I'm also forwarding this message that arrived in my mailbox. Is this
**THE** Ken Thompson?
Joachim
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: [TUHS] The UNIX Command Language (1976)
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2020 21:47:16 -0800
From: Ken Thompson <kenbob(a)gmail.com>
To: Joachim <j(a)tllds.com>
yes. the unix manual was published before that,
but i dont think it was released that early. it had
a manual page on the shell.
this paper might be the first paper ever released
outside bell labs.
On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 7:18 PM Joachim via TUHS <tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
<mailto:tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org>> wrote:
Apologies if this has already been linked here.
"The UNIX Command Languageis the first-ever paper published on the
Unix shell. It was written by Ken Thompson in 1976."
https://github.com/susam/tucl
Joachim
> From: Steve Nickolas
> there's no easy way to do preemptive multitasking without extra
> hardware.
Perhaps you're using some idiosyncratic definition of "preemptive" and
"multitasking", but to me that statement's not accurate.
Let's take the "multitasking" part first: that just means 'two or more
computations can run at the same time, sharing the machine' - and that's not
hard to do, without special hardware, provided there's some way (in the
organization of the software) to save the state of one when the other is
running. Many simple systems do this; e.g. the MOS system that I used on
LSI-11's, BITD.
"Preemptive" is a bit trickier, because things have to be organized so that
one 'task' can be temporarily stopped arbitrarily (i.e. without it explicitly
giving up the processor, which is what e.g.MOS did) to let another run. There
does need to be some asynchronous way of inciting the second 'task' to run,
but interrupts (either clock, or device) do that, and pretty much every
machine has those. MINI-UNIX, for example, has premptive multitasking.
The thing that takes special hardware is _protecting_ one task from a bug in
another - a bug which could trash the first tasks's (or the system's!)
memory. One has to have memory management of some kind to do that.
> From: Dave Horsfall
> I would start with something like Mini-Unix
MINI-UNIX would be a good place to start if one wanted to bring up a system on
a machine without memory management; there's nothing in the kernel which is
PDP-11 dependent that I can think of (unlike V6, which had a fairly heavy
dependency on the PDP-11 memory management hardware - although one could of
course rip that all out, as MINI-UNIX did).
However, one's still looking at a fair amount of work, both to get rid of any
traces of PDP-11isms (e.g. stack growth direction), and translate the
assembler part (startup, and access to non-C operations). Something like FUZIX
might be an easier option.
Noel
I'm trying to find out why compress(1) uses .Z as filename extension.
My theory is that it was inspired by pack(1), which uses the .z extension.
However, I haven't been able to find any info on why pack(1) uses that
extension. Does anyone here know?
Some searching led me to [1] which is a man page for pack from AUSAM.
It's written by Steve Zucker in 1975, so perhaps the extension is z for
Zucker?
Was Zucker's pack(1) the first, though? This message [2] talks about a
Bell version.
Does anyone here have any information about this?
Cheers,
Hans
1. https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=AUSAM/doc/man/man1/pack.1
2. https://tech-insider.org/unix/research/1984/0319.html
I was making coffee into the cup I've had for decades that talks about
his networking books. I realized I might have something that would
help his wife a bit. I had her email but long since lost it. Anyone
have it?
--lm
Back in mid-January, I posted a note saying:
> TL; DR. I'm trying to find the best possible home for some dead trees. ...
A lot (far too much, IMNSHO!) has happened since then. In any case, I thought folks here might appreciate an update. In brief, Iain Maoileoin offered to pay for shipping a largely unknown amount of technical (mostly computer-related) books to his repurposed missile sile (!) near Inverness, Scotland.
Early this Fall, I packed up 16 cardboard boxes (designated 0-F, of course :-) and the shippers hauled them off. Dunno when they'll arrive, let alone in what condition, but trying to save them from recycling seemed worth the effort. FYI, the total weight was a bit over a ton.
Meanwhile, my spouse and I gave away and/or packed up the rest of our things and drove ourselves and five cats up to Seattle, WA, USA. Somewhere in a shipping container, there is still a cubic foot or so of historical Unix papers from Jim Joyce; when it surfaces, I'll post again about rehoming it.
-r
Well, it's a very rainy day and since COVID is keeping me home I just
fed my 516-TSS notebooks into the scanner. It's about 17MB of stuff.
Not sure what to do with it since I don't have a place to serve it and
since they're scanned images they're too big to post. Here's the list
of documents; email me if you're wanting something in a hurry while the
archive stuff is figured out. Note that the smell of mildew wasn't
preserved in the scanning process.
516-1-516-DOCUMENTATION.pdf
516-3-DDP-516-PRICE-LIST.pdf
516-4-Disk-Layout.pdf
516-5-System-Table-Formats.pdf
516-6-Segment-Format.pdf
516-8-Disk-Hole-Format.pdf
516-7-DMA-Mnemonics.pdf
516-9-Addresses.pdf
516-10-11-12-Ring-Formats.pdf
516-12-Specifications-For-The-Node-Modem-Interface.pdf
516-13-Trac-Character-Strings.pdf
516-14-GMAP-Assembler-for-the-Multi-Programmed-516.pdf
516-15-A-Suggested-Graphic-Display-with-Keyboard-for-Graphic-Terminals.pdf
516-16-516-Assembler-And-Post-Processor-For-Unsegmented-Programs.pdf
516-18-Format-For-Ring-Interrupt.pdf
516-19-Thread-Save-Blocks.pdf
516-20-Card-Reader-Bootstrap-and-Programs.pdf
516-21-Octal-Package.pdf
516-22-A-Repeater-For-The-Node-Modem.pdf
516-23-CLEAR-CORE-CARD.pdf
516-24-SOROBAN-CARD-READER-TEST-PROGRAM.pdf
516-25-IO-Table.pdf
516-26-Disk-DMA-Queue.pdf
516-27-GE-Disc-Files-For-516-Programming.pdf
516-27-Thread-Table.pdf
516-28-IO-Ring_Device-Codes.pdf
516-29-Five-Bit-Character-Codes.pdf
516-30-Text-Editor.pdf
516-31-Relocatable-Segment-Octal-Package.pdf
516-32-ASCII-Character-Mnemonics.pdf
516-34-Display-List-For-Glance.pdf
516-35-Internal-Megacycle-Clock.pdf
516-36-Node-Modem-Interface-For-Computer-Terminals.pdf
516-38-P8SYS.pdf
516-39-Resource-Monitor-Meters.pdf
516-40-SNAP-Time-Sharing-Calculator.pdf
516-41-516-Segment-Assembler.pdf
516-42-Memory-Service-Unit-Format.pdf
516-43-GEBKUP-and-FLOAD.pdf
516-44-FSNAP-Floating-Point-Time-Sharing-Calculator.pdf
516-45-516-316-Assembler-and-Binder.pdf
516-46-CALC-A-Desk-Calculator-Program.pdf
516-47-Remote-Data-Plotting.pdf
516-48-CODING-FOR-GLANCE-G-Graphics.pdf
516-49-516-Segment-Assembler.pdf
516-50-Use-Of-The-516-Segment-Assemblers-Macros-In-Application-Programs.pdf
516-51-FSNAP-Designers-Guide.pdf
516-51-FSNAP-Users-Guide.pdf
516-52-DESK-A-Desk-Calculator.pdf
516-53-FSEOF-Flag-End-Of-File.pdf
516-54-Context-Editing.pdf
516-55-One-Card-Core-Save-Program.pdf
516-56-PRIME-An-Integer-Factoring-Program.pdf
516-57-Format-For-The-516-Node-T-I-U-Spider-Interface.pdf
516-59-Calling-Procedures-For-Math-Routines.pdf
516-59-INITIALIZATION-OF-THE-516-TSS-SYSTEM.pdf
516-60-SORT-SUBR-FOR-SEGMENTED-PROGRAMS.pdf
516-61-516-TSS-SYSTEM-BOLTED-IN-CORE-SUBROUTINES.pdf
516-63-Display-Controller-Glance-G.pdf
516-65-SOME-DIGITAL-FILTER-APPLICATION-PROGRAMS.pdf
516-66-TSS-516-GE-Communication.pdf
516-67-Node-Format-For-PDP-11.pdf
516-68-DFILE-N-A-Program-for-TSS-516.pdf
516-69-GLANCE-G-COMMUNICATION-FORMAT-TSS-516-TO-SCOPE.pdf
516-70-Routines-to-Perform-Character-String-IO-in-a-FSNAP-Program.pdf
516-71-FSNAP-Debugging-Aids.pdf
516-72-Node-Test.pdf
516-73-Node-IO-Software.pdf
516-75-Display-Text-Editor-DTE.pdf
516-76-LOCAL-DATA-PLOTTING.pdf
516-77-GLANCE-PLOTTING-ROUTINES-GPLOT-GLANCE-CHRGEN.pdf
516-77-V2-GLANCE-PLOTTING-ROUTINES-GPLOT-GLANCE-CHRGEN.pdf
516-78-DUMP.pdf
516-79-New-File-Features-in-FSNAP.pdf
516-81-OPTION-CHANGING-IN-GPLOT.pdf
516-86-MODIFICATIONS-TO-201-DATAPHONE-SOFTWARE.pdf
DDP-516-PROGRAMMERS-REFERENCE-CARD.pdf
DDP-516-Instruction-Set-Summary.pdf
Index.pdf
README
> From: "Theodore Y. Ts'o"
> was there anything that had similar functionality which pre-dated Bill
> Joy and termcap in late 70's?
Is your question purely in Unix, or more general?
If the latter, there's the terminal-independent support of video terminals in
ITS; that dates to the mid-1970's (i.e. circa V5 or so). User programs output
device-independent display control codes (I have this memory that they were
called P-Codes, but that could be my memory failing), and the OS translated
them to the appropriate screen-control characters.
One additional hack was that the number of terminal types supported in the OS
was limited; there was however a protocol called SUPDUP which sent (basically)
those device-independent codes over a remote login (originally over NCP) frm
the server machine to the client. The User SUPDUP client supported a lot more
terminal types; so people with odd-ball terminals used to log in, SUPDUP
_back_ to their machine, and away they went.
Noel
Hello All,
I know I have asked this before, but I am curious about any new replies or
insight. How did package management start? Were sites keeping track of
packages installed in a flat file that you could grep (as god intended)
somewhere, or were upgrades and additions simply done without significant
announcement? At what point did someone decide, 'Hey, we need to have a
central way to track additional software"?
I know of DEC's setld and SGI's inst in the latter half of the '80s. What
was the mechanism before that?
-Henry
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 12:28 PM Erik E. Fair <fair-tuhs(a)netbsd.org> wrote:
> The Honeywell DDP-516 was the computer (running specialized software
> written by Bolt, Bernanek & Newman (BBN)) which was the initial model of
> the ARPANET Interface Message Processors (IMP).
The IMPs had a lot of custom interface hardware; sui generis serial
interlocked host interfaces (so-called 1822), and also the high-speed modem
interfaces. I think there was also a watchdog time, IIRC (this is all from
memory, but the ARPANET papers from JCC cover it all).
Noel
These are in Warren's hands now and he'll let us know where their permanent
home ends up being. Since these are pretty much uncirculated unlike the UNIX
documents I wrote a README to go along with them which Heinz reviewed so it's
the best that two aging sets of memories can do. Here it is:
- - -
516-TSS is a little-known but groundbreaking and influential operating system
that was developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories. I came across this system
because Carl Christensen and later Heinz Lycklama were major contributors to
it, and they were also advisors for the Bell Labs Explorer Scout Post at
Murray Hill. I was a member of that post which allowed us to play with
computers on Monday evenings, and 516-TSS was what most of us used. Through
a series of amazingly lucky events, I ended up working as a summer student
for Carl and Heinz and got to contribute to the system. Long before the term
"code spelunking" was coined Carl and Heinz taught us both code and spelunking.
This is not a complete set of 516-TSS documents, it's a couple of notebooks
that I found in a box in the basement. Probably my ancient work-at-home copy.
I don't know enough history to know if it was the first, but 516-TSS was an
early department-level time-sharing system. It was built around a Honeywell
DDP-516. While other time-sharing systems predate 516-TSS, they weren't
systems that one's department could afford. CTSS certainly came earlier,
but it used a monster IBM 7090 mainframe. In round numbers, a 7090 cost
$3,000,000 dollars, a DDP-516 cost $50,000.
516-TSS was also a virtual memory system; again not the first but a rarity
in that era. My recollection is that it used the 516's index register as
the base address register, and there was some complicated mucking around
that a program had to do if it needed to use the index register including
disabling interrupts and eventually restoring the register from .PRESB
(present base address), one of those weird things stuck in my memory from
long ago.
I believe that the system's development predated UNIX although I remember
our department getting a PDP-11/45 running UNIX Version 3 in the summer of
1973. This machine was acquired so that Doug Bayer and Heinz Lycklama could
develop the MERT operating system.
The 516 was a testbed for a lot of novel technologies. It had a local area
network called the ring which was later made to work on PDP-11s including
Ken and Dennis's machine up in the attic of building 2. It was also used
to develop the GLANCE graphics terminals. My recollection is that one of
the main drivers behind getting the ring to work on PDP-11s and UNIX was so
that Ken could get a GLANCE-G terminal for playing chess. Sandy Fraser's
Spider network was developed there. It supported a number of novel
applications including Dick Hause's DTE graphics editor; way ahead of its
time. I remember that one GLANCE terminal was fitted with an array of LEDs
and photodiodes to make an early version of a touch screen.
While it wasn't exactly work related, a number of the people in the department
had purchased property up in Vermont for ski cabins. An important use of the
516-TSS system and GLANCE-G terminals was to figure out survey closures. The
property surveys were ancient, of the "from the big rock to the left of the
tree that's no longer there" sorts of things, so figuring out the actual
property lines was an interesting problem.
The 516 also had a wide area network which consisted of picking up the phone
and calling the computer center. It had a monster GE-635 or maybe 645 left
over from the Multics project. It may have been renamed to be a Honeywell
6070 with Honeywell's acquisition of GE's computer business. The computer
center kept department costs down by hoarding all of the really expensive
peripherals. For example, we didn't have a card punch; that was effectively
done via remote job entry. We didn't have a graphics printer either, so when
I was working on GPLOT I'd submit remote jobs to the computer center for
printing. Matter of fact, I don't think that we even had a printer in our
department; we sent stuff up to the computer center for printing. Although,
in those days many terminals used paper. The 516 console was an ASR-33.
There was also the ability to send jobs to the computer center and have it
call back with results. This early approach to a WAN showed up as the tss
command in UNIX.
One of the missions of the department was the development of an all-digital
telephone exchange which is why some of the documents describe programs that
assist with digital filter design. Both Jim Kaiser and Hal Alles were in the
department. One of the side-effects of all this was Hal figuring out how to
use the filter hardware connected to a LSI-11/03 to make sound, followed by
Dave Hagelbarger building a very interesting keyboard for it, culminating in
a visit by Stevie Wonder trailed by a large number of screaming secretaries.
No sexism intended, it was a different world back then. The LSI-11 was one
of the motivations for Heinz to create the LSX operating system.
My recollection is that on Dave's keyboard each key was an antenna, and that
there was strip of ribbon cable underneath where each wire was driven by a
different bit on a binary counter. This allowed the position of each key to
be determined which I think was way ahead of its time. I don't think that
any commercially available keyboards did this at the time, they were all just
on/off. Dave also designed the GLANCE keyboard which spoiled me for life.
I don't remember how he did it, but the keys had a really good feel where once
they got pushed past a certain point they snapped down. I do recall that there
was a small solenoid mounted on the circuit board so that the keys gave a
satisfying click that you could feel in your fingers. Another of Dave's gizmos
was the chess board that he made for Ken. My recollection is that there was a
tuned circuit in the base of each chess piece and an antenna grid in the board
so that the PDP-11 could read the position of each piece.
Some of the success of the 516 system was that other departments used it. I
spent some time working an a 516-based integrated circuit test system where
the test equipment stations were on the ring. Seems really dumb now, it's hard
to believe that there was a time in which a computer cost more than a wafer
stepper.
In addition to his work on 516-TSS, Carl Christensen was one of the people who
interviewed Ken Thompson for a job at the labs and gave a thumbs up.
The 516-TSS documents don't have author names, just initials. Here's who they
are to the best of my recollection.
ADH Dick Hause
CC Carl Christensen
DJB Doug Bayer
DRW Dave Weller
EPR ?
HL Heinz Lycklama
JCS John Schwartzwelder
JES Jon Steinhart
JFK Jim Kaiser
JHC Joe Condon
JVC John Camlet
LIS ?
MAS ?
RFG Rudy Garcia
There is one mysterious document in the collection about a "memory service unit".
I had this filed under "zapper". To the best of my recollection it was the PROM
programmer that we used to burn the microcode PROMs for the GLANCE terminals.
Jon Steinhart, 11/20/2020
