AiniriandNov 7
Rob Ricci

While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #UNIX v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973

Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition

We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum

#retrocomputing

Nov 6 at 8:49pmWeb
Show threadgreatquuxNov 6
@ricci nice!! This is a big deal! We need full interview with the staff member who discovered this, pictures of the computer room, etc. fill up that deetz truck and deliver it to us ASAP! 😁
Show threadRob RicciNov 6

@greatquux It probably spent most of its life sitting in my former advisor Jay Lepreau's office, whose handwriting is on the label. We've only had this specific storage space for like a decade.

The staff member who found it is planning to drive it to the CHM, rather than ship it, so maybe the story will get more interesting after that - other than, we we cleaning out some stuff and this was in a box :)

Show threadJohn RegehrNov 6
@ricci @greatquux Jay couldn't have been at Utah already in 1972, right? I wonder where this came from? wish Gary Lindstrom was around to ask!
Show threadRob RicciNov 6

@regehr @greatquux

It's Jay's handwriting, but yeah we don't know where it came from originally

Show threadJim SpathNov 7
@ricci @greatquux "something something bandwidth of a station wagon..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet
Sneakernet - Wikipedia

Show threadJohn LindseyNov 11

@jspath55 @ricci @greatquux

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
–Andrew Tanenbaum, 1981

Show threadTheZwick32Nov 8
@ricci @greatquux “other than, we we cleaning”
Show threadJohn LindseyNov 11

@ricci @greatquux

I assume per the (See Manual For Format) note that there is at least one copy of said manual out there, or if there is not, many people know exactly what format to use. 😀

Show threadRob RicciNov 11
@nisroc @greatquux yeah the manual was already online, thankfully
Show threadAdam Shostack  Nov 11

@ricci @greatquux What a cool find!

Also, I hope y'all have a very strong fireproof box. :)

Show threadjordanDec 21
@ricci @greatquux Heck man, what else was in the box??
Show threadAshton WiersdorfDec 22
@wagesj45 @ricci @greatquux probably just like an old cup and some stone slabs with funny writing on them.
Show threadMike KnellDec 23
@wiersdorf @wagesj45 @ricci @greatquux I heard there were a couple of lost episodes of Doctor Who as well.
Show threadRob RicciDec 23

@m @wiersdorf @wagesj45 @greatquux there are some fragments of documents at the end but they are not Dr. Who related so far as can tell

Unless The Doctor ever had a paper rejected by CACM

Show threadF4GRX SébastienNov 7
@greatquux @ricci Do you have hardware to read it? Will the physical condition be taken care of before reading it? sticky tape syndrome can destroy it.
Show threadCharlesUlyssesFarleighNov 12
@f4grx Can theoretically destroy it, but most rock recordings from that era and older suffered at most minor damage, and those were stored under much worse conditions by less technical people who were taking a lot more drugs.
Show threadF4GRX SébastienNov 12
@CharlesUlyssesFarleigh well, not exactly, if a bit of music tape is gone it's a little audio pop, if a bit of data tape is gone an entire data file is potentially unreadable.
Show threadVaporeon  ☭Nov 6
@ricci Do you (and the Computer History Museum) plan to read the tape and publish the source code for UNIXv4 anywhere?
Show threadRob RicciNov 6
@vaporeon_ Yeah I think that's the plan. No idea if it's still actually readable, though....
Show thread     Nov 6
@ricci @vaporeon_ it's all down to al kossow and the hand of god now
Show threadChupacabra 78704Nov 7
@allison @ricci @vaporeon_ omg lost Unix versions.
Show threadChupacabra 78704Nov 7
@ricci @vaporeon_ Unix was so horrible they invented plan 9.
Show threadKhleedrilNov 8
@Homoevolutis0
Look at it like this: Plan 9 wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Unix.
@ricci @vaporeon_
Show threadChupacabra 78704Nov 10
@ricci @vaporeon_ I still have some old Unix box running plan9.
Show threadJessamynNov 6
@ricci Well how cool is that?
Show threadRob RicciNov 6
@jessamyn very cool, is how cool
Show threadAlisonW ♿🏳️‍🌈♾️Nov 6
@ricci
I wonder whether it will be readable or, more likely, have suffered from print-through from being stored so long. Great find though.
Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFNov 6

@AlisonW

Here's hoping it still reads, after all these years. 🤞

@ricci

Show threadMark WhybirdNov 6
@argv_minus_one @AlisonW @ricci I bet it wouldn’t directly read, but I also think those clever archivists have ways to get the actual magnetic image and compensate for write-through and suchlike!
Show threadchxNov 7
@whybird @argv_minus_one @AlisonW @ricci clever doesn't even begin to describe it https://github.com/LenShustek/readtape
GitHub - LenShustek/readtape: Decode the analog waveform extracted from old computer mag tapes

Decode the analog waveform extracted from old computer mag tapes - LenShustek/readtape

GitHub
Show threadRob RicciNov 7
@chx @whybird @argv_minus_one @AlisonW yep this is what's going to be used!
Show threadMark WhybirdNov 7
@ricci @chx @argv_minus_one @AlisonW Genuinely awesome top-notch work
Show threadAmin GirasolNov 8

@chx @whybird @argv_minus_one @AlisonW @ricci

#GreaseWeazle for grownups.

Show threadRob RicciNov 6
@AlisonW Yeah, no idea.
Show threadWesDymNov 7
@AlisonW There are so, SO many things that can go bad with mag tape over time.
Show threadEthan BlantonNov 6
@ricci This is freaking awesome. I took the liberty of posting it here: https://retrocomputingforum.com/t/unix-v4-tape-found-at-the-university-of-utah/5400
Unix V4 tape found at The University of Utah

This toot on the Fediverse describes a fun and historically significant discovery: a magnetic tape containing what may be an installation image of Unix V4 has been found at the University of Utah. The label on the tape says “UNIX Original from Bell Labs V4 (See Manual for format)”. This is particularly exciting because there is no known complete V4 image, although some artifacts (including the complete manual sources) are known to exist. V4 was the first version of Unix with a C kernel (for...

Retro Computing
Show threadToni AittoniemiNov 7
@elb @ricci hope the tape hasn’t demagnetised over all these years!
Show threadclewNov 6

“See manual for format”!

@ricci

Show threadadbNov 6
@clew @ricci Unix was the peak of the lost culture in which you got manuals with stuff.
Show threadclewNov 6

I was around for the switch from print to CD documentation

I think I remember a… 1990s mainframe? that came with a bookcase to hold the manuals. Same paint as on the mainframe.

@adb @ricci

Show threadGarrett WollmanNov 7
@clew @adb @ricci DEC machines of the late 1980s, and probably other vendors' big iron as well, came on two pallets, one or more for the chassis and a whole separate pallet of documentation. Along with the classic empty filler boxes to adjust the weight distribution.
Show threadRob HooftNov 7
@wollman @clew @adb @ricci “The orange wall”, with some version upgrade (was it VMS5 ) became a “grey wall”. I can still feel the binders in my hands…
Show threadadbNov 7

@clew @ricci Early 80s I remember the row of manuals in the student lab were soft-bound and 3-hole punched so 3 steel rods in the official reading shelf could secure the books from going walkabout.

Early 90s I remember my then-employer setting up a PC tower case with six CD readers so up to six manual sets could be simultaneously available over our 10-meg LAN. That was before hard drives grew.

Show threadSpace Catitude 🚀Nov 6

@ricci

Wow. I hope they will copy it!

It's getting harder to find drives for those old tapes.

Show threadRob RicciNov 6
@TerryHancock Yeah them seem to think they have the right equipment, whether it is still actually readable is another question...
Show threadbitsavers.orgNov 6

@TerryHancock @ricci

I have the equipment. It is a 3M tape so it will probably be fine.
It will be digitized on my analog recovery set up and I'll use Len Shustek's readtape program to recover the data.
The only issue right now is my workflow isn't a "while you wait" thing, so I need to pull all the pieces into one physical location and test everything before I tell Penny it's OK to come out.

The whole process is test the condition on a tape retensioner. I'm hoping I don't have to bake it, since that takes a day, then digititze it, shuttle the 10s of gigabytes of samples to another machine to decode it. I want to skip the shuttle step and get the analyzer running on the digitizer.

Show threadF4GRX SébastienNov 8
@bitsavers @TerryHancock @ricci this is great news.
Show threadQCATOPR Nov 10
@bitsavers @TerryHancock @ricci I'm glad to see you're involved. I half expected it to go into deep storage at CHM, never to be seen again.
Show threadrcgj_OxPhysNov 28
@bitsavers @TerryHancock @ricci So... how did it go? (If indeed it has gone)
Show threadRob RicciNov 28
@rcgj_OxPhys @bitsavers @TerryHancock hasn't happened yet
Show threadSomeGadgetGuyNov 6
@ricci If you could just shoot me over a copy on a zip drive that would be great! Thanks!
Show threadRob HooftNov 7
@SomeGadgetGuy @ricci jaz only, sorry ;-)
Show threadTisha Tiger / NeligerNov 6
@ricci A piece of history! 👏
Show threadKeesjanNov 6

@ricci once, in the early eighties, we used these tapes as backup for our hospital computer system. We started at six in the morning, every ten (later 15) minutes a new tape.

I red a lot of Azimov books during this shifts.

Show threadKevin RussellNov 6

@ricci

Wow! Congrats on all fronts, storing, finding, identifying, understanding, being responsible with our history.

Congrats up and down the lists of "golly humans are wonderful creatures"

I admire your group, tip.my hat.

#linux #unix #history

Show threadSteve BellovinNov 6
@ricci @aka_pugs Way cool!
Show threadSteve's PlaceNov 6
@ricci Oh. I wonder what became of the tape of backup code from our flight that I once wound up with. 🤔
Show threadoisinNov 6
@ricci WOW 🤩
Show threadBitslingers-R-UsNov 6

@ricci “UNIX Original” gives the same kind of vibe as this fortune gem:

The hieroglyphics are all unreadable except for a notation on the back, which reads "Genuine authentic Egyptian papyrus. Guaranteed to be at least 5000 years old."

Very cool! Can’t wait to check it out on an (emulated) PDP-11 :)

Show threadRob RicciNov 6
@AnachronistJohn I have one of these in my office, I suppose I should run it on there: https://obsolescence.dev/pdp11.html
PDP-11 Replica Kit - Build your own DEC PDP-11/70 Computer

Build or buy an authentic PDP-11/70 replica. Run original Unix, RSX-11M, and classic software. Kit $270, assembled $395. Ships worldwide with Raspberry Pi included.