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I'd like to speak to the Bellcore ManaGeR

(www.ninakalinina.com)
17 points Bogdanp | 1 comments | 12 Oct 25 14:14 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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bediger4000 ◴[12 Oct 25 17:24 UTC] No.45559982[source]▶
I got mgr running on a SPARCStation 10 running SunOS 4.13 in 1995. It worked OK, until it crashed the machine, which upset me. We were having an office "uptime" competition.

One thing this article, which is very thorough, and very good, doesn't mention is that all the signalling is in-band via control/escape sequences. Mgr had no analog to xterm. You telent'ed in to some other machine, your shell script did some control sequences, and presto, a new window with a shell on the remote machine showed up.

I believe this article touches on mouse button use. I think Stephen Uhler, the major author of mgr, was left handed, as the default button arrangement definitely was more ergonomic for your left hand.

replies(1): >>45560250 #
nkali ◴[12 Oct 25 17:56 UTC] No.45560250[source]▶
Indeed, the signalling is implemented in a really, really clever way.

I had no idea that the author was left-handed; it would be interesting to try MGR with remapped mouse controls, I suppose!

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bediger4000 ◴[12 Oct 25 18:16 UTC] No.45560427[source]▶
I don't know for sure, but I distinctly remember that mgr on SunOS was default left handed. Could be the version you had was compiled for right handers.

I think I got mgr source off a free software CD, maybe Walnut Creek brand. I did have to fiddle to get it compiled and working.

replies(1): >>45569237 #
1. bediger4000 ◴[13 Oct 25 15:13 UTC] No.45569237[source]▶
Walnut Creek did issue a free software CD-ROM March, 1994, that has mgr on it.

https://archive.org/details/Source_Code_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_...

I can't find an overall mgr version, that seems to not have been a concept. The entire distribution is on 61 "shar" files, which can be undone even today, 37 years after the code appeared on Usenet:

SOME NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MGR AS DONE THROUGH THE USENET NEWSGROUP COMP.SOURCES.UNIX

    --Rich $alz, Thu Nov 17 20:59:01 EST 1988

    This is the largest posting to ever appear in comp.sources.unix;
    I think it's worth it.  Stephen has been very patient about getting
    this out. .....