The history of Unix systems and their main components.
11
votes
3answers
373 views
Why is dmesg called dmesg?
Is there any explanation/history behind the name of the command dmesg (which prints out some kernel messages)?
7
votes
2answers
739 views
What is Unix now?
As I read in Wikipedia, Unix started as a revolutionary operating system written mostly in C allowing it to be ported and used on different hardware. Descendants of Unix is mentioned next, mostly BSD. ...
5
votes
1answer
165 views
What are the origins of rgb.txt?
Where did the list of X11 color names come from? Every resource I've found online claims the origin is unknown, but it must be recorded somewhere. The best information I've found was in an archived ...
48
votes
5answers
9k views
Where did the “wheel” group get its name?
The wheel group on *nix computers typically refers to the group with some sort of root-like access. I've heard that on some *nixes it's the group of users with the right to run su, but on Linux that ...
6
votes
2answers
118 views
When was the concept of remote repositories invented?
When were remote repositories, for any package manager, invented and implemented?
4
votes
2answers
123 views
Which was the very first music player application for Linux?
I'm writing an article about FOSS and Linux music players. What was the very first music player application for Linux? Was there ever a time when the players didn't support proprietary formats like ...
10
votes
3answers
437 views
How was the shift to 64 bits handled on Linux
How was the transition to 64 bits handled on Linux/Unix? The Windows world still seems to have issues with it and I'm curious how it was handled in the *nix world.
3
votes
3answers
273 views
Is Linus Torvalds a hacker? [closed]
Maybe wrong place for the question, but I couldn't find the answer.
The wiki says he's software engineer and hacker. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds)
Is it true?
I must tell I haven't ...
26
votes
2answers
1k views
Why is 'umount' not spelled 'unmount'?
I am wondering if there is any historical or practical reason why the umount command is not unmount.
2
votes
1answer
64 views
Why is resolv.conf spelled without the 'e'? [duplicate]
A curiosity question which google has been unable to answer for me:
Why is 'resolv.conf' spelled without the trailing 'e'? I'm sure there's a valid historical reason going back to the early days of ...
10
votes
2answers
207 views
Why do Unix man pages use double backticks in place of double quotes?
I've noticed that man pages and other documents formatted by Unix utilities often use double backticks `` followed by double single quotes '' to wrap quoted phrases instead of the double quote ...
6
votes
2answers
92 views
Expand subshell before executing it?
I often run commands using subshells, and sometimes would like to have the subshells expanded before I run something.. This way I could verify what I'm doing, and possibly edit what's about to happen ...
4
votes
3answers
70 views
CD into directory from HISTORY in a bash script or alias e.g. $(!!)
I often want to change into the directory of a file on my file system, but I'm not sure where the file is.
I search for it like so:
find -type f -name "myfile.txt"
Lets say for the sake of ...
2
votes
1answer
27 views
how to record command which execute a programme suid
My question: Is there a way to record all commands who execute a suid programme?
Like what .bash_history do, but only the setuid programmes.
2
votes
1answer
596 views
What killed Beagle? [closed]
Beagle was all the rage some years ago, and then it just died... silently. Anyone knows why?
12
votes
2answers
383 views
Why is JFS so obscure?
When I first got into using Slackware years ago I quickly learned to love JFS over ext3 or reiserfs given that it was reliable and if there was an unclean shutdown, its disk checking was very very ...
8
votes
3answers
321 views
Why do we need the reboot function in different binaries?
Why do we need the reboot function in different binaries?
shutdown -r
and
reboot
Or do they differ in something?
1
vote
1answer
48 views
view history of opened programs Manjaro Linux
Is there a way to view a log, or history of all programs opened in Manjaro Linux?
50
votes
6answers
5k views
Is Linux a Unix?
So, there are lots of different versions of Unix out there: HP-UX, AIX, BSD, etc. Linux is considered a Unix clone rather than an implementation of Unix. Are all the "real" Unices actual descendants ...
6
votes
1answer
304 views
Who are these BSD Unix contributors?
I'm trying to piece together the names of the people who contributed to BSD Unix, according to the contents of the SCCS logs. (This is the version control system used at the time.) A number of names ...
20
votes
1answer
629 views
Why was '.' chosen to represent the current directory and '..' for parent directory?
After reading this question Design question: Why was '~' chosen to represent the home directory?, next obvious question on my mind was why '.' and '..' was used to represent current directory ...
301
votes
2answers
72k views
Design question: Why was '~' chosen to represent the home directory?
I have often wondered why the ~ represents the home directory of a user. Is there a reason behind this? Or is it just some infrequently used character?
5
votes
3answers
122 views
When were the first graphical app installers created for Linux distributions
Having a discussion at work with a colleague, and he is claiming graphical installers for *nix environments have only been available for the last few years, but I can't find any solid information on ...
4
votes
3answers
226 views
Is `Tru64 UNIX` open source?
Is Tru64 UNIX an open source/free or commercial system? Does it work on 32-bit platform? and what are its features in compare with *BSD & Linux system?
2
votes
2answers
160 views
Where did Redhat derive from?
Where did Redhat derive from? Did it derive directly from Linus Torvaldis linux distro (2 years earlier) or did it have roots in BSD or System-V ?? I am just wondering how to classify Redhat in the ...
54
votes
2answers
3k views
15
votes
1answer
629 views
Weird file in the /usr/games folder of Ritchie's 1979 unix disk
I recently tried the simh emulator pdp11.
The disk image I used can be found on the internet, and instructions for booting it are here.
Presumably it belonged to Dennis Ritchie, as the username is ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
How do you play this old unix game?
I recently tried the simh emulator, pdp11.
The disk image I used can be found on the internet, and instructions for booting it are here.
Presumably it belonged to Dennis Ritchie, as the username is ...
11
votes
1answer
253 views
What is the difference between shared memory in early unix systems vs modern unix systems?
How could processes share memory in early versions of UNIX version modern implementations of shared memory?
16
votes
0answers
473 views
How did the system settings directory on UNIX come to be named /etc? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does etc stand for?
And why isn't it named /cnf or /syscf or /cfg? No one I have ever asked has been able to tell me, not that I have access to any of the minds ...
1
vote
1answer
245 views
What made MS-DOS as succesfull on first PCs instead of UNIX sytems? [closed]
I often wondered, why DOS became so succesful on the first PCs as it's less flexible and scalable than UNIX systems and UNIX has been broadly used before the existence of DOS. Also there could have ...
5
votes
3answers
151 views
When was process substitution first introduced?
I'm curios to know how long process substitution has been around. What shell first had it? When did it get added to other shells?
3
votes
2answers
224 views
Why there are only two user defined signals?
In the list of signals defined in a linux system, there are two signals stated as User Defined signals (SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2). Other signals will be raised or caught in specific situations, but SIGUSRs ...
5
votes
5answers
602 views
If Mac OS X is UNIX, why is it that it is not open sourced and the license is proprietary?
If Mac OS X is a Unix, as answered in this question, why is it that it is not open sourced and the license is proprietary, as stated in this Wikipedia article?
According the the genealogy from this ...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
Origin of 'root' account
What's the origin of root account? Where did it come from and why is it called root anyway?
(Originally asked by @lizztheblizz on Twitter.)
4
votes
4answers
2k views
Evolution of Operating systems from Unix
Can you explain the evolution hierarchy of operating systems (Linux and Windows) from Unix?
3
votes
1answer
140 views
Using more command
Is there any case or reason to use "more" unix command instead of "less". As far as I see "less" is "better" in all senses, so does it mean that "more" is a command which has no reason to be used when ...
0
votes
1answer
171 views
Does CentOS fall into System V family? How is it considered to be while comparing with Unix System V family?
CentOS is "derived entirely from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution" (more here).
Does it fall into any UNIX System V family? Such as PDP-11 or etc?
If not, where does CentOS stands ...
1
vote
2answers
113 views
What was the paid only period in history of SuSE?
Around version 7.0 (? just guessing) SuSE became paid only distribution (i.e. you had to pay to get the copy), after several releases SuSE came back to free + paid model.
Now -- the most important to ...
5
votes
3answers
403 views
zsync vs. jigdo
What's the difference between zsync and jigdo? Their core functionality seems the same, so I'm curious on things like performance, file size, and ease-of-use. Would also be interesting to know why one ...
16
votes
1answer
493 views
What shells were used on early unix systems?
According to wikipedia, the Bourne shell was introduced in 1977 and C shell in 1978, but unix itself dates back to 1969.
If you were using a unix system before 1977, what shell would you have been ...
7
votes
2answers
985 views
What are the main differences between BSD- and linux-based operating systems?
I am a long time linux user and have recently become interested in playing about with BSD-based operating systems. What are the differences between linux and BSD-based systems. I am interested in ...
0
votes
1answer
89 views
History of WINE
I will be doing a talk about WINE and how it has changed the situation for new Linux users that come from Windows and how it has matured from the start till know. I have much info already about it and ...
6
votes
3answers
130 views
Did all of the Requests for Comments directly affect the design of Unix networks?
I want to know more about Linux must be one of my most enduring sentiments.
But I often find that I learn the most, or perhaps just feel the most satisfied with what I have learned, when I simply ...
11
votes
2answers
548 views
Origin of the word cron?
Trying to settle a friendly argument. Is "cron" an acronym for something?
Additionally, did it's current canonical name "cron" originate from something shortened for something like chronos or ...
27
votes
5answers
1k views
Why is there a * When There is Mention of Unix Throughout the Internet?
I've noticed that throughout the Internet, within forums and blog posts, Unix always has a * in the word, whether it is *nix or Un*x, as I noticed at the welcoming banner at the Unix StackExchange ...
6
votes
2answers
454 views
Is it true that the first version of Linux was based on parts of Unix?
Me and a friend had a discussion about Linux and Unix today and my friend kept saying that the first version of the Linux kernel was based on [parts] of the Unix kernel.
This really surprised me ...
22
votes
5answers
2k views
Why do /usr and /tmp directories for Linux miss vowels in their spellings?
I have often started to think about this but never found a good answer. Why are these two Unix directories not /user and /temp instead?
All the other directories under root seem to be exactly what ...
2
votes
3answers
300 views
Why the unix bin directory named in that way?
I thought the bin directory is the place for binary files. If so, what about script files? Should they be placed somewhere else?
What's the history of bin directory and where should I put script ...
1
vote
0answers
104 views
Why Unix is sometimes referred as UN*X or *nix? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why is there a * When There is Mention of Unix Throughout the Internet?
Why Unix is sometimes referred as UN*X or *nix? Asterisk usually means that some letters are ...
