If you are looking for old NLS source code, I have several versions of
same in the NIC collection. It is text, not machine-readable. I don't
know how complete any given version is. Contact me if you have any
interest and I can show you where to find it. In the interests of
preservation, I would ask that we copy anything that you want to use
rather than removing or using the original (01)
Jake Feinler
On Oct 29, 2005, at 2:33 AM, Jonathan Cheyer wrote: (02)
> Hi all,
>
> I realized it's been a few months since I've posted any info to this
> list. There's been plenty of good news, some of which CHM members
> already know (since I mentioned it in person at the previous meeting),
> and one piece which is new as of tonight!
>
> Just a reminder that we have two tracks in this project: technical and
> legal. I'll give a summary of where nls-restore is at this point in
> time
> regarding the technical track:
>
> * TOPS-20 Networking - About a month ago, I was able to get networking
> to work properly when using the klh10 emulator. This was thanks to much
> help from both Ken Harrenstien and Mark Crispin. This step was critical
> for a few reasons. First, it allows multiple users to login to the
> TOPS-20 system and hence multiple users can use Augment. Before this,
> only one user could use Augment at a time, by working from the TOPS-20
> "console". Second, network access is necessary for being able to use
> the
> Visual AugTerm (VAT) client. The TOPS-20 Networking task is considered
> done.
>
> * Cloning Augment system - As of about two months ago, a snapshot of
> the
> entire TOPS-20 system that Doug Engelbart uses, has been cloned. This
> was thanks to lots of help from Raylene Pak. This includes standard
> TOPS-20 system files, the Augment system, Augment documentation, and
> lots of other files and programs that will eventually need to be
> inspected and possibly preserved. Special thanks goes to Doug for being
> kind enough to allow Raylene to copy the bits in the first place!
> (Doug's personal files were removed on the clone prior to the handoff,
> in order to respect his privacy.) I believe that Doug's system is the
> most recent (and quite possibly the only) Augment system available. The
> task of the initial cloning (and running the clone) of Augment is
> considered done. (However, a substantial amount of work will still be
> needed to make a package that would be easily usable by the general
> public, or even by a technical person.)
>
> * Augment source code - As of about a month ago, I have located a lot
> of
> the source code for the Augment system. This is a snapshot of the
> source
> code that was taken from the bits that Raylene cloned from Doug's
> system. I don't have an exact date, but looking through a bunch of the
> source code, it appears to be dated around 1988 or so. Initial versions
> of some of the files date back to between 1972 and 1979 and come from
> the original NLS system. I have been looking through some of it (it is
> written in a language named "L10"). Possibly all of it is somewhere on
> the system, but I won't know that for sure until I learn how to rebuild
> Augment completely from scratch. I've got much more work to do on this
> task.
>
> * NLS source code - As of a week ago, I spoke with Jeff Rulifson, who
> has a lot of source code (on paper) for the early NLS system (circa
> 1968) which was used to run the 1968 demo
> (http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html). I am working with
> him to see if he is willing to donate all of his artifacts to the CHM
> for preservation. Assuming we can get access to everything, future
> work
> on this task involves scanning all information, converting it to usable
> digital form, and determining if there is any possibility of creating
> the environment necessary to run the code. I've got much more work to
> do
> on this task.
>
> * Original AUGTERM source code - As of about two weeks ago, I have
> located what I believe to be the complete source code for the original
> AUGTERM program. This is probably the most recent (and only known)
> version of the code. It supports the A1200 protocol (later known as
> VAT0), which is the same protocol that was used by Augment 1200
> terminals in the early 80s. AUGTERM runs on DOS machines and is a
> replacement for the Augment 1200 terminals. This version of code
> appears
> to have been written in 1987, but I am not sure when it was first
> written. The primary author was Dave Hopper. It is written in assembler
> code and requires a specific Assembler program called ESASM in order to
> generate the resulting binary file. The resulting binary file is an
> 8086
> .COM file that will run on a DOS machine. AUGTERM expects to send
> serial
> I/O over a COM port to the machine running Augment, and it does not
> support any networking through TCP/IP. It does support both a Mouse and
> a Chord (or Chorded) Keyset. The ESASM program itself is written in L10
> and runs within the Augment system. I got in touch with Dave and he
> confirmed that the code that I have looks to be complete. I have not
> yet
> tried using ESASM to assemble it, and I also have not yet tried to run
> the AUGTERM binary. More work to do on this task.
>
> * Visual AugTerm (VAT) source code - As of about two weeks ago, I have
> located multiple versions of some amount of source code (but possibly
> not all) of the VAT program. This is a Smalltalk program written by Bob
> Czech to replace the original AUGTERM. It is written to be run in a
> commercial Smalltalk environment named VisualWorks 2.5.2 by Cincom (was
> ParcPlace-Digitalk) and runs on Windows and Solaris/Sparc. The VAT
> supports the original A1200 (VAT0) protocol, as well as a newer
> protocol
> named VAT1, which was developed by Bob Czech and Raylene Pak. It does
> support using a Mouse, but I don't believe it supports a Chord Keyset.
> VisualWorks does not use the familiar source code/binary file paradigm,
> but rather uses an Image/Changes paradigm. The Image is a snapshot of a
> running system with live object instances. The Changes file tracks all
> user/developer modifications to the base Image. Both object data and
> code can be changed on the fly right in the running system. I've
> located
> multiple copies of Images as well as multiple copies of Changes, and
> it's pretty hard to tell what is the same or different between all the
> copies. Some of the Changes files that I have appear to be corrupted or
> otherwise incomplete. I am not sure that I even have the complete set
> of
> Changes to somehow determine I have a complete set of source code. I do
> have a running system though and no compilation is necessary since the
> Image is the running system. The Smalltalk functions in the Changes
> file
> appear to be dated between 1993-1997. Copyright of VAT is owned by
> Bootstrap Institute (Doug). More work to do on this task.
>
> * VisualWorks environment - Thanks to James Robertson from Cincom, I
> now
> have a full commercial version of the old VW 2.5.2 software on Windows.
> It includes the original visual.sou system sources files, which will
> hopefully help me when I am trying to do diffs on all of the various
> versions of source code so I can remove any non-Augment (system)
> related
> code from the process. I also have a copy of VisualWorks 7.3.1 (the
> current version) which offers free downloads under a non-commercal
> license. A non-commercial license is useful for the CHM, because it
> means it can legally use the software in the code preservation and
> museum demos. VW 7.3.1 is also available under Linux (happily for me)
> and has some additional tools for doing code diffs, so if I can figure
> out how to import the Augment code into VW 7.3.1 from VW 2.5.2 then it
> might help. Other possible future goals might include finding someone
> interesting in porting the code from VW to the Squeak environment (open
> source). More work to do in this task (learning enough Smalltalk,
> learning enough VW, etc., to do diffs on code and possible import into
> 7.3.1).
>
> * Modified VAT to connect to cloned Augment system - WORKS, as of
> tonight! I have been able to determine which live object in the
> running
> VAT system contains the IP address of the Augment system to connect to,
> and I have modified it in my copy of VAT (running on a Windows laptop)
> to point to my own cloned Augment system (running on my personal Linux
> machine). So I now have a completely standalone, cloned system of VAT
> plus Augment. This verifies that the initial phase of the nls-restore
> project is complete! Now the real work begins...
>
> Jonathan
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