Re: [TUHS] First book on Unix for general readership

[Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com>]

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That’s it.

On Sun, Apr 5, 2020 at 8:46 PM Michael Usher <musher@ucsc.edu> wrote:

> I tried an ngram search on google, and came up with the following:
>
> Richard L. Gauthier. October 1981. Using the Unix System, Reston
> Publishing Co.  ISBN 978-0835981644.
>
> That seems to precede the Bourne book.
>
> Available at amazon:
> https://www.amazon.com/Using-Unix-System-Richard-Gauthier/dp/0835981649
>
> Michael
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 5, 2020 at 5:28 PM Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:
>
>> Two thoughts ...
>>
>> 1.) Lion's was not a general book.  It really was more of a kernel
>> 'here-is-how-the-magic-happens.'   It's still the best I know for that.
>> BTW:  it did not leak.  It was purchasable from WE.   But the cost was high
>> and it was hard to get (you had a price you had a license and could not
>> buy/order it at any book store - I don't think it had an ISBN or a library
>> congress number originally).
>>
>> I know a couple of the schools (like CMU) wanted to use it for the OS
>> course, but there was some hang-up associated with it in the mid-70s, which
>> I don't remember - we did have a couple of sections passed out for a few
>> lecture.  But because of how it was bound (and short), it was photocopied s
>> others have pointed out.
>>
>> I think Michigan managed to use the whole thing for their OS course, as I
>> seem to remember that both Ted Kowalski and Bill Joy got copies there
>> (although my memory is that they both had photocopies not the original
>> Orange and Red bindings).  Ted brought it to CMU, which is how I first saw
>> it (and I think my original copy was a duplicate of his). And I remember
>> seeing a photocopy in wnj's office at UCB.  The first time I saw
>> the official Red/Orange bound version was when I ordered it at Tektronix
>> from WE a few years later, but I had to leave it there when I went back to
>> grad school.
>>
>>
>> 2.) The question asked about general 'Unix' text -- my favorite is still
>> Rob and Brian's and I still recommend it (particularly to learn how to
>> >>use<< UNIX/Linux today by doing the exercises), but it was not first.
>>  Steve's certainly was early and I thought it was a good explanation and
>> until Rob and Brian became available was what I suggested when people
>> asked.  In fact, early Masscomp system's shipped Bourne's text, until Tim
>> wrote the original 'UNIX In a Nutshell' that started his empire.    That
>> said, I do seem to remember there was another book around the same time
>> (79-80 ish) that had a light blue cover that came from one 'PC-press'
>> publishers.   I wish I could remember the author and the name.  I remember
>> looking at a copy in Powell's in Portland when it came out and not being
>> impressed.
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 5, 2020 at 8:08 PM Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Do the Bell Labs technical journals count?  I have a collection of Unix
>>> papers that were puled out and published together in two volumes.  That
>>> stuff was a gold mine of information in the 80's.
>>>
>>> On Sun, Apr 05, 2020 at 07:57:55PM -0400, Ronald Natalie wrote:
>>> > The Lions book wasn???t really published back in the day.   It was
>>> only targetted at his students in Australia (though copies leaked out).
>>> >
>>> > The manuals aren???t really a book (and again, they weren???t really
>>> published as a book) and most of the prose on UNIX was more in the form of
>>> articles than an entire book.
>>>
>>> --
>>> ---
>>> Larry McVoy                  lm at mcvoy.com
>>> http://www.mcvoy.com/lm
>>>
>>
>
> --
> Michael Usher
> Senior Wireless Network Engineer
> University of California, Santa Cruz
> musher@ucsc.edu        831-459-3697
>
-- 
Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual

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