This commit is contained in:
Bob Mottram 2018-10-15 19:34:25 +01:00
parent e01e994d9f
commit a687a88900
10 changed files with 19 additions and 27 deletions

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@ -5,9 +5,8 @@ Unix versions for the DEC VAX and PDP-11 developed by Bill Joy and others at
Berzerkeley starting around 1977, incorporating paged virtual memory, TCP/IP
networking enhancements, and many other features. The BSD versions (4.1,
4.2, and 4.3) and the commercial versions derived from them (SunOS, ULTRIX,
and Mt. Xinu) held the technical lead in the Unix world until AT T's
and Mt. Xinu) held the technical lead in the Unix world until AT&T's
successful standardization efforts after about 1986; descendants including
Free/Open/NetBSD, BSD/OS and MacOS X are still widely popular. Note that BSD
versions going back to 2.9 are often referred to by their version numbers
alone, without the BSD prefix. See also Unix.

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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
C++
/C'pluhspluhs/ , n. Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT T Bell Labs as a
/C'pluhspluhs/ , n. Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT&T Bell Labs as a
successor to C. Now one of the languages of choice , although many hackers
still grumble that it is the successor to either Algol 68 or Ada (depending
on generation), and a prime example of second-system effect. Almost anything

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@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
Death Square
n. The corporate logo of Novell, the people who acquired USL after AT T let
n. The corporate logo of Novell, the people who acquired USL after AT&T let
go of it (Novell eventually sold the Unix group to SCO). Coined by analogy
with Death Star , because many people believed Novell was bungling the lead
in Unix systems exactly as AT T did for many years.
in Unix systems exactly as AT&T did for many years.

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@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
Death Star
n. [from the movie Star Wars ] 1. The AT T corporate logo, which bears an
n. [from the movie Star Wars ] 1. The AT&T corporate logo, which bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Death Star in the Star Wars movies. This usage
was particularly common among partisans of BSD Unix in the 1980s, who tended
to regard the AT T versions as inferior and AT T as a bad guy. Copies still
to regard the AT&T versions as inferior and AT&T as a bad guy. Copies still
circulate of a poster printed by Mt. Xinu showing a starscape with a space
fighter labeled 4.2 BSD streaking away from a broken AT T logo wreathed in
flames. 2. AT T's internal magazine, Focus , uses death star to describe an
incorrectly done AT T logo in which the inner circle in the top left is dark
fighter labeled 4.2 BSD streaking away from a broken AT&T logo wreathed in
flames. 2. AT&T's internal magazine, Focus , uses death star to describe an
incorrectly done AT&T logo in which the inner circle in the top left is dark
instead of light a frequent result of dark-on-light logo images.

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@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ apocryphal). Ultimately DEC picked TOPS-20 as the name of the operating
system, and it was as TOPS-20 that it was marketed. The hacker community,
mindful of its origins, quickly dubbed it TWENEX (a contraction of twenty
TENEX ), even though by this point very little of the original TENEX code
remained (analogously to the differences between AT T V6 Unix and BSD). DEC
remained (analogously to the differences between AT&T V6 Unix and BSD). DEC
people cringed when they heard TWENEX , but the term caught on nevertheless
(the written abbreviation 20x was also used). TWENEX was successful and very
popular; in fact, there was a period in the early 1980s when it commanded as
@ -27,4 +27,3 @@ VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in the sun.
DEC attempted to convince TOPS-20 users to convert to VMS , but instead, by
the late 1980s, most of the TOPS-20 hackers had migrated to Unix. There is a
TOPS-20 home page.

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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
UN*X
n. Used to refer to the Unix operating system (a trademark of AT T, then of
n. Used to refer to the Unix operating system (a trademark of AT&T, then of
Novell, then of Unix Systems Laboratories, then of the Open Group; the
source code parted company with it after Novell and was owned by SCO, which
was acquired by Caldera) in writing, but avoiding the need for the ugly
@ -11,4 +11,3 @@ entrenched anyhow. It has been suggested that there may be a psychological
connection to practice in certain religions (especially Judaism) in which
the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g., YHWH or G--d is
used. See also glob and splat out.

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@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ better off reading the source code that supports whatever feature is causing
confusion, rather than making yet another futile pass through the manuals,
or broadcasting questions on Usenet that haven't attracted wizards to
answer them. Once upon a time in elder days , everyone running Unix had
source. After 1978, AT T's policy tightened up, so this objurgation was in
source. After 1978, AT&T's policy tightened up, so this objurgation was in
theory appropriately directed only at associates of some outfit with a Unix
source license. In practice, bootlegs of Unix source code (made precisely
for reference purposes) were so ubiquitous that one could utter it at almost

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@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ Unix conspiracy
n. [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among ITS and TOPS-20
fans, Unix's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at
Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT T's competitors by making them
dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT T's
Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them
dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T's
control. This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system
that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also relatively
unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing upgrades from AT T).
unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing upgrades from AT&T).
This theory was lent a substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced
in the back door entry. In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the
first computer viruses (see virus ) but a virus spread to computers
@ -16,6 +16,5 @@ the well-known quotation Unix is snake oil was uttered by DEC president
Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its own family of
Unix workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been misquoted.) If there was
ever such a conspiracy, it got thoroughly out of the plotters' control after
1990. AT T sold its Unix operation to Novell around the same time Linux and
1990. AT&T sold its Unix operation to Novell around the same time Linux and
other free-Unix distributions were beginning to make noise.

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@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ dumpster diving
/dump'ster di:ving/ , n. 1. The practice of sifting refuse from an office or
technical installation to extract confidential data, especially
security-compromising information ( dumpster is an Americanism for what is
elsewhere called a skip ). Back in AT T's monopoly days, before paper
elsewhere called a skip ). Back in AT&T's monopoly days, before paper
shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks (see phreaking )
used to organize regular dumpster runs against phone company plants and
offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT T internal manuals taught them
offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT&T internal manuals taught them
much. The technique is still rumored to be a favorite of crackers operating
against careless targets. 2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind
buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are
@ -14,4 +14,3 @@ located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but
still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker's den.
Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of
moldering (but still potentially useful) cruft.

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@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ and CTSS program RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer ( that name came from the
expression to run off a copy ). A companion program, nroff , formats output
for terminals and line printers. In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so
that it could drive phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His
paper describing that work ( A Typesetter-independent troff, AT T CSTR #97)
paper describing that work (A Typesetter-independent troff, AT&T CSTR #97)
explains troff's durability. After discussing the program's obvious
deficiencies a rebarbative input syntax, mysterious and undocumented
properties in some areas, and a voracious appetite for computer resources
@ -22,4 +22,3 @@ systems have reduced troff 's relative importance, but this tribute
perfectly captures the strengths that secured troff a place in hacker
folklore; indeed, it could be taken more generally as an indication of those
qualities of good programs that, in the long run, hackers most admire.