Good ${greeting_time}, Kees!

14 Oct 2014 18:42:02, you wrote to me:

 AV>>>> When the pipe() system call was invented (1973), there were no PCs
 AV>>>> with their shitty DOS.
 KE>>> The pipe system requires a multitasking OS. DOS was single tasking
 KE>>> hence the intermediate files when using pipes.
 AV>> Have you ever heard of TSR?
 KE> Sure, but not as part of the OS.

Really?
Wasn't the INT 0x27 instruction processed by ibmdos.com|msdos.sys? :-)

Well, that was a cooperative multitasking... but that was exactly it.

 KE>>>>> The only concept of pipes in MSdos was the use of "|". It was
 KE>>>>> implemented by use of intermediate files.
 AV>>>> DOS is dead for over 10 years.
 KE>>> The fossil interface is at least 25 years old, and apparently the
 KE>>> software people like to use out of habit or whatever, is as old.
 AV>> Accessing serial ports as /dev/cua0 is much older.
 KE> You are referring to Unix, where everything is a file. At the time
 KE> Unix was not seen as what it is now. People were used to what IBM,
 KE> Digital, Data General and others offered at the time.

FreeBSD was already out. Linux appeared in 1991 and became suitable for
Fidonet-related use since version 2.0 (approx. 1995).

Also, there were gcc and glibc.

 KE> Check the circumstances of the history first, before you make bold
 KE> staments.

You may repeat these words staying in front of a mirror.

 KE>>> The developers passed away or lost their interest in Fidonet and
 KE>>> many did not release their source code or lost their source code
 KE>>> due to unexpected circumstances.
 AV>> That's good: we've got rid of ancient crippleware.
 KE> No, it is still there and is not maintained.

So there should be people still using it. They may do as they wish, but...
nothing will force _other_ people to keep backass combatability with their
abandonware.

 KE>>> When people lose their interest in Fidonet, they really do not
 KE>>> care anymore, look in the nodelist, there are so many now
 KE>>> disfunctional entries from people who apparently left Fidonet,
 KE>>> otherwise they would have made sure their nodelist entries
 KE>>> would present functional connection information.
 AV>> So why are those people still listed?
 KE> Because apparently they form the core of Fidonet.

Really? :-)

 KE> The progressive ones are found on facebook and whatever other Social
 KE> Media is popular at the moment.

They are out of Fidonet already.

 KE> If you force the conservative people out of Fidonet, the net will
 KE> lose it's current already weak momentum and die.

The practice of R2:50 (a half of today's nodelist) proves the opposite:
eliminating dead wood allows the network to grow and develop.


--
Alexey V. Vissarionov aka Gremlin from Kremlin
gremlin.ru!gremlin; +vii-cmiii-ccxxix-lxxix-xlii

... god@universe:~ # cvs up && make world
--- /bin/vi