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=-0.6 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, 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 9d3a0e16 for ; Sat, 18 Jan 2020 00:24:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id CCEDA9C122; Sat, 18 Jan 2020 10:24:05 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5A779C108; Sat, 18 Jan 2020 10:23:40 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=gmail.com header.i=@gmail.com header.b="YWDcn5i/"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id CB5F69C0FE; Sat, 18 Jan 2020 10:23:37 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-ot1-f66.google.com (mail-ot1-f66.google.com [209.85.210.66]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 279409C0FE for ; Sat, 18 Jan 2020 10:23:37 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-ot1-f66.google.com with SMTP id h9so24044267otj.11 for ; Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:23:37 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc:content-transfer-encoding; bh=8tEhoIbSQtBBsiPIf0PJfz9D79v1KMnFJVkA49MrvNU=; b=YWDcn5i/K37ftZH9VbE38nGIjcDakpZfW2DBVGhPROsd8f35aTTGjkZMVHVbcCiV+x aWpOyXfC3QboeeSAxS/G1e/4ImxfYL3vblFmkl8GgAc6AOvRmmT/lxOnfsyvdplAjVWD Y9xq0jkXSVwlWN+T60phRT9xNvV7Hvd+Dzf0ICJXrUkaiq8stlHJu6XSJ7cbSsnG17Rz 8Ndxuisn4vNINQxmyzwzIuoK6al2zsMh8CLBbVf5SJtHwQz6cT2fdGJsSLRKvkWN06um PMgQplkPTP5RT5hNJbe4Wr0b1ntx5sRtMATrEUDNq0CqHOQUD2G6QHFcKdT9dfWh+TmH Uxhg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date :message-id:subject:to:cc:content-transfer-encoding; bh=8tEhoIbSQtBBsiPIf0PJfz9D79v1KMnFJVkA49MrvNU=; b=ZliJ01uPzPkvXhQAcWYytDguLGC30ObG6GaUBXyi6GenhbPu7tsN++dzBHyQW4Za6W uXIYBCdmrlZb9jYjh/ubPrNWdfasm8auEUOp9FqiQPI+7uizuOweF+JwLkFRXdVI/tmx +0iIHT/NDrqPkIX0L9ogsl80OIIW9aFBE4uwVrpVXyE3pEcFuazmTCE/1wejx2obhTnT ncNoBl+GwucbSHyIrAwOumDXZ5jO1sks50AybVVUWnl01Zh48AhE8ssDcW2Yp5qrtB33 pNhyGpZTLPuO1NFDbYhQwlisU84AQh3WezOXJLtMjKCA+aCBW7gClocrS9L5ccF6jfAl Ipcw== X-Gm-Message-State: APjAAAVNNdGT55Y5+Q1FAptytmqO/QifTPLEYB3bHT5zk8hZsQ93Nw/5 n4sRvFClOm4o36gfk64Q6oPoSTNVmsryOZoMArwLww== X-Google-Smtp-Source: APXvYqxwNJyJULFiQb7N1CxEO7/np1qHE+G730OQzJq1dfPl61rQpoX7QpZVMIHpQZhhqOLoURdHZwHI2GY1wLnURNo= X-Received: by 2002:a9d:748d:: with SMTP id t13mr7999210otk.181.1579307016287; Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:23:36 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 2002:a4a:8785:0:0:0:0:0 with HTTP; Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:23:35 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: From: Wesley Parish Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2020 13:23:35 +1300 Message-ID: To: Arrigo Triulzi Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: [TUHS] On the origins of Linux - "an academic question" 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: , Cc: The Eunuchs Historic Society Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" There's a book called "Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary" co-authored by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond that sets out how he came to write the Linux kernel. Wesley Parish On 1/18/20, Arrigo Triulzi wrote: > [I originally asked the following on Twitter which was probably not the > smartest idea] > > I was recently wondering about the origins of Linux, i.e. Linux Torvalds > doing his MSc and deciding to write Linux (the kernel) for the i386 becau= se > Minix did not support the i386 properly. While this is perfectly > understandable I was trying to understand why, as he was in academia, he = did > not decide to write a =E2=80=9Cfree X=E2=80=9D for a different X. The exa= mple I picked was > Plan 9, simply because I always liked it but X could be any number of oth= er > operating systems which he would have been exposed to in academia. This a= ll > started in my mind because I was thinking about my friends who were CompS= ci > university students with me at the time and they were into all sorts of > esoteric stuff like Miranda-based operating systems, building a complete > interface builder for X11 on SunOS including sparkly mouse pointers, etc.= (I > guess you could define it as =E2=80=9Cthe usual frivolous MSc projects=E2= =80=9D) and > comparing their choices with Linus=E2=80=99. > > The answers I got varied from =E2=80=9Cthe world needed a free Unix and B= SD was > embroiled in the AT&T lawsuit at the time=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9CPlan 9 als= o had a restrictive > license=E2=80=9D (to the latter my response was that =E2=80=9Cso did Unix= and that=E2=80=99s why > Linus built Linux!=E2=80=9D) but I don=E2=80=99t feel any of the answers = addressed my > underlying question as to what was wrong in the exposure to other operati= ng > systems which made Unix the choice? > > Personally I feel that if we had a distributed OS now instead of Linux we= =E2=80=99d > be better off with the current architecture of the world so I am sad that > "Linux is not Plan 9" which is what prompted the question. > > Obviously I am most grateful for being able to boot the Mathematics > department=E2=80=99s MS-DOS i486 machines with Linux 0.12 floppy disks an= d not > having to code Fortran 77 in Notepad followed by eventually taking over t= he > department with X-Terminals based on Linux connected to the departmental > servers (Sun, DEC Alpha, IBM RS/6000s). Without Linux they had been runni= ng > eXeed (sp?) on Windows 3.11! In this respect Linux definitely filled in a > huge gap. > > Arrigo > >