[TUHS] Unix quix

Heinz Lycklama heinz at osta.com
Sun Jan 26 10:03:02 AEST 2020


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 at 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.
> 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



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