For a few year VMS was the OS of the "internet". I remember wondering in 1991 or 1992 if UNIX would still be around by 2000
On Fri, Nov 1, 2024, 4:42 PM Johan Helsingius via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > UNIX might have been unobtainium in your home, but a lot of BBS's > used UUCP to get email and USENET connectivity, and a huge amount > of students had modem access to an UNIX computer at their university. > > Julf > > > On 10/24/24 04:36, Doug Jackson via cctalk wrote: > > Yes, UUCP was literally a thing, but UNIX was unobtanium in the early > > computing eral - The world of the University Minicomputer. > > > > It certainly wasn't even vaguely accessible by a hobbyist running a > > Z80 or 6800 in the late 70's. > > > > I vividly remember being able to take home a NEC 80386 computer from > > my day job (I worked for a computer store selling NEC machines) during > > the Christmas shutdown between 1987/1988 - It had SCO Xenix installed > > and a new graphical system (To SCO) called 'XWindows' Unheard of - I > > did a heap of learning. > > > > That was probably the point where a UNIX like operating system became > > accessible to people. Then 386BSD arrived (1993) and Linux came (1991) > > into the scene and suddenly unix was everywhere - I still remember my > > first stack of installation media for freeBSD - something like 10 > > 1.4MB floppies for the Binaries, and another 10 for the source files. > > > > So - yea, UUCP was around, but it wasn't alive in hobbyist circles. > > > > Kindest regards, > > > > Doug Jackson > > > > em: d...@doughq.com > > ph: 0414 986878 > > > > Follow my amateur radio adventures at vk1zdj.net > > > > > > On Thu, 24 Oct 2024 at 11:39, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk > > <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >> On 10/23/2024 3:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > >>> On Wed, 23 Oct 2024, Robert Feldman via cctalk wrote: > >>> > >>>> Ward Christensen, Early Visionary of Social Media, Dies at 78 > >>>> > >>>> > https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/21/technology/ward-christensen-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UU4.nswM.540OUXuySX84&smid=url-share > >>> > >>> Thank you for sharing that. > >>> > >>> > >>> The author, presumably a heavy Reddit, TikTok and Facebook user, seemed > >>> to have never heard about existence of computers before internet, nor > >>> about any computer to computer connections other than internet. He > does > >>> not seem to know about anything except CBBS,and that solely because it > >>> "resembles Facebook". > >>> "Early Visionary of Social Media" > >>> > >>> > >>> It is an adequately detailed story of his life, and mostly about CBBS > >>> ("a forerunner of Reddit, TikTok and Facebook") > >>> > >>> A dozen paragraphs about CBBS, but XMODEM barely rated a mention, and > >>> even there, only about its use on CBBS: > >>> > >>> "In 1977, he developed a protocol, called XMODEM, for sending computer > >>> files across phone lines; it was later used on C.B.B.S." > >>> . . . "For decades, his license plate read, XMODEM." > >>> > >> > >> Which had already been done with UUCP in 1976. > >> > >> bill' > >> >
