[HN Gopher] The Unix Magic Poster
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The Unix Magic Poster
Author : colinprince
Score : 328 points
Date : 2021-05-03 18:54 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (jpmens.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (jpmens.net)
| SavantIdiot wrote:
| I'll be that guy: this is smacks of old school gatekeeping and
| exclusivity. WizardChan to the core. I think *nix has evolved
| since to be more inclusive and less of the "oh sage on the
| mountain please doth listen to my concerns" ego trip. Go on, vote
| me down, but I want to promote a new image that reflects the
| community of open source and sharing knowledge, and moves away
| from the "lone genius in a lab who knows all" fantasy.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| Things I can identify in the poster:
|
| - A wizard (which is a reference to a highly knowledgeable UNIX
| expert)
|
| - the cauldron the wizard is using is in the shape of a seashell,
| and there are shells on the wizard's hat (on UNIX the shell is a
| textual interface between the user and the operating system)
|
| - the wizard's hat has the word "su" on it ("su" is the
| "superuser" command used to "become" a "superuser", ie. the most
| powerful user on a UNIX system, where one can perform
| administrative tasks that ordinary users are not capable of
| doing)
|
| - the wizard's robe contains: ">" and "<", which are symbols used
| for input and output redirection, "%" and "$" which are sometimes
| used in shell prompts and "$" is used in regular expressions to
| indicate the end of the line, "*" is another character used in
| regular expressions to mean "zero or more of the previous
| character" and used in the shell for "globbing" (as a "wildcard"
| for specifying a variable or "anything goes" part of a filename),
| "!" is used in shell history commands to reference previous
| commands
|
| - there are containers at the bottom of the picture with the
| words: "diff" - a utility used to show difference between various
| texts, "tar" - a utility for creating, listing, and extracting
| archives, "null" - a reference to /dev/null, a "device" file that
| outputs the end of file when read and which discards any output
| sent to it, "troff" is a text formatting utility sometimes used
| for formatting documentation, "awk" is a language used for text
| manipulation, "C" is the main programming language used on UNIX,
| and "B" is a language that "C" descended from, "UUCP" - a once
| common but now obsolete file transfer utility
|
| - there is a scroll with the words "shell script" on it, which
| refers to a program containing shell commands
|
| - in the background there are pouches with the words: "spawn",
| which refers to creating a new process, what looks like "JFO"
| (not sure what this is), and "nroff" - another text formatting
| utility, "root" (the default name of the "superuser" account)
|
| - there's a shelf with books bearing these titles: "Daemons"
| (which are background processes, usually used as "servers" on a
| unix system, which perform some function indefinitely,
| contrasting with regular applications which are more one-off
| processes that usually perform one function and exit), "Who am I"
| - a reference to the "whoami" utility that will tell you your
| user id, "traps" - the "trap" utility can be used to respond to
| signals, which are one way to perform inter-process communication
| on UNIX, usually used to indicate exceptional events, "Spells" -
| a word in keeping with the wizard theme, but I don't know if
| there's anything specific in UNIX that would be considerd a
| "spell" per se, "Curses" - a graphics library
|
| - there is a container on the shelf with the word "pwd", which is
| a shell command used to tell you what the current directory is
|
| - there is a box on the shelf with the word "mbox", which is a
| type of mail file on UNIX, and this box with the word "mbox"
| contains scrolls, which could be mail messages
|
| - there is a black cat, which is also in keeping with the wizard
| theme, but I'm not sure whether it corresponds to anything
| specific in UNIX either (update: of course it's a reference to
| one of the most common and well-known commands on UNIX: "cat",
| which is used to output the contents of a file... don't know how
| I missed one of the most obvious symbols in the whole picture!)
|
| - there is a black boot leaning against the wall. To "boot" a
| user off a UNIX system is to terminate or end their connection,
| "kicking" them off the system. "booting" a UNIX system is a term
| used for starting the system. "rebooting" refers to restarting
| the system.
|
| - in the window a person with a scythe is reaping (or chopping
| down) some crops... to "reap" processes on UNIX is to kill them
| (or terminate/end them)
|
| - under the ceiling are many pipes. pipes are used on UNIX for
| interprocess communication
|
| - there is a bucket under a leaking pipe. The bucket may be there
| just for aesthetic reasons, though there is an informal "bit
| bucket" term which could refer to an abstraction for discarding
| information. The leaking pipe might be a reference to a "leaking
| abstraction", which is an abstraction (a high-level
| representation of something) which is supposed to "abstract away"
| or not reveal anything about how it's implemented, but when it
| "leaks" it inadvertently reveals something about how it's
| implemented anyway, causing all sorts of problems, like
| difficulties in switching to a different implementation.
|
| - other probably purely aesthetic elements in the picture are a
| castle on a hill, mountains, and a sky seen through the window, a
| fireplace and a table. the "oregano" container on the table is
| probably also purely aethetic, as is the mortar (in the pestle
| with the word "tar")
|
| - on the table lies a fork, which refers to "forking" a process
| (which creates a copy from an existing process and is a way UNIX
| has of creating new "child" processes from existing "parent"
| processes)
|
| - on the "awk" container on the table is a spool of thread.
| "threads" on UNIX are lightweight processes. the spool of thread
| has the letters "usr" on it, which refers to the _/ usr_
| partition on a UNIX system, which usually contains all sorts of
| UNIX utilities and libraries. To "spool" messages is to collect
| them for processing.
|
| - the wizard is pouring glowing liquid from test tubes, with what
| look like circuit traces coming out of the cauldron. In the
| cauldron there is a ladle with an iron hook at the end. I'm not
| sure what any of these elements are supposed to represent.
|
| - there is a spigot in the bottom of the cauldron, and it's
| emptying out in to the container labeled "null", which (as
| mentioned above) is a reference to the _/ dev/null_ device on
| UNIX, which will discard everything sent to it, so can be thought
| of as having infinite capacity, so even though it's a lot smaller
| in size than the cauldron all the liquid from the cauldron and
| more could be poured in to it without overflowing
|
| - there is a log with the word "login", next to the fireplace.
| "login" is a process used to respond to what the user types at
| the "login:" prompt when first connecting to a UNIX machine. A
| "log" is a text file containing (usually timestamped) information
| about what a process is doing or to record series of events
|
| - on the wizard's hat is a scroll which reads: "DMR", "KT", and
| "BWK". "KT" is probably Ken Thompson, one of the creators of
| UNIX. I don't recognize the others.
|
| That's all I can spot.
|
| Here is a direct link to the high resolution 32 MB PNG image of
| the poster: [1]
|
| [1] - https://archive.org/download/unix-magic-poster-gary-
| overcare... Magic Poster - Gary Overcare (1).png
| dwheeler wrote:
| > there is a black cat, which is also in keeping with the
| wizard theme, but I'm not sure whether it corresponds to
| anything specific in UNIX either
|
| "cat" is a common command in Unix, it concatenates files (and
| if you give it one pathname, it displays the file).
| pmoriarty wrote:
| Oh, right, of course! cat!
|
| Don't know how I missed that one...
| aap_ wrote:
| jfo is Joe Ossanna, the author of troff who died in 1977.
| [deleted]
| lordgrenville wrote:
| Thanks for the explanations!
|
| Nitpick: a daemon can do a lot of things besides responding to
| requests, so I wouldn't say it's usually used as a server.
| whydoyoucare wrote:
| Wonderful observation, enjoyed reading this.
|
| I am surprised though you did not recognize DMR (Dennis M.
| Ritchie) and BWK (Brian W. Kerighan). :-)
| pmoriarty wrote:
| The middle initials threw me off. Maybe if I'd just
| concentrated on "DR" and "BK" (or just took a quick peek at
| the UNIX article on Wikipedia) I might have got it...
|
| Ken Thompson is also the one I am most familiar with and most
| in awe of, of this group, so that's why I could readily
| recognize his initials.
| TheAceOfHearts wrote:
| Has anyone fixated on the design of the Wizard's hat? Although it
| lacks the degree of floppiness I'd expect of a truly magnificent
| Wizard's hat, it makes up for it with a long ribbon at the end
| which you could probably swirl around your head quite
| magnificently.
|
| I suppose the hat helps keep his hair out of his face and the
| ribbon is there to remind him not to tilt his head too much into
| the shell? Or perhaps the ribbon is made of a reactive material
| which serves as a canary?
| JDeArte wrote:
| I'm let down that "oregano" is not a system command
| detaro wrote:
| I was going to say "but that's an IRC server", but last second
| noticed that one is called "oragono" :D (and way younger either
| way)
| Koshkin wrote:
| Looks like UNIX already was _sufficiently advanced technology_
| back then.
| jliving207 wrote:
| Seriously , that is the coolest thing ever don't feel bad it was
| worth it. That picture is friggen epic and I think everyone here
| wants one...number one on hacker news pretty much sais that!
| frostburg wrote:
| If you want to have the .png printed I suggest doing a bit of
| dust spotting in an editor before, the file is of adequate
| quality but there are a few defects.
| aphrax wrote:
| Somewhat related(!): http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/heavy-
| wizardry.html
| chrisweekly wrote:
| The Unix Magic Poster is great geek lore, for sure -- but I want
| to thank the OP / author for sharing a link to
| https://www.whitewall.com/uk/metal-prints/dibond-printing which
| seems like a pretty great way to print and display a picture.
| davewongillies wrote:
| The UNIX Feuds poster is great too. Would love to get a high-res
| scan to print out of it too:
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/32496748@N03/3038053405
| davewongillies wrote:
| And also UNIX Views
| https://twitter.com/marcvolovic/status/1122450821541707777
| ryan-duve wrote:
| This is phenomenal. All the eggs I could find are: the spool,
| pipe, cat, thread (on the far left), shell, boot and fork. Are
| there any others, not including the characters on the cape and
| the words on the bags/jars?
| dragonfax wrote:
| I love that he's "pouring" everything into the "shell".
| jayd16 wrote:
| Log by the fireplace?
| tashbarg wrote:
| There's a bucket, too.
| markstos wrote:
| And a cat.
| chris_wot wrote:
| There's a bit bucket hanging from a pipe. And if you look in
| the window, there is a process reaper.
|
| I'm assuming the boot is fit something, not sure what though.
| bombcar wrote:
| I think that refers to "booting" a computer.
| asyncanup wrote:
| Books on the bookshelf (top-right) are:
|
| - daemons
|
| - whoami
|
| - traps
|
| - curses
|
| - pwd
|
| - inbox
|
| bags hanging underneath them:
|
| - spawn
|
| - nroff
|
| - dates
|
| - root
|
| a log against the fireplace wall which says "login",
|
| with potion-like bottles saying "uucp"
|
| and the biggest bottle of potion is named "C" (of course),
|
| while an old broken bottle lies on the ground called "B" (of
| course)
|
| Symbols on the wizard's clothes are all unix symbols:
|
| - $ (default PS1)
|
| - * (glob)
|
| - % (substring)
|
| - > and < (pipe redirection)
|
| Now to the bottom (right to left):
|
| - A jar called "troff"
|
| - A spool called "usr"
|
| - Container called "awk"
|
| - A jar of "oregano"
|
| - Cursive writing on a parchment paper, "shell script"
|
| - A small cup of "tar"
|
| - Another bottle called "diff"
|
| Update: Ah, you said excluding the words! I guess I was too
| excited to write down what I saw :P
| hcs wrote:
| The jar between uucp and C has a label that ends with "ke",
| could this be "make"?
| vincent-manis wrote:
| I assume that the letters jfo on the nroff bag refer to joe
| ossana, the original author of [nt]roff.
| clort wrote:
| a tap and daemon
|
| some pipes have tee's
| imwally wrote:
| UNIX creator's initials on the cap. Dennis Richie, Ken
| Thompson, Brian Kernighan.
| carbonguy wrote:
| - The wizard hat says "su," naturally
|
| - The "shell process" (visual pun! I love it) is "outputting to
| null"
|
| - The hat ribbon has the initials "dmr," "kt," and "bwk" -
| presumably Dennis M. Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and Brian W.
| Kernighan
|
| Any others?
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| Check out the "steam" rising from the cauldron...
| ghelmer wrote:
| Love these posters -- the one referenced in the article, and the
| other (UNIX feuds) noted in the comments. At one time I had both
| - lost one on a plane, and lost the other in a move. So rich in
| meaning, as others are noting.
| tyingq wrote:
| Faster download than the archive.org link, same png:
| https://github.com/tyingq/unix-magic-poster/raw/main/ump.png
|
| Same resolution, lower quality / smaller (smooshed with
| pngquant): https://github.com/tyingq/unix-magic-
| poster/raw/main/ump2.pn...
|
| Also, what's "Oregano" in this context? Seems out of place if
| it's just the herb/spice.
| aimor wrote:
| " The oregano is reputedly referring to an incident in which
| one of the original folks involved with BSD was hassled for
| coming across the Canadian/U.S. border with a bag of what was
| assumed to be an illegal substance, and turned out to be
| oregano. "
| CaliforniaKarl wrote:
| I believe I have one of the originals in my shared office on
| campus. The poster was originally taped to the wall in Polya
| Hall. I took it down (as carefully as I could) and put it into a
| basic poster frame I purchased from Michaels. It will remain in
| that office unless/until our group moves elsewhere (in which case
| it will come with us) or I leave Stanford (in which case it will
| go to whomever else is in that office).
| pmiller2 wrote:
| Earlier discussion (1987):
| https://groups.google.com/g/comp.unix.wizards/c/kFdPoJBpcSA
| m463 wrote:
| Here's the poster including a high-res png:
|
| https://archive.org/details/unix-magic-poster-gary-overcare-...
| augustk wrote:
| It looks like the wizard is about to drop the test tubes, he is
| not really holding them.
| sklargh wrote:
| Unix/Old School Rules D&D crossover. Approve.
| tlrobinson wrote:
| If Gary is still around and wants to sell official prints I (and
| I'm sure many others) would buy one!
|
| Edit: looks like Unitech Software actually holds the copyright
| pram wrote:
| I have a real one hanging in my living room lol. They're really
| beautiful pieces of art, and this is the best of the series by
| far.
| jlv2 wrote:
| Agreed! My wife and I each have one.
|
| (had - one is now in the possession of my adult son)
| quercusa wrote:
| Well, I guess it's not necessary to ask if he got the nerd
| genes.
| acidburnNSA wrote:
| I have this printed out and hanging on my wall. Totally worth it.
| amelius wrote:
| Was hoping they used super-resolution magic to scale up the
| image.
| kps wrote:
| Anyone know of a similar-quality version of '4.2 > V'? The best
| I've found is an eighth the size.
| Naac wrote:
| Is 80 Euros the standard price for a custom poster?
|
| I see that the .tiff is available, and I'm down to take it to my
| local print shop, but only if the total print cost is about
| $20-$30
| vlmutolo wrote:
| You pay for both the material it's printed on and the quality
| of the print. But mostly the material.
|
| A 3-foot tall poster can be over $500 if you get top-notch
| quality and put it behind nice glass and a nice custom frame.
|
| It's hard to tell how large the photo is here, but $80 isn't
| surprising at all if the material mentioned (Al Dibond) really
| is nice. I'm not familiar with it.
|
| If you just want the poster on normal poster paper, I'm
| confident you could find a print shop to do it for $25.
| eek04_ wrote:
| An A3 (11-3/4" x 16-1/2") poster here in Ireland starts at
| around 7 euro ($7.50). 80 euros is presumably for the aluminium
| dibond print - which sounds like an extreme quality print
| material, and those gets expensive fast. An A3 on _that_ starts
| at about 50 euro (and it sounds like the author got an A2 -
| twice the size of an A3.)
| morsch wrote:
| In my experience, Whitewall is also not exactly the cheapest
| store around (but they are very good).
| Tepix wrote:
| If you want to get something fancy like an Aluminium Dibond
| print, check your country's groupon, you usually find a 50%
| discount offer there.
|
| Edit: I checked groupon.de and found a 40x60cm (near DIN A2)
| aluminium dibond print for 19EUR + 7EUR shipping (
| https://www.groupon.de/deals/lieblingsfoto-73 )
| supermatt wrote:
| if you want a paper poster, it will be a lot cheaper. OP had it
| printed on some rigid aluminium composite.
| earthscienceman wrote:
| Hmmmm. I'm not sure I would want one that big, but I would love a
| smaller one. I wonder who does similar quality prints in the US
| PenguinCoder wrote:
| I've had great luck with https://mpix.com A lot of great
| options and prices.
| throwanem wrote:
| Bay Photo (https://www.bayphoto.com/) is where I go for sizes
| larger than I can print on my own. They've never let me down,
| and while their prices are significant for larger formats,
| they're not out of line with what I've seen from other shops.
| Good, fast shipping, too.
|
| They do print on aluminum, similar to the described style -
| it's definitely not "dibond" in that there's no backing
| aluminum layer and by default (at least) no foamcore backing,
| but I've honestly never felt the lack. That said, when I hang
| prints, I hang them framed, so maybe it's a treatment designed
| for display on its own; when I do get aluminum prints from Bay
| Photo, they're generally one-offs of signs or other oddball
| stuff, so I don't really worry about fine-art presentation on
| those.
| phibz wrote:
| I wonder what an updated picture might hide?
| 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
| A few tenuous ones it seems not mentioned yet.
|
| The title "UNIX MAGIC" is arguably on a banner(1).
|
| The wall(1) visible through the window. (On NetBSD there was also
| a window(1) utility.)
|
| The peak visible through the window in the distance could be
| mount(1) ________.
|
| And of course, there is a man(1) visible through the window.
|
| The prominent display of the wizard's fingers, as in finger(1),
| in the foreground is probably intentional.
|
| Having so many things _hanging_ is probably not a coincidence.
|
| Nor is the fact that the shell has an _overflow_.
|
| The _streams_ flowing from the tubes and from a head(1).
|
| The object in the tar bucket appears to be composed of
| _segments_.
|
| Arguably awk is written on what appears to be a block, as in
| badblocks(1).
|
| The ring on top(1) of diff with the string/line, as in
| strings(1), must have some significance.
|
| From the wizard's hat hangs something with various initials,
| maybe a _tape_ , a tail(1) or a strip(1).
|
| Perhaps the crack in "B" is supposed to mean something.
|
| Also, there must be some significance to the question mark/ankh
| shaped hook on the stirrer in the shell. Maybe a it is a broken
| link(1).
|
| This just shows another great thing about UNIX. They took names
| from common things. None of the silly names we see today,
| especially the ones people choose for "tech" companies.
|
| The artist should have had the wizard pouring some _buffer_
| solution. Then the overflow would be even better.
|
| The "lid" on the oregano, whether intentional or not, is a nice
| touch. https://www.etymonline.com/word/lid
| zwp wrote:
| > Perhaps the crack in "B" is supposed to mean something.
|
| B was the _flawed_ predecessor to C. Wikipedia alleges a lack
| of types was the main issue that consequently drove C's
| invention.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_(programming_language)
| oger wrote:
| Had some good experience with Whitewall in the past. Pricey but
| worth it.
| pmoriarty wrote:
| Does the original artist get any money that people spend on
| these posters?
| p00f wrote:
| No whitewall is just a print shop, you have to give them the
| image
| sprior wrote:
| I have a copy of that poster in good condition as well as at
| least one related one (Unix wars), but am too lazy to dig it out
| so I'll go from memory.
|
| There are tees in the pipes and I think the trap and valve was
| significant. I think the bucket is catching a (memory) leak. Is
| the guy outside using a reaper? That's not just a spool, but a
| /usr/spool. There was some talk that the castle represented a
| domain. And of course the big c shell cauldron.
| neilv wrote:
| This Unix Wars one?
|
| https://ia601002.us.archive.org/3/items/Mt_Xinu_Mach_386_920...
|
| http://catb.org/jargon/html/D/Death-Star.html
| mrlonglong wrote:
| That is wondrous to say the least. Giggling a little about the
| oregano incident though.
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(page generated 2021-05-03 23:00 UTC)