From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 10 May 2001 20:11:52 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 10 May 2001 20:11:47 -0400 Received: from neon-gw.transmeta.com ([209.10.217.66]:33286 "EHLO neon-gw.transmeta.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 10 May 2001 20:10:45 -0400 From: "H. Peter Anvin" Message-ID: <3AFB2DF2.C527048F@transmeta.com> Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 17:10:26 -0700 Organization: Transmeta Corporation X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.4 i686) X-Accept-Language: en, sv, no, da, es, fr, ja MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Wayne.Brown@altec.com CC: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Not a typewriter In-Reply-To: <86256A48.007EF161.00@smtpnotes.altec.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org 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 retained as a historical reference.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. -- at work, in private! "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot." http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt