On Fri, May 07, 2004 at 09:10:14PM -0400, Bill Diamond wrote: > On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 11:00, Steve Searle wrote: > > > Around 03:44pm on Monday, May 03, 2004 (UK time), duncan brown scrawled: > > > > > and i don't mean to insult you in anyway, but... i wonder who's the oldest > > > computer literate linux user out there? i sort of have the mentality of > > > the hippies back in the 60s/70s, don't trust anyone over 30 =] ... it's > > > hard for me to believe that someone over 30 uses linux personally, once > > > you're over 30 you have to start thinking more like a manager =]... then > > > again, i'm almost over that line, but i don't feel like i'm that close =] > > > > Well I'm 43 and have 5 PCs/Servers in my study running Gnu/Linux. I > > started as a trainee programmer on a Honeywell maiunframe in '79. > > > > And I know there are plenty older and more skilled than me. > > Ditto. I'm pushing 44, and I have three Linux servers and two WinPCs. > > Please, sonny. We grandpappys were programming Unix before you were > even conceived of. Hell, I was programming Bell Version 3 back in > 1980. > > So, y'all hush up now and respect your elders :-) In 1980 it was Bell Labs "Edition 7" (based on the User's Manual edition).
We were a source code licensee for BV3. It had some interesting trapdoors. My particular favorite was the ability to run su and fail it three times in a row. It made you root. Lots of work went into weeding out the various odd bits like that and we stuck with it. Sort of forked our own development path.
Me? In 1958 I was keypunching FORTRAN decks for my dad at age 5. Played with computers and teletypes and all sorts of fun stuff all my life. Began UNIX with Edition 6 in 1978 at Duke, helped with the establishment of Usenet, consulted at Bell Labs, did the NYC thing for a few years, then a few (15) years as departmental guru. Hit Linux with kernel 0.94 and Slackware, then RedHat 2.x and have been a RH fan ever since. I'm only 50, but I've been a computer user for longer than most.
I take it that must have been a bit of a challenge. I mean, just putting a control card on the drum of the 024 would have been a problem at that height!
Bill
