- 2011-12-11 Math jokes
#olduse.net
Math jokes were as sec 30 years ago as they are today.
- 2011-12-08 Emacs keybindings are arcane
#emacs
#olduse.net
... even 30 years ago people were complaining about Emacs' keyboard shortcuts.
So, they haven't changed (fundamentally) in 30 years - is that a sign of success...
- 2011-11-07 The vanilla SUN machine
#olduse.net
Another nugget of history from the usenet of yore:
"Stanford University Computer Systems Lab has designed and built a personal workstation that does not have...
- 2011-11-05 What does 'rc' mean?
#olduse.net
Dennis Ritchie explains the etymology of 'rc': <4857@0Aucbvax.UUCP> in fa.unix-wizards.
- 2011-11-02 How strncpy et al got their names
#olduse.net
On usenet 30 years ago, you could read about "strcpyn" being renamed to "strncpy": <4702@Aucbvax.UUCP>
- 2011-10-26 Changing the name of USENET?
#olduse.net
I am toying with the idea of changing the names USENET (the network
itself) and netnews (the collection of software that implements netnews)
both to "newsnet...
- 2011-09-29 Hazeltine Executive 80 model 20 review
#olduse.net
Today, 30 years ago, you could read a review of the Hazeltine Executive 80 model 20 terminal. It is fascinating:
Price:
$1295 (model 20 12" screen ...
- 2011-09-10 Adding usernames to crontab
#olduse.net
In "Proposed modifications to cron" posted to the newsgroup fa.unix-wizards on September 10, 1981, the suggestion to add usernames to the crontab was put forth...
- 2011-08-14 Personal Computer
#olduse.net
"IBM announced its new 8080 based personal computer yesterday." - IBM Personal Computer, in WorkS Digest V1 #6.
- 2011-08-13 Hash bang
#olduse.net
Bill Joy explains #! in 4.1bsd for VAXes: Re: Setuid shell files.
- 2011-08-13 The First Name Conflict on Usenet, Aug 13 1981
#olduse.net
"THIS IS NOT US. We may have a first here: the first real live authentic name conflict on Usenet. [Why me, Lord?] Would anyone knowing the possible identity...
- 2011-08-10 Unix licensing, 1981
#olduse.net
"This is the licensing arrangement that allows Onyx to
sell Z8000 boxes with unix for reasonable prices. Microsoft also
is in this category." - unix licenses...
- 2011-07-31 The Y2K problem
#olduse.net
People were tired of the year 2000 problem discussions as early as 1985: "Will the computer bugs discussion end before the year 2000?
"
- 2011-07-30 Motorola announces 68000 processor running at 10MHz
#olduse.net
In July 1981 you could read about the 10MHz 68000 on usenet, in the fa.info-micro group:
"Designeers requiring a
68000 faster than the current...
- 2011-07-22 Fancy keyboards
#olduse.net
Some years ago the "Optimus Maximus" keyboard, designed by a Russian designer, with OLED displays for keys went around the world - such a fancy newfangled idea...