64
votes
Accepted
Who invented file extensions in file names?
The MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), demonstrated in 1961, had two "names" for each file, with the second telling CTSS how to process the file. This had the function of a filename ...
- 12.4k
56
votes
Who invented file extensions in file names?
The PDP-6 multiprogramming monitor, an early operating system first delivered in 1964, used the term "filename extension" for the second name attached to a file, usually indicating the type. ...
- 6,118
41
votes
Who invented file extensions in file names?
In addition to Walter's spot on answer about the combined use of extensions and delimiting them by a dot and John's about the CTSS (*1) as origin for user defined types, it might be worth to note that ...
- 213k
25
votes
Accepted
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
The Wang 2200 series of minicomputers (Apr 1973 to Jul 1989) was implemented without hardware interrupts. All peripheral interaction was handled via polling.
These machines were fitted with a BASIC ...
- 1,439
25
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
In short, Linux is a Unix-like operating system kernel and does things like other Unix-like operating systems. The least common denominator for different Unix-like systems is the POSIX standard, which,...
- 28.3k
22
votes
Was AGP only ever used for graphics cards?
No, there was an AGP to USB card.
The HP rp5000 Point of Sale system was launched circa August 2003 and includes this unique AGP card:
The rp5000 has the (half-height) AGP card installed vertically ...
- 221
22
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, had no interrupt capability.
Its successor, the 8008, had interrupts, but with the shallow call stack and the need to reserve scarce registers to do any sort ...
- 1,741
19
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
Sharp pocket computers based on the ESR-H SC61860 micro-controller (PC-12xx, 13xx and 14xx) did not have interrupts. No instructions like rti, nothing. Everything was done by polling (it had for ...
- 3,619
18
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
Would embedded systems count?
If yes, there were GI's PIC1600 MCUs (http://bitsavers.org/components/gi/PIC/1983_PIC_Series_Microcomputer_Data_Manual.pdf), predecessors of PIC microcontrollers by ...
- 10.2k
13
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
Linux started as a hobbyist operating system. It was in no position to set any kind of standard. Instead, Linux implemented what hobbyists needed at that time. When Linux got popular, the convention ...
- 7,636
12
votes
Who invented file extensions in file names?
The PROMPT (disc)/POST (magtape) file maintenance systems, on English Electric KDF9 in the mid-1960s, used a 12-character alphanumeric file identifier. Not up to 12 chars, but 12 chars whether you ...
- 33.5k
10
votes
Who invented file extensions in file names?
The filestore of GEORGE 3 (ICL 1900 systems) had a four-character language code for each file.
This was not considered to be part of the file name, but was part of an 'entrant description' (file ...
- 33.5k
10
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
Serial port standards weren't. Obligatory XKCD.
Different devices had different preferred handshaking lines. And even if all DCE worked the same and all DTE worked the same, you had situations of DTE -...
10
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
Although the Apple II family of computers allows I/O cards to use interrupts, none of the internal hardware on the Apple II nor the Apple //e offers any support for them beyond making the pins ...
- 34.7k
10
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
Lots of examples could be found among many of USSR era home computers based on the KR580VM80 chip (a clone of i8080).
In a normal i8080 system, the CPU is supposed to work with companion (or 'chipset')...
- 10.2k
9
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
Another example from the embedded world: the Parallax Propeller uses multiple CPU cores to service events instead of interrupts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller#...
- 381
9
votes
Accepted
What was the rationale for the 'INPUT' button on an ICL 1900 console teletype?
I think I have figured out the rationale for this requirement, based on this manual for exec E6RM, unfortunately only available in DjVu format, not PDF.
How it works
Internally, Exec arranges its own ...
- 33.5k
8
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
The history is that Linux copied Unix. People at Bell Labs developed Unix. RS232 was specifically intended for modem interfaces. Unix naturally used AT&T RS232 modems to communicate through the ...
- 1,741
7
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
The Atari 2600 Video Computer System draws its entire screen using techniques that on other systems would be accomplished via raster interrupts, but its 6502 die is in a 28-pin package that omits both ...
- 34.7k
5
votes
How widely used was 0xDEADBEEF?
I've been working on IBM CICS transaction system and VSE operating system in the middle '80s and in the system dumps (I can't really remember if VSE's or CICS's) programmers put what they called "...
- 51
5
votes
Who invented file extensions in file names?
The IBM 1130 had five character file names (this is how FORTH got its name). Although the official character encoding was 8 bit EBCDIC, names were encoded as pairs of 16 bit words using 6 bit ...
- 1,741
4
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
I've ended up doing quite a lot of research on this question now, and I'm going to try to provide my own answer. This is based on my own research, assumptions and a lot of guesses, not to mention ...
- 403
4
votes
How was the first release of Java (JDK 1.0) used?
In 1997 I was on a Java team in a fairly large company writing software for internal use.
This would have been on Java 1.1, which was fairly new at the time. I don't remember all the details (and ...
- 479
3
votes
How was the first release of Java (JDK 1.0) used?
I wrote a desktop e-mail client using Java 1.x. I can't recall if it was Java 1.0 or 1.1 - it was be 1997.
I was languishing in a dead-end software job and had no degree so was having trouble getting ...
- 31
3
votes
Was there any computer since about 1960 without interrupt support?
The Parallax Propeller processor for quadcopters has (I write has because it's in production today for its intended purpose) no interrupts, and this is an advertised feature (so that execution ...
- 1,627
2
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
The assumption in the question is incorrect. Linux has support for modem control lines like DSR and DTR, via the TIOCMGET and TIOCMSET TTY ioctl command.
The relevant bitmask values are TIOCM_DSR and ...
- 1,660
2
votes
Why did Linux standardise on RTS/CTS flow control for serial ports
As a rather old dinosaur (older than 60...) I can remember using V23 modems in the 80's. They were rather popular in France because they were the modem of the good old minitel. In short it was a ...
- 121
2
votes
How widely used was 0xDEADBEEF?
HETE 2 used DEADBEEF as padding in the downlink, together with BABECAFE as packet sync.
- 1,741
1
vote
What did the Big Red Button actually do on the IBM 4341?
The Big Red Switch (which took a bunch of forms) on the IBM System/370s, including the 4341, initiated a power-down of the entire system. There were Emergency Power Off (EPO) cables that were strung ...
- 111
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible