Talk:A UNIX™ Operating System for the DEC VAX-11/780 Computer

Revised version

So, this is a revised version? Is there a link to the original?

• A UNIX™Operating System for the DEC VAX-11/780 Computer

ForOldHack (talk) 01:02, 6 September 2019 (CEST)

You mean to the original "internal Bell Labs memo by Reiser and London, dated July 7, 1978"? There's a scan of the original here. Jnc (talk) 02:13, 6 September 2019 (CEST)

There are still some errors in the text, presumably leftovers from the original OCR scanning and not all were caught by DMR. E.g. 'paves' instead of 'passes' - definitely an OCR error and not an original typo. Should they (there are others) be left in, or fixed? Tor (talk) 08:45, 17 January 2023 (CET)

I'd fix them, and put a note in the header that additional errors have been caught and fixed past DMR's fixes. In fact, I'll start the process; if you see any I missed, please do them as well. 14:27, 17 January 2023 (CET)

OK, done; I read the complete text, and found a few more errors (see here). The hard-copy did contain an error ("disk-to-ta;" for "disk-to-tape") which had already been fixed, presumably by DMR (although I didn't check that); I left it. I also added back a bunch of italics and bold which had been lost; I hope I got the bold ones right, they can be somewhat difficult to be certain of in the scan. Jnc (talk) 17:17, 17 January 2023 (CET)

Managed to save page without my comment: Fixed a few more OCR errors (1l -> 11, l -> 1, fix dash, missing '(', "disassembles" -> "disassembler", "an" -> "can") Tor (talk) 13:29, 20 January 2023 (CET)

Technical error

I did find one error in the original text: "RH-11 controller on a PDP-11/70 MASSBUS" - that's actually an RH70; the RH11 is a UNIBUS MASSBUS controller. I suppose we should probably put a (sic - RH70) on that? I didn't want to change the original text. Jnc (talk) 17:17, 17 January 2023 (CET)

Nobody ever opined, so I stuck a '(sic; actually, RH70)' in. Jnc (talk) 14:26, 6 May 2023 (CEST)

Another error?

The original text contains several references to "Center 127". It was definitely '1127' at one time (see e.g. here); a Web search for 'Unix Center 127' doesn't turn up much. It's possible that it was re-numbered, but I would guess not. Jnc (talk) 14:22, 6 May 2023 (CEST)

Kernighan, "UNIX: A History and a Memory", has a section that bears on this (pg. 21). Computer Science at Bell Labs was originally 'Center 137', then 127, and eventually 1127. So "Center 127" might be correct. Jnc (talk) 18:05, 7 May 2023 (CEST)