From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id c1cb6e6d for ; Sun, 15 Sep 2019 05:17:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 827B59BA2C; Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:17:49 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2294D9478E; Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:17:28 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id A6B029478E; Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:17:25 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (fourwinds.com [63.64.179.162]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 00A0D93D23 for ; Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:17:22 +1000 (AEST) Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id x8F5HLb7009034 for ; Sat, 14 Sep 2019 22:17:21 -0700 Received: from darkstar.fourwinds.com (jon@localhost) by darkstar.fourwinds.com (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) with ESMTP id x8F5HLfa009023 for ; Sat, 14 Sep 2019 22:17:21 -0700 Message-Id: <201909150517.x8F5HLfa009023@darkstar.fourwinds.com> From: Jon Steinhart To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society In-reply-to: <20190915042117.GW2046@mcvoy.com> References: <20190915042117.GW2046@mcvoy.com> Comments: In-reply-to Larry McVoy message dated "Sat, 14 Sep 2019 21:21:17 -0700." MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <9019.1568524641.1@darkstar.fourwinds.com> Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2019 22:17:21 -0700 X-JON-SPAM: local delivery Subject: Re: [TUHS] a book (was Re: PWB vs Unix/TS) X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Larry McVoy writes: > On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 08:30:38PM -0700, Eric Allman wrote: > > I deeply > > regret that I never had an opportunity to meet Joe Ossanna. > > As roff guy I couldn't agree more. I feel worse. I probably did meet him but was a kid and didn't know he would be special. BTW, I still use troff for lots of stuff. I know that tex is more capable, but troff is burned into my dna. I started with roff when I wrote my first BTL technical memorandum and later moved to nroff. Never actually used the C/A/T at BTL but I remember the smell of the developer and pages hanging out to dry. I find the tex language a bit ugly, but that's just my taste. I have piles of crufty packages cobbled together around it, but they're not really fit for use by others. I like to write in troff because it allows me to think about what I want to say without worrying about how I want it to look until later. Probably the ugliest tool is the one that I used to convert my book from troff into office because my publisher wouldn't take troff. Converted everything into openoffice xml format. Extracted all of the diagrams and tables, ran them through separately, then through ps2pdf then pdf2svg, and then inkscape for cropping to generate svg images for all of the art since they're the only scalable image format understood by office. Way back in the 80s when scheduling was new I wrote tools that generated pert and gantt charts via pic. The power of little and languages and composability lives on! Jon