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Xerox Alto Source Code Released To Public
zonker writes: In 1970, the Xerox Corporation established the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) with the goal to develop an "architecture of information" and lay the groundwork for future electronic office products. The pioneering Alto project that began in 1972 invented or refined many of the fundamental hardware and software ideas upon which our modern devices are based, including raster displays, mouse pointing devices, direct-manipulation user interfaces, windows and menus, the first WYSIWYG word processor, and Ethernet.
The first Altos were built as research prototypes. By the fall of 1976 PARC's research was far enough along that a Xerox product group started to design products based on their prototypes. Ultimately, ~1,500 were built and deployed throughout the Xerox Corporation, as well as at universities and other sites. The Alto was never sold as a product but its legacy served as inspiration for the future.
With the permission of the Palo Alto Research Center, the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use only, snapshots of Alto source code, executables, documentation, font files, and other files from 1975 to 1987. The files are organized by the original server on which they resided at PARC that correspond to files that were restored from archive tapes. An interesting look at retro-future.
The first Altos were built as research prototypes. By the fall of 1976 PARC's research was far enough along that a Xerox product group started to design products based on their prototypes. Ultimately, ~1,500 were built and deployed throughout the Xerox Corporation, as well as at universities and other sites. The Alto was never sold as a product but its legacy served as inspiration for the future.
With the permission of the Palo Alto Research Center, the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use only, snapshots of Alto source code, executables, documentation, font files, and other files from 1975 to 1987. The files are organized by the original server on which they resided at PARC that correspond to files that were restored from archive tapes. An interesting look at retro-future.
osage writes: Several colleagues and I have worked on an open source project for over 20 years under a corporate aegis. Though nothing like Apache, we have a sizable user community and the software is considered one of the de facto standards for what it does. The problem is that we have never been able to attract new, younger programmers, and members of the original set have been forced to find jobs elsewhere or are close to retirement. The corporation has no interest in supporting the software. Thus, in the near future, the project will lose its web site host and be devoid of its developers and maintainers. Our initial attempts to find someone to adopt the software haven't worked. We are looking for suggestions as to what course to pursue. We can't be the only open source project in this position.
http://www.computerhistory.org... (from tfa)
they knew the best display aspect ratio for getting work done
I thought only space was the reason for computers? So we went from the Moon landing in 1969 to the Alto in one year!? Wow, that is amazing!
Is there an emulator this would run under?
tora
You weren't noticing. Apple stole it from Xerox!
If possible, it would be interesting to cross compile the code to a modern processor and see how fast it would fly, given the limited capabilities of hardware at the time. Remember, we're talking about 1MHz 16-20 bit processors at the time the project started, if that.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Ten or twenty years ago, when enthusiasts still had this hardware, this would have been very interesting. I remember David Case having a big pile of the stuff he had nothing to do with because software was too hard to come by. Today, virtually all of that stuff has been landfilled or recycled.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Oh wow... it's like you spend your whole life understanding your childhood.
When I saw that image of the Sol-20, it immediately took me back to being 6yrs old. I'd go with my father to work in a manufacturing plant. He ran "The lab" and up until the late 70s, they'd program their machines with an infrared laser onto a chip... and it was a nightmare because it took hours and if anyone turned on a light it would ruin the etch. Then these computers started showing up with floppy drives and the first one I remember seeing looked exactly like that Sol-20. I'm assuming that's what it was. I got to type on it for fun a couple of times. Later they swapped to Commador's, apple IIs, IBM clones, etc... whatever was cheap.
This was probably the first computer I ever touched. Wow!
You would have to emulate the custom bitslice processor. I think that all of the schematics exist and it would be possible but it would take a lot of work.
Am I the only one here that is impressed that they were able to restore the archives from tape from 40 years ago just fine? :)
mouse pointing devices
You went with that because you didn't know whether to put mouses or mice, right?
It is, of course, mieces.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
In 1977 or thereabouts, I was a co-op student at Xerox' Webster, NY Research Center. At lunchtime, I had access to an Alto, and spent far too much time playing MazeWar, a networked multi-player real-time 3D-perspective game wherein the players navigated a maze (displayed as wireframe 3D with an overhead map at the side), finding other players (who appeared as giant floating eyeballs) and zapping them. Once zapped, you respawned elsewhere in the maze and attempted to sneak up on your opponent and return the favor.
The graphics were extremely simple; there was no detail in the walls, just lines showing the edges, and player positions were limited to the center of each grid square; player movement was in discrete jumps. All of this was done to reduce the computational load for the graphics, of course. As a result, the system was very responsive, and the experience was quite immersive.
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
What on earth is "An interesting look at retro-future"?
Some settling may occur during posting.
There really should be an august monument to noble accomplishments Xerox achieved.
Stylish, classic, with a simple inscription:
"On this spot, Steve Jobs stole all his good ideas."
right..
"
It was a visit by Jobs to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center late in 1979 that set Apple on a new course that would revolutionize personal computing.
"
This is a real piece of computing history. Xerox PARC and the Alto are the bedrock of all modern graphical computing systems. In fact you might say that this system was the first realization of the ideas in the Mother of All Demonstrations.
I wonder how many software patents these revelations will bust?
They've been copying the design for years, now you can copy the source code too!
Jokes aside, these were groundbreaking machines that determined the next 30 years or so of UI design. It had to be polished a bit to work on personal computers of the day (by Mssrs Gates and Jobs) and unfortunately somewhat cut down. The Alto screens were meant to replace paper, and only now has the price come down enough that we are getting screens with the resolution to rival paper.
In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of a newly installed laser printer, the Xerox 9700. Stallman had modified the software for the Lab's previous laser printer (the XGP, Xerographic Printer), so it electronically messaged a user when the person's job was printed, and would message all logged-in users waiting for print jobs if the printer was jammed. Not being able to add these features to the new printer was a major inconvenience, as the printer was on a different floor from most of the users. This experience convinced Stallman of people's need to be able to freely modify the software they use.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R... )
Bill Atkinson, you stupid cunt.
meaning that they would be competitive and useful to the commercial and scientific markets simultaneously. IBM was thinking in the monetary sense, which makes sense as a business.
A small embedded CPU in a radiation-hardened box is a 'general purpose computer' by the theoretical definition but nobody would buy one to play games and do the wide variety of tasks a PC does today.
Apple invented the desktop. Xerox, Microsoft and Linux are just faggots who've stolen the idea.
Tthe first caveman who propped up a flat rock invented the desktop. Xerox just virtualized it first.