[TUHS] unix v4 tape found

[Matt Day via TUHS]

Correction: the commands present in Angelo's copy of the v4 tape include:
dd, diff, glob, lpr, msh, pwd, tee

Not present in Angelo's copy of the v4 tape: col, eqn, neqn, spell

Present in Fifth Edition: all of the above, according to
https://dspinellis.github.io/unix-history-man/man1.html

On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 9:28 PM Matt Day <fjarlq at gmail.com> wrote:

> Cool, thanks Angelo.. I got it running easily thanks to your efforts.
>
> At a glance it looks like Fifth Edition to me... all the files are
> timestamped June 10 - 12, 1974. Commands present include col, dd, diff,
> eqn, glob, lpr, msh, neqn, pwd, spell, and tee -- according to
> https://dspinellis.github.io/unix-history-man/man1.html those commands
> first appeared in Fifth Edition and were not present in Fourth.
>
> On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 6:53 PM Angelo Papenhoff via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> I extracted it: http://squoze.net/UNIX/v4/
>>
>> aap
>>
>> On 19/12/25, Matt Day via TUHS wrote:
>> > Rob Ricci updated today on his Mastodon page:
>> > > The attempt to read the UNIX V4 tape is underway!
>> > > I'm told "there is data" but I honestly don't know what that means
>> yet.
>> > -- https://discuss.systems/@ricci/115747843169814700
>> > The process is being filmed by a TV news crew and some footage is
>> already
>> > available.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Nov 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM Rob Pike via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > > https://phanpy.social/#/hachyderm.io/s/115504720323483804
>> > >
>> > > From mastodon:
>> > >
>> > > <https://discuss.systems/@ricci>
>> > > Rob Ricci
>> > > ricci at discuss.systems <https://discuss.systems/@ricci>
>> > >
>> > > While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing
>> #UNIX
>> > > <https://discuss.systems/tags/UNIX> v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973
>> > >
>> > > Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist:
>> > > gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_E
>> > > <https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition>
>> > >
>> > > We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
>> > >
>>
>