----BEGIN CLASS---- [13:00] #startclass [13:00] Roll Call [13:00] Jason Braganza [13:00] Anjali [13:00] Robin Schubert [13:01] Nabarun Pal [13:01] nagarajan [13:01] ritik [13:01] sambuddha here :) [13:01] annamalai [13:02] hi I missed friday's lesson but i'm told it might be... now. [13:02] aman [13:02] alright. this years trainees, type aye. so i know who you are. [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:03] aye [13:04] so one request to all of you. can you please type in your decade of birth. as in type 90s or 00s or 10s. if uncomfortable, pm me [13:04] 00s [13:04] 80s [13:05] 00s [13:05] 80s [13:05] 00s [13:05] 90s [13:05] ok, so 80s people might be familiar with some of what i’ll share today [13:06] to the other folks, short of you researching tech history, i hope this is new and interesting to you [13:06] old folk here will attest to the fact [13:06] that i will either end this session in 30m [13:06] or go on for 90 [13:06] either way, i hope to keep it engaging [13:07] if you have questions, please ask. and i´ll get to you when my current typing spree gets over :) [13:07] and let’s start with [13:08] how many of you read the assigned https://kushaldas.in/pages/hacker-ethic-and-free-software-movement.html [13:08] ok, you folk need to be typing back quickly! XD [13:09] i started [13:09] i missed last week but i have read something similar in the past [13:09] me 60% [13:09] me [13:09] i am familiar with the topics [13:09] no, will do [13:09] no, will do [13:09] I haven't. I missed the last session, may be it was shared then. I will complete it soon! [13:10] alright. was asking because i needed to know what ground to cover [13:10] might run a little long then [13:10] ritik, how did you find it? [13:10] enlightening? [13:10] yup [13:10] the term hacking [13:10] what was the part that struck you the most? [13:10] aah you replied [13:11] I got more familiar with it [13:11] i love quick replies :) [13:11] thank you [13:11] thank you for the sessions [13:11] so the rest of you lot, please go read about this chapter in history :) [13:11] not now. but at home [13:11] later [13:11] the reason being GNU [13:12] Stallman and his merry band have built a lot of what we take for granted. [13:12] and the reasoning and the ethos behind it, is I hope captured in that article [13:12] what i am going to do now [13:13] is run over a couple of accidents of history that led us here [13:13] what we have is not *normal* [13:13] how many of you know of the IBM S/360? [13:13] no [13:14] no [13:14] little bit [13:14] no [13:14] not much except that is a mainframe machine [13:14] how many of you know of the Apple iPhone? [13:14] me [13:14] me [13:14] y [13:14] me [13:14] of course everyone [13:14] all i guess :) [13:14] yes [13:15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360 [13:15] s/of course/ ofcourse [13:15] that was IBM’s big bold bet. and the first integrated mainframe computer [13:15] the common thing between that machine and the iphone [13:15] are that they are both [13:15] locked down systems [13:16] IBM in that case and Apple in the latter control the hardware, the os, and the marketplace. [13:16] there is no room for outsiders. [13:17] sorry the net blooped [13:17] back [13:17] if you think the s360 is dead? it still lives on in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Z [13:18] so how have we ended up then with an (semi) open architecture like the pc [13:18] and on open os like linux? [13:18] that is the accident that i want to talk about [13:19] how many of you have heard of damask cloth? [13:19] no [13:19] no [13:19] faster :P [13:19] no [13:19] no [13:19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damask [13:19] no [13:19] no [13:19] that is woven cloth [13:19] intricate designs [13:19] no [13:19] when automation first came [13:20] damask and other woven styles [13:20] got automated [13:20] they’d use a power loom and punch cards [13:20] the punch cards held predefined holes [13:20] that’d let the loom then decide the warp and weft [13:20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_machine [13:21] how many of you know that computer meant a job description? [13:21] little bit i know [13:21] like secretary? [13:21] oh you slowpokes :) [13:22] rishu_raj, where did you hear? [13:23] the women in the 50s and the 60s who cross checked the engineers math at places like NASA (for the Apollo program) were called computers :) [13:23] the first programmers were women [13:23] ! [13:23] and it was a primarily women dominated field, until the success of the moon landings and greater interest in stem that then (sadly) flipped the dynamic [13:23] nex [13:23] t [13:23] next [13:24] i wil continue while circuitl- ruminates :) [13:24] its not a question, just a comment, i remeber that women as computers from a recent movie [13:24] so the jacquard machine in the 1800s [13:24] Hidden figures? :{ [13:24] :) [13:25] yes thats the movie [13:25] Charles Babbage created machines that could do mathematical calculations [13:25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine [13:25] like that one [13:26] but it took a genius like his collaborator Ada Lovelace to see [13:26] how one domain could transfer on to another [13:26] a loom could do intricate designs [13:26] and you could share the designs [13:27] so why not build engines that could do logic and computing? [13:27] not only that [13:28] she created an algorithm of sorts [13:28] so that Babbage’s engine could be programmed to do some math that it wasn’t quite intended for, but was possible :) [13:28] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace#First_computer_program [13:29] if you want to know more about this remarkable woman [13:29] the Marginalian has a lovely page, https://www.themarginalian.org/tag/ada-lovelace/ [13:29] so that is the juxtaposition [13:30] some one with a mind in tech [13:30] or the analytical [13:30] but also another one who can see the possibilities, because they understand human nature [13:31] Basically Steve Job’s description of being at the intersection of the arts and technology [13:31] which was realised in Apple’s second product i tihnk [13:31] the Apple II [13:31] it made Apple the raging success it was in the 80s [13:31] not because it was a completely sealed box like Jobs envisioned [13:32] but because Steve Wozniak, his partner made the machine expandable. [13:32] it had a bus and expansion slots. [13:32] that led people and companies to build around it. [13:33] another sorta kinda accident was the Apple II taking off [13:34] because IBM (the only juggernaut then, no multiple FAANG at the time) decided to make a half hearted attempt to get in to “micro” computers [13:34] how am i doing so far? [13:34] bored? fascinated? [13:34] fascinated [13:34] fascinated [13:35] thrilled [13:35] exhilirated? :P [13:35] interesting [13:35] super information [13:35] ! [13:35] intresting [13:35] 80s people might be bored XD they have lived through it like me. [13:35] how many of you know the ibm pc story? [13:35] nope [13:36] a little [13:36] no [13:36] little [13:36] no [13:36] then it is worth summarising here :) [13:36] next [13:36] So, we can infer that art inspired Computer semantics in a way? [13:37] art drives tech drives art drives tech [13:37] :) [13:37] eventually we get to people writing low level code for ibm compatible machines right? [13:37] Got it. [13:37] ! [13:37] kiyo, sorta kinda yes :) [13:38] so IBM could not be bothered to do much about these low end things that were taking off at the time [13:38] but they did *need* something in that space [13:38] so instead of building it all inhouse [13:38] we are led to a lucky break in computing [13:39] and speaking of low end things, it’s happening again as we speak, with the RISC-V boards and the raspberry revolution. [13:40] where was i? [13:40] oh, IBM [13:40] IBM decided to subcontract the machine out [13:40] the drives would come from somewhere [13:40] the processor would be made by some tiny memory company called Intel [13:42] and for the OS, they went hunting for an operating system, that again, through a series of accidents was finally to be fulfilled by another smol company called Microsoft [13:42] so basically, they built the whole thing out of parts that were commercially available and slapped and IBM logo on it. [13:42] the IBM PC they called it. [13:42] and it sold like gangbusters [13:43] none of the giants saw this coming [13:43] ! [13:43] certainly not IBM. [13:43] next [13:43] next [13:43] sorry, i got answer [13:44] what was the microsoft os called for this first pc? [13:44] IBM Disk Operating System. IBM Dos [13:44] :) [13:44] IBM DOS [13:44] thats the same as ms dos right? [13:44] Bill Gates was smart enough at the time. [13:45] to realise that even if IBM failed [13:45] there would be other computer companies, who would build microcomputers :) [13:45] and he reserved the right to license DOS to other companies [13:45] and thanks to kiyo that brings me to the next lucky break [13:46] the only proprietary thing as in IBM proprietary [13:46] was the ROM chip that checked everything in the machine at startup and bootstrapped it [13:46] called the BIOS [13:47] a couple of startups realised that if they could replace this. [13:47] with something of their own. [13:47] then any one could build a whole computer of their own [13:48] sort of like APIs today [13:48] any tell me what is the most common cloud block storage API? [13:48] ! [13:48] next [13:48] s3 [13:49] tada! [13:49] s3 [13:49] so every one now just uses the same api. [13:49] Digital Ocean uses the S3 api so you can talk to their storage [13:49] Linode does it too [13:50] AWS too [13:50] AWS orginated it :) [13:50] ceph and min.io do too and those aren't even cloud [13:50] so back to IBM :) [13:50] if folks could revers engineer BIOS calls (the API in this case) [13:50] then the world would be theirs :) [13:51] Columbia Data Products did it first [13:51] Compaq did it next [13:51] followed by a lots of others [13:52] some companies even became BIOS specialists. and that is the first screed you’d see if you powered on [13:52] they would license their bios to others [13:52] and that is the first screed you’d see if you powered on your pc [13:52] 80s / 90s folks would know [13:52] Phoenix BIOS [13:52] or AMI BIOS [13:53] or in case of branded machines that is what displays your manufacturer logo when the machine boots up :) [13:53] IBM saw this [13:53] and tried to go back to the tried and tested strategy of controllynig everything again [13:54] with the IBM Personal System /2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PS/2 [13:54] gosh i recognise those bios names... [13:55] improved bus, improved memory, proprietary connectors, proprietary os (OS/2) [13:55] kiyo, told you, you’d have some surprises too :) [13:55] but by this time, the cat was out of the bag [13:55] and there was a cambrian explosion of companies [13:55] hp [13:55] Dell [13:55] Gateway [13:56] TVS (in India) [13:56] Compaq [13:56] and god knows how many more [13:56] ! [13:56] Acer, Toshiba [13:56] next [13:56] What did TVS did ? [13:56] made computers in the 80s [13:56] Oh [13:57] the mechanical keyboard is the remnant :) [13:57] can't forgot TVS keyboard in my school [13:57] so while the hard ware was commoditised, even if it was proprietary [13:57] the os was still tightly bound to one vendor [13:57] the giant of the 90s [13:58] Microsoft [13:58] so while this was happening in the PC space [13:58] there was also a segment of computers called workstations [13:58] expensive computers made for universities and industry [13:59] made by companies who had alternate hardware [13:59] as they came down from a mainframe heritage [13:59] (Digital for example.) [14:00] or new ways of computing. (RISC led HP to create workstations, and a new company called SUN to emerge) [14:00] ! [14:00] most of those companies settled on an operating system made by another giant, but in telephony - AT&T [14:00] next [14:01] since AT&T were forbidden by the government to get into computing [14:01] RISC you're mentioning is anyway related to RISC architechure [14:01] yes :) [14:01] Reduced Instruction Set Computing [14:01] ok thankyou [14:01] RICS [14:01] oops [14:01] RISC [14:01] ! [14:02] they very loosely licensed their fledgling os callned UNIX to most academic institutions in the US [14:02] next [14:02] why were at&t forbidden by the gov to get into computing [14:02] ! [14:02] because they already were a monopoly in telephony [14:02] next [14:02] thanks [14:02] what is the connection between RISC and HP [14:03] i put in the keeda. now that is for you to learn more :) look up the disaster called Epyc and Itanium while you are at it too :) [14:03] here is our next lucky break [14:03] circuitl PA-RISC is an instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Hewlett-Packard. As the name implies, it is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, where the PA stands for Precision Architecture. The design is also referred to as HP/PA for Hewlett Packard Precision Architecture. [14:03] AT&T very loosely licensed UNIX for practically nothing. [14:04] ok all these fascinating discussions after session ok :) [14:04] rishu_raj: thank you, i will look further more [14:04] otherwise we well be here until 10 XD [14:04] sorry [14:04] no don’t be :) [14:04] just that i want to let you go as fast as i can :) [14:04] and i still have a bit to cover [14:05] so lots of universities made their own modifications to unix and started distributing the improvements to each other [14:05] chief amongst them, was the University of California at Berkeley [14:06] they soon had pretty much one of the most elegant implementations around [14:06] and Unix started getting really popular [14:07] and just like IBM, AT&T decided it wanted a piece of that action too [14:07] and then they decided to up the license game. restricting the people who could then get a license [14:08] that also led to a fracturing of the community that in the meantime was used to sharing all they could [14:08] while each company fought to make their own “improved” UNIX [14:09] ! [14:09] IBM had AIX, HP had HP/UX, Sun had Solaris, Digital had umm Tru64, i think [14:09] next [14:09] next [14:09] Was the community Bell Labs ? [14:09] no. Bell Labs was AT&T :) [14:09] the community were the people [14:09] in all the universities in Europe [14:09] Ok [14:09] and America [14:10] Bell Labs too. [14:10] that arm of AT&T was blue sky research [14:10] which is why so many good things came out of it :) [14:10] another similar place was Xerox PARC [14:10] we owe our GUIs to the research on the Xerox STAR there :) [14:11] so where was i [14:11] aah the community [14:11] Berkeley decided to give away their Unix for free [14:12] but then AT&T sued them because they said BSD (the Berkeley Software Distribution) contained proprietary AT&T code (which was sorta kinda true. but also pretty hypocritical, since AT&T was using BSD improvements too :)) [14:13] rj722, nabarun there? [14:13] ok they aren’t [14:13] so Reductio, circuitl- there? [14:14] yes [14:14] yes [14:14] Reductio, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD#Lawsuit [14:14] and circuitl- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux [14:14] Reductio, tell me the year of the lawsuit [14:14] jasonbraganza: o/ [14:14] and circuitl- tell me the year of the linux kernel [14:14] 1991 [14:15] nabarun, aah never mind :) was trying to spring a surprise on them :) [14:15] hehe. :) [14:15] 1992 [14:15] and that my friends leads me to another lucky break we got :) [14:16] 1991 Unix got embroiled in a lawsuit [14:16] but the very next year, a 21 year old student came up with something good enough for the world to hack on and improve [14:17] Linus Torvald’s tiny os, got the boost that it needed, because if you read the article that i gave for homework [14:18] you realise that the userland was ready [14:18] GNU had everything *but* the kernel [14:18] free unix did not seem to be coming [14:18] but another kernel that supported the same apis was ready! [14:19] and that led to the world exploding once more :) [14:19] one final piece of the puzzle [14:19] was the network that the US government built during the cold war [14:20] and since it was meant to be robust [14:20] and could not be expected to fail [14:20] it was distributed [14:20] and had no single point of control [14:21] ARPANET and NSFNET and the other university networks soon coalsced into a giant network of networks [14:21] called the Internt [14:21] and it was free and it interoperated [14:22] and it used protocols developed in bsd land, like tcpip [14:22] which linux inherited [14:22] which led to the whole widely interconnected open system of computers and networks we have today [14:23] so you see [14:23] what we have is precious [14:23] the us government will never create another open network and give it away [14:23] IBM or Apple are never going to create and support an open interoperablne hardware ecosystem [14:23] it is not natural [14:24] no one is going to invest in a full fledged operating system just to give it away [14:24] all these things are blessed, serendipitous accidents which will never happen again [14:24] and *that* is why we need to protect our freedom [14:25] and contribute to the culture that we have [14:25] because just like mama earth [14:25] it is the only one we have. [14:25] there will never be another [14:26] if you ever wonder why people like Aaron Swartz were so belligerent about our freedoms, this is why [14:26] and i hope this help you carry their light onward :) [14:26] fin! [14:26] questions anybody? or should we call it a night? [14:27] ! [14:27] seems like i drove everyone away XD [14:27] next [14:28] do you see there being a popular new os in the future? how do you think it can come about? [14:29] there will be lots of operating systems. but will they be free and open source? that is the question :) and that is the thing i aim to preserve. [14:29] i’ll wait another minute and then we close the class if no one has questions [14:29] ! [14:30] next [14:31] oh and here’s a bit of history, if you wonder why many my age have bitter feelings towards microsoft. - http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/index.html [14:32] do toy consider freebsd to be good for foss? i know of companies releasing oses where its mostly bsd but because of the license they can completley hide it from users/devs [14:32] they tried to crush us and failed :) [14:33]