[TUHS] is learn(1) free now?

Kenneth Stailey kstailey at yahoo.com
Sat Jan 3 05:47:56 AEST 2004


--- Michael Sokolov <msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG> wrote:
> Kenneth Stailey <kstailey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > When I purchased my copy of _The CSRG Archives_ CDROM set I was
> > told in E-mail by McKusick that I did not need> > to sign any
> > license agreements.  I am assuming that this is due to Caldera
> > proclaiming that V32 sources and binaries could be redistributed
> > by the public legally.
> 
> Yes, this is correct, this is the same reason why Warren was able to
> remove the password system from his UNIX Archive and make it
> completely open.

Warren, I see that there is a 4.4BSD-Alpha subdir in the TUHS archive.  Do you
want a final CSRG 4.4BSD tape to add there too?

> > I also have yet to get the vi lesson data which the source code
> > that I do have says came on a separate user-contributed tape.
>
> I just looked and 4.3BSD-Quasijarus has the vi lesson data as part of the
> standard system.

Thanks, I have to go through your archive for it now.

> > I got here because I have newbies in my life now and I need UNIX
> > online courseware.
>
> Hear hear.  I sometimes get into this situation too, usually when
> dating and getting faced with the need to teach a prospective female
> how to use a real operating system, since the one woman who finally
> makes it would absolutely have to use 4.3BSD-Quasijarus on my VAXen.

Oh, I was talking about co-workers.  There's been so many layoffs where I work
that I was hoping to get some more help.

> I looked into learn, but one thing it disappointed me with is that
> it's woefully outdated.  It starts by setting the tty erase and kill
> chars to '#' and '@' respectively and teaching you how to edit the
> command line on a hardcopy tty.  Well, OK, some would see this as
> good educational value, but the problem is, if you don't actually
> *have* a hardcopy tty, and most of us don't, it doesn't work too
> well.  It prints out lessons longer than 24 lines and they scroll
> off the top of the VT terminal.  It was definitely written with the
> assumption that one has a hardcopy tty with a long roll of
> continuous paper, and it expects the student to grab the paper
> coming out of the teletype and look at what's been printed, but it
> just doesn't work on a VT terminal.  Not to mention that in the end
> the lessons give the student little practical learning that would
> actually be useful when using UNIX on a CRT terminal.  (For example,
> it would be very practical to explain to the student the difference
> between ^H and ^? and teach him/her how to deal with it.)

It's so difficult being you.  I was able to save myself the time by
using the 4.4BSD version of learn(1) since it has already been
modified for CRT terminals.  You will have to re-invent the wheel
because of your politics.

> > I'm wondering about distributing the results of my porting effort
> > once it matures enough to be worth doing so.
>
>
> Well, as a I said 4.3BSD-Quasijarus contains learn and all other
> "encumbered code" and it is freely available via anonymous FTP from
> ifctfvax.Harhan.ORG, so...  BTW for those who missed it I released
> 4.3-QJ0b on 2003-12-07.

Thanks again.  I really do appreciate all the work you have done in this area.

> MS


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