[TUHS] rtm

[TUHS] rtm

[Michael Sokolov]

Jeffrey Sharp <jss at subatomix.com> wrote:

> Yes, I believe I am somewhat younger than most the very respectable members
> of this group. :-)

I'm about the same. My timeline:

1979 born
1988 first computer: Soviet PDP-11 clone, first language: PDP-11 assembly
1995 first introduced to UNIX
1996 first live encounter with a VAX
1998 started maintaining my own version of VAX UNIX
2000 fully converted to it
2002 thinking about designing and building a new VAX CPU on an FPGA

MS

[TUHS] rtm

[A.P.Garcia]

I just recently picked up a copy of a book that's been out for some
time, _Cyberpunk_ by Katie Hafner and John Markoff.  The last chapter
is about Robert T. Morris, Jr. and the worm incident (which in itself,
I think, is an important event in Unix history).

The book contains some interesting details, including some Unix folklore
that I haven't seen anywhere else.  For instance, RTM Sr. had a terminal
at home, as did other members of the CSR group at Bell Labs.  So a number
of their kids had accounts!  RTM Sr. comes off as a very likeable fellow,
btw.

At the Atlanta Linux Showcase in 1999, Norm Schryer gave a keynote speech,
in which he told an amusing anecdote about Morris Sr. (I may be slightly
off on some details; such is oral history):

Morris, he said, was the kind of guy who always liked to tinker with
things, and if an object had buttons, Morris just had to push them.
In fact, sometimes Morris was just a little too quick with his fingers.
On one side of a machine room was the light switch, and on the other
side was the power to the machine. 

On at least one occasion, you guessed it -- Morris hit the wrong switch.
Some people hung a disk pack that got ruined around his neck, and someone
put up a big sign as a reminder: "THIS IS THE WEST WALL!"

:-)

[TUHS] rtm

[Jeffrey Sharp]

On Friday, October 11, 2002, A.P.Garcia wrote:
> Robert T. Morris, Jr. and the worm incident (which in itself, I think, is
> an important event in Unix history).

Indeed. One of the things that got me interested in UNIX and computer
history was an article about the Morrises and the worm, titled 'The
Shockwave Rider', in the June 1990 issue of PC/Computing. It was several
years after 1990 when I found the article by chance in the local library of
my small Oklahoma town. I was about 13 years of age.

Yes, I believe I am somewhat younger than most the very respectable members
of this group. :-)

-- 
Jeffrey Sharp

[TUHS] rtm

[Gregg C Levine]

Hello from Gregg C Levine
You might be. For me, it was reading "Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll, which
activated my interests in things UNIX, his involvement with the elder of the
two, was interesting, and his involvement with stopping the worm was also
interesting.
Gregg C Levine drwho8 at worldnet.att.net
"Oh my!" The Second Doctor's nearly favorite phrase.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Sharp" <jss@subatomix.com>
To: <tuhs at minnie.tuhs.org>
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [TUHS] rtm


> On Friday, October 11, 2002, A.P.Garcia wrote:
> > Robert T. Morris, Jr. and the worm incident (which in itself, I think,
is
> > an important event in Unix history).
>
> Indeed. One of the things that got me interested in UNIX and computer
> history was an article about the Morrises and the worm, titled 'The
> Shockwave Rider', in the June 1990 issue of PC/Computing. It was several
> years after 1990 when I found the article by chance in the local library
of
> my small Oklahoma town. I was about 13 years of age.
>
> Yes, I believe I am somewhat younger than most the very respectable
members
> of this group. :-)
>
> --
> Jeffrey Sharp
>
> _______________________________________________
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