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From: Michael Usher via TUHS <tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org>
To: Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com>
Cc: TUHS main list <tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org>
Subject: Re: [TUHS] First book on Unix for general readership
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2020 17:46:33 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CACg3+DHxyMP9fbycbvxQ37Ya+oTi40tsvJHAYb1XC1--OnH2QQ@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAC20D2PSbFt47L0g3Jw_aVGra8nzwUW+hJGgitAZEhVk44=PPQ@mail.gmail.com>

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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

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  reply	other threads:[~2020-04-06  0:47 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2020-04-04 15:05 markus schnalke
2020-04-04 15:48 ` Nemo Nusquam
2020-04-14 15:27   ` Steve Mynott
2020-04-14 20:32     ` Warner Losh
2020-04-14 22:03       ` Warner Losh
2020-04-04 16:12 ` Michael Kjörling
2020-04-04 16:45   ` markus schnalke
2020-04-05 23:57     ` Ronald Natalie
2020-04-06  0:08       ` Larry McVoy
2020-04-06  0:27         ` Clem Cole
2020-04-06  0:46           ` Michael Usher via TUHS [this message]
2020-04-06  1:41             ` Clem Cole
2020-04-06  1:46               ` Michael Usher via TUHS
2020-04-06 14:51             ` ron
2020-04-08 22:23               ` Greg A. Woods
2020-04-06  0:17       ` Dave Horsfall
2020-04-06 14:54         ` ron
2020-04-06 14:54         ` ron
2020-04-07 10:42       ` Derek Fawcus
2020-04-08 22:16         ` Greg A. Woods
2020-04-04 17:32 ` Warner Losh
2020-04-04 22:41 Doug McIlroy
2020-04-14  2:13 Doug McIlroy
2020-04-14  5:30 ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
2020-04-14  5:38   ` Warner Losh
2020-04-14 15:10 Doug McIlroy

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