From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 5913 invoked from network); 8 Mar 2023 16:55:58 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 8 Mar 2023 16:55:58 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0C8AB412BD; Thu, 9 Mar 2023 02:55:53 +1000 (AEST) Received: from outgoing.mit.edu (outgoing-auth-1.mit.edu [18.9.28.11]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 1EA0A412A2 for ; Thu, 9 Mar 2023 02:55:48 +1000 (AEST) Received: from cwcc.thunk.org (pool-173-48-120-46.bstnma.fios.verizon.net [173.48.120.46]) (authenticated bits=0) (User authenticated as tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU) by outgoing.mit.edu (8.14.7/8.12.4) with ESMTP id 328Gtde4006562 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 8 Mar 2023 11:55:39 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mit.edu; s=outgoing; t=1678294540; bh=dxtI0IbHiCQjAO1sEcMVOApO7oyBiGZ99gaUm++8LIw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To; b=MMAqJ/M/116aQojhF23nD5oIvKBE7ZbAKyCYFnUxDXf6ZCClimxNaifIjofFu22pi w7QO5uwShpJ/GKUqo06Y2rIO/q+4iAIZfG1KsbaOZ5elcyAstWs1XAq86EESDZB3ED xCcr9sGDBUl+pQfVyvFdQ349TBTBDtz6wW1YfFCIV0VdVmoG3Z665P8Py3z/xAFmAH Xvbk8r6MqzuPu4mq1HfeCx0MoIzvnv0IdoXHJOu8dSVOwYAvU1SWDmf9nvrtGr1vjb qmystMxHTl+FkHLwsykLKz2yIGHJ5Mf+6f/ADUFtDIZkmOY+n0lTyk9mYIGI+r5exP zJ9bKjOYxBaBw== Received: by cwcc.thunk.org (Postfix, from userid 15806) id E2B2D15C3441; Wed, 8 Mar 2023 11:55:38 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2023 11:55:38 -0500 From: "Theodore Ts'o" To: Dan Cross Message-ID: <20230308165538.GB1867364@mit.edu> References: <1297BE06-BE03-477A-AC60-40A269090295@planet.nl> <73309724-1F69-49D4-B54B-63DD298CBD27@planet.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: Message-ID-Hash: PBQ76IZQSETHSZ6CZSM3G43NEHGU7IWS X-Message-ID-Hash: PBQ76IZQSETHSZ6CZSM3G43NEHGU7IWS X-MailFrom: tytso@mit.edu X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: Paul Ruizendaal , "tuhs@tuhs.org" X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Origins of the frame buffer device List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: On Wed, Mar 08, 2023 at 09:23:56AM -0500, Dan Cross wrote: > > By the early 90s this was understood to mean a single-user machine in > a desktop or deskside form factor with a graphics display, and a more > advanced operating system than something you'd get on a consumer-grade > machine. But the term probably predated that. Generally, workstations > were machines marketed towards science/engineering/technology > applications, and so intended for a person doing "work", as opposed to > home computing or large scale business data-processing. It's perhaps interesting to look at the history of A/UX. In 1988 Apple released a version of Unix based on SVR2. It was massively criticized for being command-line only (no X windows or any other kind of GUI). A year later, they came out with a version with X Windows, which made it roughly comprable to a low-end Sun Workstation, at a price of $9k. Given that in addition to the 3M's (1 MIPS, 1 Meg of Memory, and 1 Megapixel graphics display), it also adhered to the "4th M", costing roughly $10k, or a "Megapenny". :-) It seems to me that in the late 80's / early 90's, it was pretty clear what people were expecting if you wanted something more than a "toy" (err..., sorry, a "home") computer. And Apple wanted to get into that game and play, too. Of course, they later decided this wasn't a place where they really could compete, especially since in 1990 Sun released a low-end Workstation for $5k (the Sparcstation SLC). And by 1992, you could get a very credible Linux home machine with X Windows, for about $2k. It's kind of amazing how quickly a personal Workstation became quite affordable, even for a graduate student or a new college grad (like me!), out of their own personal checking account. - Ted