12 Oct
2019
12 Oct
'19
12:04 a.m.
FYI. I sent this to one of the lead DOC people from the old days to see if she knew.
Here is her answer.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Janet Egan"
Date: October 11, 2019 at 7:53:16 PM EDT
To: "'Clem Cole'"
Subject: RE: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper and Lower case at DEC
Hi Clem,
Hmm, I don’t remember whether the style guide addressed that. In the docs for RSX-11M
and such I always wrote it “PDP-11”, that is upper case with the dash. I do remember the
logo on the machine as always lower case with no dash. The PDP-8 had the same style logo.
And you’re right about seeing the lower case on the cover of the handbooks. I have never
seen the lower case with the dash or the upper case without it. I don’t think I still have
my copy of the style guide. Maybe I’ll take a look around my archives for it.
What a fun question to be thinking about .
Janet
From: Clem Cole
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2019 9:47 AM
To: Janet Egan
Subject: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper and Lower case at DEC
Janet,
I'm part of The Unix Historical Society (TUHS) mailing list and a topic came up
that I thought you might be able to shed some light on. The observation was that
'DEC seemed to have a schizophrenic attitude to wrt to use of upper and lower case
WRT to the PDP-11 brand,' i.e. sometimes using "PDP-11" and sometimes
"pdp11" (but I note rarely if ever PDP11 or pdp-11) . For instance, the logo on
the system itself was all lower: PDP-11/40 but DEC documentation mostly used uppercase in
the text; but when used on the places like the cover could be either e.g. the "pdp11
peripherals handbook" to transcribe the cover exactly but it uses upper case
"PDP-11" several times on pg 1-1 and the same on the binding. But I could not
find examples of pdp-11 or PDP11, i.e. if all lower it was with the dash or all upper
without.
Do you remember if there were rules or guidelines and if so what they might have been?
Thanks,
Clem
12 Oct
12 Oct
12:23 a.m.
While BAH was more involved in PDP-10 stuff, I wonder what her take is
on this.
On 10/11/2019 8:04 PM, Clem cole wrote:
FYI. I sent this to one of the lead DOC people from
the old days to
see if she knew. Here is her answer.
Begin forwarded message:
> *From:* "Janet Egan"
> *Date:* October 11, 2019 at 7:53:16 PM EDT
> *To:* "'Clem Cole'"
> *Subject:* *RE: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper
> and Lower case at DEC*
>
> Hi Clem,
>
> Hmm, I don’t remember whether the style guide addressed that. In the
> docs for RSX-11M and such I always wrote it “PDP-11”, that is upper
> case with the dash. I do remember the logo on the machine as always
> lower case with no dash. The PDP-8 had the same style logo. And
> you’re right about seeing the lower case on the cover of the
> handbooks. I have never seen the lower case with the dash or the
> upper case without it. I don’t think I still have my copy of the
> style guide. Maybe I’ll take a look around my archives for it.
>
> What a fun question to be thinking about .
>
> Janet
>
> *From:*Clem Cole
> *Sent:* Friday, October 11, 2019 9:47 AM
> *To:* Janet Egan
> *Subject:* Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper and
> Lower case at DEC
>
> Janet,
>
> I'm part of The Unix Historical Society (TUHS) mailing list and a
> topic came up that I thought you might be able to shed some
> light on. The observation was that 'DEC seemed to have a
> schizophrenic attitude to wrt to use of upper and lower case WRT to
> the PDP-11 brand,' i.e. sometimes using "PDP-11" and sometimes
> "pdp11" (but I note rarely if ever PDP11 or pdp-11) . For instance,
> the logo on the system itself was all lower: PDP-11/40
>
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Pdp-11-40.jpg/250px-Pdp-11-40.jpg> but
> DEC documentation mostly used uppercase in the text; but when used on
> the places like the cover could be either /e.g. /the
> "pdp11 peripherals handbook" to transcribe the cover exactly but it
> uses upper case "PDP-11" several times on pg 1-1 and the same on the
> binding. But I could not find examples of pdp-11 or PDP11, /i.e./ if
> all lower it was with the dash or all upper without.
>
> Do you remember if there were rules or guidelines and if so what they
> might have been?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Clem
>
13 Oct
13 Oct
10:17 p.m.
New subject: God vs god (was Upper/Lower at DEC)
There is a story (or perhaps an urban legend) that mainframe computers
used all upper case, in spite of research showing lower case was
easier to read, because some executive said "But with all lower case,
we can't spell God's name right". Anybody able to put some reality
behind that?
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lars Brinkhoff" <lars(a)nocrew.org>
To:"Arthur Krewat" <krewat(a)kilonet.net>
Cc:<tuhs@tuhs.org>
Sent:Sat, 12 Oct 2019 04:24:01 +0000
Subject:Re: [TUHS] Fwd: Curious Question from the Ether about use of
Upper and Lower case at DEC
Arthur Krewat wrote:
While BAH was more involved in PDP-10 stuff, I wonder
what her take
is
on this.
I don't think there ever was a lower case "pdp10" on the machines.
From what I see, it was "PDP-10", "decsystem10", "DECSYSTEM
20",
or "DECSYSTEM 2020".
14 Oct
14 Oct
9:37 a.m.
New subject: God vs god (was Upper/Lower at DEC)
On 2019-10-13 11:17 p.m., Steve Johnson wrote:
There is a story (or perhaps an urban legend) that
mainframe computers
used all upper case, in spite of research showing lower case was easier
to read, because some executive said "But with all lower case, we can't
spell God's name right". Anybody able to put some reality behind that?
Did nobody explain to the executive that, like printed typography for
FIVE HUNDRED years prior, that a character set with lower case would
include BOTH CASES? (Typographic research doesn't claim that lower case
_only_ is easier to read, and there are reasons to believe it is not.)
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From:
"Lars Brinkhoff" <lars(a)nocrew.org>
To:
"Arthur Krewat" <krewat(a)kilonet.net>
Cc:
<tuhs(a)tuhs.org>
Sent:
Sat, 12 Oct 2019 04:24:01 +0000
Subject:
Re: [TUHS] Fwd: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper
and Lower case at DEC
Arthur Krewat wrote:
While BAH was more involved in PDP-10 stuff, I
wonder what her take is
on this.
I don't think there ever was a lower case "pdp10" on the machines.
From what I see, it was "PDP-10", "decsystem10", "DECSYSTEM
20",
or "DECSYSTEM 2020".
1663
days inactive
1665
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Angelo Papenhoff -
Arthur Krewat -
Clem cole -
Lars Brinkhoff -
Steve Johnson -
Toby Thain