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=-0.7 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,PLING_QUERY,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 d40cd748 for ; Thu, 10 Oct 2019 21:13:32 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 89F849B645; Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:13:31 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4E69894811; Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:13:07 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id D7B8594811; Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:13:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: from neener.bl.org (neener.bl.org [50.116.26.109]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29F2994742 for ; Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:13:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: from www.bl.org (neener.bl.org [50.116.26.109]) (authenticated bits=0) by neener.bl.org (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPSA id x9ALD3lp008150 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:13:03 -0500 (CDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:13:03 -0500 From: Michael Parson To: tuhs@tuhs.org Organization: BL dot ORG In-Reply-To: <20191010205546.GA29154@minnie.tuhs.org> References: <20191010205546.GA29154@minnie.tuhs.org> Message-ID: X-Sender: mparson@bl.org User-Agent: Roundcube Webmail/1.3.8 X-Greylist: Sender succeeded SMTP AUTH, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (neener.bl.org [50.116.26.109]); Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:13:03 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: [TUHS] What was your "Aha, Unix!" moment? 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: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On 2019-10-10 15:55, Warren Toomey wrote: > All, we had another dozen TUHS suscribers to the list overnight. > Welcome. > A reminder that we're here to discuss Unix Heritage, so I'll nudge you > if the conversation goes a bit off-topic. > > So I'll kick off another thread. What was your "ahah" moment when you > first saw that Unix was special, especially compared to the systems > you'd > previously used? > > Mine was: Oh, I can: > + write a simple script > + to edit a file on the fly > + with no temporary files (a la pipes) > + AND I can change the file suffix and the system won't stop me! I'm a bit younger, first started playing with Unix systems in 1992, a Sun something running SunOS 4.1.something while in collage. I just kinda assumed that this remote system I was accessing over a dial-up connection some some big-iron box, I mean, it had dozens of people logged into it at a time! Of course it was something bigger than the PC I had at home. When I first saw a Sun pizza-box, and realized it was the same class system I'd been logging into remotely, I was impressed, but was still sure it was some magic that made it way more special than the PC stuff I was used to. I later learned about Linux and installed it on a 486DX-50 that had been slated to be a backup Novell box at my job. This was a system that did a decent job at being a Novel server, its clone had ~45 systems attached to it in the student lab, was a file/print server, etc. I knew that it was a beefy box for Windows (3.1, at the time), but with Linux... With Linux, I had X11 on the console, could be playing Doom, browse thew eb with Mosaic, etc, while a dozen+ CS students were logged in from the Wyse terminals in the next building, and it kept chugging along. > I was using TOPS-20 beforehand. I started out on home-PCs of the era: Commodore 64, Apple II, various CP/M systems, TI 99/4A, and of course MS/PC-DOS systems. Unix showed me what a computer could really do. I don't really remember being impressed with pipes, for some reason, they just made sense to me. For me, the first time someone showed me xargs, that was cool. It was my introduction to command-line scripting. > Cheers, Warren -- Michael Parson Pflugerville, TX KF5LGQ