From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 8508 invoked from network); 11 Feb 2021 00:28:07 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 11 Feb 2021 00:28:07 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id D71079503E; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:28:01 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D829094F1B; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:27:28 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=fail reason="signature verification failed" (1024-bit key; secure) header.d=mxes.net header.i=@mxes.net header.b="etepAybB"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id DA3E094F1B; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:27:24 +1000 (AEST) Received: from smtp-out-4.mxes.net (smtp-out-4.mxes.net [198.205.123.69]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8F1D094F19 for ; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 10:27:22 +1000 (AEST) Received: from Customer-MUA (mua.mxes.net [10.0.0.1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.mxes.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 1FF8B759FD for ; Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:27:18 -0500 (EST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mxes.net; s=mta; t=1613003239; bh=NGGcvD4ZG97owooqNQ9iI3rRs9kX2dusI9c3+QZY27A=; h=From:To:Subject:Date:Message-Id:In-Reply-To:References:Reply-To: Mime-Version:Content-Type; b=etepAybBV0Jpxmo+e0crzHTJ2a8/PW0jO5inVxicoxOHOf8zUKRrttb3QjeqTywu/ myddAwJxIbkTChdhceOdpof4NwBc6P51vJcacc1A4Qf0gHfPaf+Tp/Dp8V4hgR29fM kQ+OcX1c5I7vCLkkFRV7OkfV2whO8VMJzT7v7ipk= From: "Ron Natalie" To: "The Unix Heritage Society mailing list" Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 00:27:17 +0000 Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: <8b580c46-ecfb-9383-ed43-08108b3ee7bf@tllds.com> <20201130163753.GB18187@mcvoy.com> <202102102236.11AMann01820861@darkstar.fourwinds.com> User-Agent: eM_Client/8.1.1054.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Sent-To: Subject: Re: [TUHS] troff was not so widely usable (was: The UNIX Command Language (1976)) 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: , Reply-To: Ron Natalie Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" We used nroff quite a bit with both the Model37 teletype (for which it =0Aw= sa designed, ours even had the greek box on it) and with output filters =0A= for the lineprinter and the Diablos.=0A=0ALater on we drove troff into cat= emulators that used Versatec printers. =0A I don=E2=80=99t knwo wher Be= rkely=E2=80=99s vcat got their fonts, but the JHU verset =0Ahad an amusing= history on that.=0A=0AGeorge Toth went down to the NRL which had a real CAT = and printed out =0Athe fonts in large point size on film. In the baseme= nt of the =0Abiophysics bulding was a scanning transmission electron micros= cope which =0Aused a PDP-11/20 as its controller and an older (512x512 or s= o) =0Aframebuffer. George took the scanning wires off the microsope nad = =0Ahooked them up to the X and Y of a tektronics oscilliscope. Then he = =0Aput a photomutlipler tube in a scope camera housing and hoked the sense = =0Awire from the microscope to that.=0A=0AHe now had the worlds most expen= sive flying spot scanner. He=E2=80=99d tape =0Aone letter at a time to th= e scope and then bring up the microscope =0Asofware (DOS/BATCH I think) and = tell it to run the microscope. Then =0Awithout powering down the memory = in the framebuffer, he=E2=80=99d boot up =0Aminiunix and copy the stuff fr= om the framebuffer to an RX05 pack.=0AAfter months of laboriously scanning= he was able to write the CAT =0Aemulator.=0A=0AI had gone to work for Marti= n Marietta wirking on a classified project =0Aso I wrote hacks to the -mm m= acro package to handle security markings =0A(automatically putting the high= est on each page on thte top and bottom). =0A Later when ditroff became= available I continued to use it with =0Avarious laserprinters. I even wr= ote macropackages to emulate IBM=E2=80=99s =0Adoc style when we were contra= cting with them.=0A=0AThis was all to the chagrin of my boss who wanted us= to switch to =0AFramemaker.=0A=0A