Re: Not a typewriter

["H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@transmeta.com>]

Wayne.Brown@altec.com wrote:
> 
> On 05/10/2001 at 05:38:32 PM hpa@transmeta.com (H. Peter Anvin) wrote:
> 
> >Sounds like someone has just clarified what the heck it means.  "tty"
> >and "typewriter" aren't exactly the same thing (even though "tty"
> >stands for "teletypewriter" it has come to mean something completely
> >different in a Unix context)... "not a typewriter" is just a
> >completely confusing error message for the uninitiated.
> 
> I disagree.  "Not a typewriter" is part of Unix tradition, and ought to be
> retained as a historical reference.  It's also an opportunity for "the
> uninitiated" to learn a little more and move a little closer to becoming "the
> initiated."
> 

Nowhere else in Unix is a "tty" referred to as a "typewriter".  "Not a
tty" is one thing; "Not a typewriter" is just plain misleading.

-- 
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