Subject: Re: Retrocomputing, VAXen, and NetBSD
To: None <port-vax@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Michael Sokolov <sokolov@alpha.CES.CWRU.Edu>
List: port-vax
Date: 02/22/1998 00:46:55
   Ben Ketcham <bketcham@anvilite.murkworks.net> wrote:
> What did you say your profession was, again?
   
   My professions include programming, engineering, development, etc. My
current job is computer system management. I am the System Manager of
Harhan Project at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU).
   
> May I ask why you don't use the True Vax Solution to word processing,
> vi and troff?
   
   troff is an advanced document preparation system, and it's very good,
but it's not WYSIWYG. This is OK when you are preparing a book for
typesetting, but not when you are writing an E-mail message. BTW, don't
call vi and troff a "True Vax Solution". If anything, it should be called a
"True UNIX Solution". I'm sure there are commercial WYSIWYG word processors
for OpenVMS, probably more powerful than MS Word.
   
> Or hell, to type plain text in, why do you need a word
> processor at all?
   
   The only word processing feature that I use and rely on is maintaining
paragraphs. A word processor should internally store a paragraph as one
long line and break into lines dynamically. This way I can make a change in
the middle of a paragraph and the line breaks will change automatically if
necessary. I have no problem with pressing Enter at the end of each line,
but what if I need to correct a mistake in the middle of a paragraph? Of
course in vi I could just keep typing, but the generally accepted standard
is that E-mail messages consist of lines no longer than 80 characters
separated by newlines.
   
> Surely, if you are wanting to pass yourself off as
> a Vax Professional, knowledgeable enough about the internals of 4.3BSD
> to negatively compare NetBSD to it (I've heard others make the same
> comparison and come up with the opposite conclusion; myself, I don't know
> enough to judge, I just like for my machines to work), you *must* be
> comfortable with vi (and ed/ex :) )?
   
   I use vi all the time. I have never used ed or ex, but I could if
necessary.
   
> I don't think of Intel-anything as being "retro", at least for
> ( anything > 8080A ).  I guess a 4004 would qualify as "fully retro".
   
   Actually, 80386 predates CVAX.
   
> Is it considered impolite to ask a person's age on Usenet?
   
   Dunno about that, but my age is not secret. I'm 18.
   
   Sincerely,
   Michael Sokolov
   Phone: 440-449-0299
   ARPA Internet SMTP mail: sokolov@alpha.ces.cwru.edu