Public Access Multics | Hacker News Reader

Public Access Multics

ban.ai

2 pointsmpweiher3 comments

Like the front page says,

> "This is not a UNIX System! I don't know this!"

I ssh'd in out of curiosity. It's like visiting another planet.

For example:

    help
    >doc>info>help_system.gi.info   (9 lines follow;  47 in info)
    12/27/84  Multics help system
    
    Multics provides online help through information segments (info segs)
    such as this one.  Type the command "help" with the name of a topic
    and the system will print the information contained in the info seg
    that describes that topic.  A topic can be an individual command or
    some other feature of the system.  For example, to get information
    about the print command, type
       help print
    
    16 more lines.  More help?

Yes. I need more help.

Totally alien, using "help" for assistance instead of the obvious "man".

If there is going to be a "help" at all, it should be severely restricted to explaining only the commands which are built into the command interpreter, damn it!

And look at all the weird language used in the descriptions; it's like plain English or something.

> >doc>info>help_system.gi.info

What, document hierarchy? How are we going to talk about malloc(3) without chapter numbers.

I try to imagine the help coming out of a printer ten lines at a time. In my imagination, it's a daisy-wheel printer and makes a heck of a racket.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com