.x being 6th edition, but the
MERT tidbit is interesting/thought-provoking. I frankly would have
expected the MERT folks to have started with something closer to 5th and
then tracked any significant differences as possible.
24 Jan
24 Jan
10:40 p.m.
New subject: Unix quix
On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 7:50 AM Clem Cole <clemc(a)ccc.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:45 PM Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
The group that created PWB may well have started before the MERT group, at
least from what I can find documented in early papers... However, the first
release we have of PWB is labeled 1.0 and it is 1977. The ACM MERT papers
are from 1975.
MERT absolutely predates PWB 1.2. MERT has papers
starting in 1975 while
pwb 1.2 is 1978 or 1979.
I can not say, I have any knowledge so I would trust Rob's sources, but
... I also what I would have thought MERT predates PWB. Heinz, are you
able to illuminate any of these details?
MERT was V4 while releases of PWB were V6 based.
I can verify and agree with the later of
PWB 1.x being 6th edition, but
the MERT tidbit is interesting/thought-provoking. I frankly would have
expected the MERT folks to have started with something closer to 5th and
then tracked any significant differences as possible.
I believe that they did track releases. And this may be a case of rolling
release. I'm told, but can't find a good reference for it, that editions
were just a manual thing and that there wasn't a 'master tape' made of
each
edition until late in the process (like maybe as late as the 7th edition
since I see references to different versions of the 6th edition, though
that may be nothing more than the '50 patches' tape). This makes some of
the traffic difficult. The Network Unix folks started with 5th editionish
release, but had frequent updates during their work as the 6th edition was
being prepped and then settled on the 6th edition to release their work
(since the tapes we have of it are of a lightly-modified 6th edition (at
least relative to dennis_v6). I'm also unsure of when the first "release"
of MERT was, which may be critical to answering that question...
Warner
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days inactive
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7 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
Clem Cole -
Doug McIlroy -
Heinz Lycklama -
Jon Steinhart -
Leah Neukirchen -
Rob Pike -
Warner Losh