Tag Archives: Unix

How CHM Recovered The Unix v4 Tape

Posted on 2026-03-09 by jcs

I’ve written a few posts [1, 2, 3] on the recently discovered Unix v4 tape. The tape is significant because it is the only known extant copy of Unix v4. Unix v4 is significant because it was the first copy … Continue reading →

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A Unix/Emacs Blast From The Past

Posted on 2026-02-26 by jcs

Although many of us won’t admit it, we all enjoy a bit of nostalgia. Here’s some from 20 to 25 years ago. Kids today™, they don’t know how good they have it. There’s a tendency to romance the “powerful” workstations … Continue reading →

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Unix V4 Source Commentary

Posted on 2026-01-14 by jcs

I’ve written a couple of times about the recent discovery of the only known Unix v4 tape. The v4 release, which was generally considered lost, is important because it is the first Unix that was written in C and therefore … Continue reading →

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Unix V4 Update

Posted on 2025-12-24 by jcs

A month and a half ago, I wrote about the discovery of an original Unix V4 tape in a storeroom at the University of Utah. V4 was special because it was the first version of Unix to be largely written … Continue reading →

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Unix Magic

Posted on 2025-12-10 by jcs

Back in the 1980s Gary Overcare’s Unix Magic poster was a popular item at USENIX conferences. It depicts a Unix Wizard casting his spells in a giant shell surrounded by various Unix paraphernalia. The meanings of the various parts of … Continue reading →

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Unix v4

Posted on 2025-11-11 by jcs

The Unix story is well known to most software nerds but lessor known is the story of Unix v4. To many, it’s just another in the long line of Bell Lab’s Computing Sciences Research Center’s Unix releases but it turns … Continue reading →

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A (Too) Short Interview With Brian Kernighan

Posted on 2024-07-24 by jcs

As you all know, I’m a big fan of Brian Kernighan. He’s not only the co-author of the iconic K&R book on C but also wrote a lot of of the Unix utilities that we all depend on today. Not … Continue reading →

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A Blast From The Past: Stderr

Posted on 2024-07-20 by jcs

I’ve written about this before but that was 9 years ago and it’s a great story so perhaps a reprise is due. The story is about the birth of stderr. As I wrote last time, the concept seems so natural … Continue reading →

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The Origins of Unix and C

Posted on 2024-05-27 by jcs

F/OSS Comics has a cute cartoon about the origins of Unix and C. If you want a quick précis of the Unix and C histories, this is a good starting point. There are a lot of inaccuracies—at least as I … Continue reading →

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BSD

Posted on 2024-03-17 by jcs

Over at Abort Retry Fail there’s a very nice and comprehensive history and discussion of BSD Unix. I’m pretty familiar with most of this history but the article mentions some things that were new to me. A good case can … Continue reading →

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