Mastodawn

Does computer #history interest you, or maybe you're just curious where well-known and well-used tools come from? I've just updated the History of #Unix #Manpages, https://manpages.bsd.lv/history.html, with the content you didn't know you wanted til this very moment. Learn about how the "man" program came to be, and just why are manpages styled like that? It includes snippets from Cynthia "Cindy" Livingston, who wrote the manpage language "mdoc"; John Eaton, who wrote the first GPL man tool; Doug McIlroy, who helped to divide manpages into sections; and more. Did you know that serving manpages online was part of one of the original http daemons? Or that an xman existed before X11R6, in X10? Enjoy!

History of Unix Manpages

Mr Taps Mar 15

Doing some research for more #Unix #manpage history goodness... Does this look familiar? The old-timey mv and chmod from the #CTSS programmer's manual, 1963, MIT.

Mr Taps Mar 14

Did we ever get bored of juvenile east Pacific octopuses? No? Even in the coldest, darkest of Hood Canal dives, I love finding these tiny fellas, switching to low powered lighting, and just watching them explore. It's hard to tell whether they're east pacific or great pacific octopuses (the former sometimes have three "eye lobes" is all), but in the latter case, it's amazing how something so small grows into something so huge! #scuba #underwaterphotography #macrophotograpy

Mr Taps Mar 14

It was a snowy dive this morning in Hood Canal, Washington, which I guess is... normal?... in late March? Nice visibility and little jellies making for fun black-water macro. Very few nudibranches to be found, but I had a fun time with one of the local seals lighting up her fishing grounds. #underwaterphotography #scuba

Mr Taps Mar 8

Enough code... Let's take some time to enjoy this beautiful kelp pipefish giving me a coy 3/4 profile. One of my favourite parts of nighttime deco, alone in the cold Hood Canal darkness, is watching the pipefish wind and unwind from the sea grass at 6m. Someday I'll photograph one with eggs! #scuba #underwaterphotography #macrophotography

Mr Taps Mar 7

Do you want to write manpages but the strange manpage language is just too much? All mysterious looking ".Op Fl v Pf = Ar baz", whatever that means? This is your moment: lowdown v3.0.0, just released, has support to properly convert manpage-like Markdown to idiomatic mdoc.7 and man.7 output. It's described in https://kristaps.bsd.lv/lowdown/mdoc.html. Focus on your code, and let lowdown handle the docs. Full link: https://kristaps.bsd.lv/lowdown

(Salacious intro aside, this has been a long piece of development; and yes, it makes me a little sad, because mdoc.7 is a format I enjoy. But let's face it: sticking to mdoc.7 (or worse, man.7) is a losing battle. We can do better!) #unix #manpages

Lowdown Manpage Support

Mr Taps Mar 6

Blackwater photos of tiny jellies is one of my new favourite activities. Unfortunately they love to congregate in the worst visibility! I have no idea what this one is, nor what its squiggly insides do. But they're so pretty! #underwaterphotography #scuba

Mr Taps Mar 5

It's been over a month since I've been in the water having macro fun! Fortunately, a bit of time cleared up and this Dirona albolineata came out to visit. 🥰🥰 #scuba #weloveslug #underwaterphotography

Mr Taps Jan 19

Spicy icy chutes under the summit of Mount Hood, Oregon. In this weird climate, there were a few open I'd never seen before that I was able to explore. Beautiful conditions yesterday but incredibly hazardous icefall! #mountaineering

Mr Taps Jan 18

A spicy icy summit of Mount Hood, Oregon this morning with a beautiful sunrise on the way down! So far, the snow cover on Hood this year had been shockingly sparse, looking in January as I'd expect it to look in late May. This has an effect in significantly increasing icefall, one of the major causes of injury on the mountain. Always remember to wear a helmet! #mountaineering