Re: [TUHS] V9 shell [was Re: Warner's Early Unix Presentation]

[Arthur Krewat <krewat@kilonet.net>]

Sorry to top-post...

To me, the biggest handicap to getting anything done, code-wise, 
command-line-wise, basically anything, is the keyboard/mouse.

I use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible, being an old LA36 kind 
guy, but I would love to have something that just by looking at text, be 
able to highlight, copy/cut/paste, etc.

Even action buttons. It would be great to look at the "Send" button in 
Thunderbird and press a key on the mouse or keyboard (or some other 
eye-contact type signal) and "do" it.

Was anything ever done in terms of sub-vocalization? Lots of stories in 
Sci-Fi about that, nothing ever came out of it, I don't think.


On 2/11/2020 12:05 PM, Steffen Nurpmeso wrote:
> Rob Pike wrote in
> <CAKzdPgz6qPuqOfTe4eLqmM4f4RXTxqWRO-3NLHTaMxJg7mT-Nw@mail.gmail.com>:
>   |My general mood about the current standard way of nerd working is how \
>   |unimaginative and old-fashioned it feels. There are countless ways \
>   |we could be interacting with our terminals, editors, and shells
>   |while we program, but for various sociological and historical reasons \
>   |we're pretty much using one from decades ago. I'm sure it's productive \
>   |for almost everyone, but it seems dull to me. We could be
>   |doing something much more dynamic. I mean, xterm is hardly more sophisti\
>   |cated than the lame terminal code that ran in mpx (ca. 1982), other \
>   |than colors and cursor addressing, which date from the 1960s
>   |via early PCs. IDEs don't sing to me, although they are powerful, because \
>   |they don't integrate well with the environment, only with the language. \
>   |And they are just lots of features, not a coherent
>   |vision. No model to speak of.
>   |
>   |Compare what happened with our shell windows with what happened with \
>   |our "smart" phones in the last 20 years and you'll get some inkling \
>   |of what I think we're missing. It's not that we should program the
>   |way we use iPhones, but that there are fields where user interface \
>   |work has made a real different recently. Not so in programming, though. \
>   |We're missing out.
>
> I cannot imagine any other real step forward but control-by-
> thought, aka brain computer interfaces.  (I personally am even
> convinced we will get the brain implant -- ever since i got all
> those B and C Hollywood movies from the 50s wrong, back when i was
> a kid.  It is convincing still, automatic emergency calls, health
> record and cases of incompatibility at hand when needed, and not
> to talk about the hints it will give the law enforcement side of
> the road.)
>
> Just last year i have seen a report on the current stage of
> affairs, Carnegie-Mellon and Minnesota Universities seem to have
> build a non-invasively controlled robotic arm, pretty high
> precision.
>
>    "Wir haben erhebliche Fortschritte im Bereich
>    Robotervorrichtungen mit Gedankensteuerung über Gehirnimplantate
>    gemacht.
>    We have made substantial progress in the region of
>    thought-controlled robotic devices via implants.
>
>    Das ist hervorragende Forschungsarbeit", sagt He.
>    "That is superb research work", says He [Professor Bin He,
>    Carnegie-Mellon].
>
>    "Nichtinvasiv ist jedoch unser ultimatives Ziel.
>    Fortschritte in der neuronalen Dekodierung und der praktischen
>    Auswirkungen auf die mögliche Entwicklung nichtinvasiver
>    Nutzbarkeit nichtinvasiver Roboterarmsteuerung werden erhebliche
>    Neurorobotik haben."
>
>    "Albeit non-invasive is our ultimate goal.
>    Progress in neuronal decoding, and the practical usability of
>    non-invasive control of robotic arms will have substantial
>    effect on the possible development of non-invasive
>    neuro-robotics."
>
>   |But I'm a grumpy old man and getting far off topic. Warren should cry, \
>   |"enough!".
>
> I personally would love it, if it where only in the hands of
> empathic beings, capable of reflection.  Yet it is us. ^_^
>
> --steffen
> |
> |Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
> |der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
> |einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
> |(By Robert Gernhardt)
>
>