*BSD News Article 82970


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From: Marco S Hyman <marc@dumbcat.codewright.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things
Date: 15 Nov 1996 17:45:42 -0800
Organization: codewright
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References: <1996111206190712643@[192.159.32.2]> <56ivb8$kbc@uwm.edu>
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jgd@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu (John G Dobnick) writes:

> Perhaps the most important reason, or at least the driving force behind
> short command names, was the TELETYPE itself!  You can type at a
> _maximum_ rate of 10 characters per second.  Period.  You have no-key

10 CPS... you got to use 10 CPS :-)  You mean the reason I type
slow today is because of the years spent using a TELETYPE model
28 KSR?  60 wpm, a whopping 45.45 baud -- 6 cps.  It spoke baudot
code, a 5 bit code that required two codes (FIGS and LTRS) to
give a reasonable number of characters (assuming you wanted to
use the numbers 0-9 in addition to the letters A-Z).

The model 28 and learning how to type on the old 02x family of
keypunches probably explains why I still think there is only
one shift key on a keyboard.

// marc