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Random Snippets of History -- Sharan Kalwani *

Random Snippets of History -- Sharan Kalwani *. History of UNIX user group in Michigan (1986…). * sharan.kalwani @ computer.org. rewind to 1986…. Merrily working away at Michigan Cancer Foundation in summer of 1986, sort of summer internship

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Random Snippets of History -- Sharan Kalwani *

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  1. Random Snippets of History-- SharanKalwani* • History of UNIX user group in Michigan (1986…) * sharan.kalwani @ computer.org

  2. rewind to 1986…. • Merrily working away at Michigan Cancer Foundation in summer of 1986, sort of summer internship • Then a struggling grad student at nearby Wayne State U (aka Wait State U) • Hired me to write a device driver for a tape device on a DEC VAX 11/750 • Scientific computing, image processing for scanning cancerous cells thru gel electrophoresis

  3. rewind to 1986…. • A mysterious phone call about folks organizing a mutual help user group was enough to cause me to show up • Being a non-profit and educational site, we had the complete source code to UNIX (system V) and BSD 4.x • Lots of wonderful stories and experiences • inspired by motd, we had our very own ‘motm’

  4. 1986 thru 1988…. • Monthly meetings – usually at some dinner places, some do not even exist any more! • Lots of colorful personalities……………more on that throughout the evening! • Plenty of technical topic presentations, recall giving the very first one on: • Fsck • Other topics were: • uucp • vi text editor • etc… • Other titles were sometimes vendor presentations – usually of how great their hardware was, a few notable exceptions (e.g. SGI)

  5. 1988 to 1990…. • In 1988 we came up with the bright idea of having a full blown conference and technical, business exhibits • Expo@Detroit was born in 1988, 1989 and 1990 • Lots of enthusiasm in the early days • Topical jokes too! (we were the early role models for the BiG Bang Theory!)

  6. 1988 to 1990…. • In 1988 we came up with the bright idea of having a full blown conference and technical, business exhibits • Expo@Detroit was born in 1988, 1989 and 1990 • Lots of enthusiasm in the early days • Topical jokes too! (we were the early role models for the BiG Bang Theory!)

  7. Speaking of topical jokes…. • With UUCP networking, nodes were mostly relays and had the “!” prefix • Usually pronounced as “bang” • Led to some colorful and creative USENET names sometimes • Example: • node name: gang • user name: linda • USENET email address thus – ….gang!linda • Excellent dinner presentation by peter honeyman, 2nd author and also creator of pathalias.

  8. Volunteer efforts…. • UUCP archives were big and limited by physical resources only! • Everything was dial up! ;-) • …mcf!shan was my id back then

  9. Lots of michigan node names…. See full list at http://www.megalextoria.com/usenet-archive/news066f1/b86/comp/mail/maps/00000681.html tardis bgalli fmsrl7 mibte (how could we ever forget that one!?) gdsb, edsews, edsews, node, Most common lament: “all the good ones are taken!”

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