Levels of Unix guru

[mdSeuss]

I was in a corporate network consulting group ... part of the flock of seagulls fired upon poor unsuspecting customers Based out of PKO2. It was a fun place to work and I really enjoyed being onsite with customers and helping them.

 

[Barry Wallis]

I remember the PLOT WOMBAT command.

 

[jreagan]

Ha! I didn't expect to find you guys here.

I started with DEC working on OpenVMS compilers in 1983. I'm still working with compilers for OpenVMS. From DEC to Compaq to HP and then licensed to VMS Software Inc., we're still around. We've ported it to x86-64. It is in beta now. And yes, Datatrieve too. www.vmssoftware.com

And of course, as a compiler developer, I have to know the assembly so I'm fluent in VAX, Alpha, Itanium, and x86. I've pretty good with MIPS, PDP-11, and even the KL-10 (who doesn't love an instruction JUMP that doesn't jump!)

 

[ggerke]

Let the VMS flashbacks continue. I think the editor that will remain my favorite was EDT. You gotta have the VTxxx keyboard to do it right 'cause without the keypad with the correct layout my right hand would just flounder around like a fish out of water.

Dang it, now I gotta go dig out the mVax 3100 and see if it still boots.

 

[ggerke]

I really enjoyed the Vax. I got asked to do a system upgrade on a weekend, in the time frame of the first Beverley Hills Cop movie. I listened to the soundtrack on my cassette Walkman while I waited to load each reel to reel tape. The command interpreter in VMS was very nice, and the embedded networking was very slick. Having the system automatically make backups of your files with the semicolon naming was also quite handy.

As a fledgling VAX/VMS sysadmin back before time began I remember the parting gift I got from the outgoing "buddy" from the company I used to work at - he removed the mount command. He was probably perturbed 'cause I'd added an extra file folder to his filing cabinet labeled "Spare Panties" along with a pair of unmentionables that I'd found on a bike trail and not being one to pass up on a potential prank I snagged them and brought them to work. It was a different time where HR wasn't so involved.

Anyway, I figured no big deal, I'll just restore from tape... er. wait. My solution? I was still in school where the same version of VMS was in use so I fired up Kermit and sucked it over.

Ah, those were the days....

 

[Barry Wallis]

Let the VMS flashbacks continue. I think the editor that will remain my favorite was EDT. You gotta have the VTxxx keyboard to do it right 'cause without the keypad with the correct layout my right hand would just flounder around like a fish out of water.

Being a hardcore programmer, I was a TECO (Text Editor and COrrector) guy and then EMACS (which was originally written in TECO).

 

[PHolder]

my favorite was EDT

EDT was great on a VT terminal. Eventually it got rebuilt as a configuration of TPU. I remember writing some TPU plugins for my EDT config. I loved TPU/EDT so much I eventual paid too much for a DOS version of it to replace my aged copy of the Norton Editor (was that BRIEF?)

 

[jreagan]

TPU/EVE has a SET KEYPAD EDT that gets you most of EDT. I switch between LSE and emacs on VMS depending on what I'm doing. There is also work for a new TECO written in C. The VAX version is written in Macro-32. Unfortunately, it uses some code constructs that the Macro compiler (reads Macro-32 source, generates Alpha/Itanium/x86 instructions) cannot handle. So for Alpha and itanium, we used the binary translator. It isn't clear if we'll do a binary translator for x86 so we're looking at a C version. I have got ADVENTURE running (for the most part) on x86 VMS.

 

[Barry Wallis]

Dungeon Map for ADVENT

 

[LinuxNinja]

I will never admit to having written assembly code in the debugger and squirting it out to a file to execute.

Manual? ... What Manual ?!? This Is Unix, My Son, You Just GOTTA Know!!!

I remember when 'edlin' replaced 'copy con'
I also remember using 'debug' to low-level format a hard drive by calling a hidden BIOS routine: `debug -g c800:0005`

 

[Marshall Wilensky]

Since no one answered the original question: https://www.levenez.com/unix/guru.html


OBTW: I was also at DEC from 1982 - 1984. I worked on two manufacturing automation projects. The first was on RSTS/E on a PDP-11/70. The second was in VAX FORTRAN on an 11/780, if I remember correctly. This one should have been written in VAX BASIC because of all the string manipulation for communication with the user. I worked around FORTRAN's limitation by calling the BASIC run time library. Gotta love the multi-language calling standards! This 2nd project helped automate the production of the Rainbow, DECmate, and Professional (Pro) personal computers.

 

[LikesCookies]

I worked with RSX and VMS from about 1975 to 2017. The company for which I worked had 11/725s, an 11/730, an 11/780, an 11/782, an 8400, an 8500, an a couple of 8600s, and ended with a 7000 series before transitioning to CHARON-VAX. We also had VAXstations of various models.

 

[hyperbole]

Dungeon Map for ADVENT

That looks more iike the map for Zork I instead of Adventure to me.

 

[Barry Wallis]

Zork 1 was based on Adventure. This map was from 1979 and Zork 1 was released in 1980.

 

[B_D]

I remember first HS computer class was done on a shared old teletype terminal with a 300 baud acoustic coupler modem that dialed into UD's timeshare system. How far we've come.