/tmerk' / The Tech Model Railroad Club
AT MIT, one of the wellsprings of
hacker culture. The 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language" compiled by Peter Samson included several terms th
AT became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see especially
foo,
mung, and
frob). By 1962, TMRC' s legendary layout was already a marvel of complexity (and has grown in the thirty years since all the fe
ATures described here are still present). The control system alone fe
ATured about 1200 relays. There were {scram switch}es loc
ATed
AT numerous places around the room th
AT could be thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going full-bore
AT an obstruction. Another fe
ATure of the system was a digital clock on the disp
ATch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those bygone days before cheap LEDS and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word "FOO"
AT TMRC the scram switches are therefore called "foo switches". Steven Levy, in his book "Hackers", gives a stimul
ATing account of those early years. TMRC' s Power and Signals group included most of the early
PDP-1 hackers and the people who l
ATer bacame the core of the
MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years l
ATer th
AT connection is still very much alive, and this dictionary accordingly includes a number of entries from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary (via the Hacker Jargon File). [
Jargon File]
In addition suitable contents:
[ 2 ] [ = ] [ ad ] [ af ] [ ag ] [ AI ] [ ai ] [ al ] [ am ] [ an ] [ ar ] [ arc ] [ arg ] [ as ] [ AT ] [ B ] [ b ] [ ba ] [ be ] [ bo ] [ boa ] [ board ] [ bs ] [ by ] [ C ] [ ca ] [ cAT ] [ cc ] [ ch ] [ ci ] [ ck ] [ cl ] [ clock ] [ co ] [ com ] [ complexity ] [ con ] [ connect ] [ control ] [ core ] [ cr ] [ cu ] [ D ] [ de ] [ digit ] [ digital ] [ ding ] [ display ] [ DP ] [ du ] [ E ] [ ec ] [ ed ] [ EDS ] [ ee ] [ eg ] [ er ] [ era ] [ es ] [ et ] [ feATure ] [ fi ] [ file ] [ fo ] [ for ] [ fr ] [ frob ] [ ge ] [ gen ] [ gi ] [ gl ] [ gm ] [ gn ] [ gr ] [ group ] [ gs ] [ gu ] [ h ] [ hack ] [ hacker ] [ hackish ] [ hAT ] [ heap ] [ hing ] [ hit ] [ hose ] [ hr ] [ id ] [ ie ] [ il ] [ in ] [ inc ] [ include ] [ io ] [ ir ] [ is ] [ IT ] [ it ] [ J ] [ Jargon File ] [ ke ] [ ki ] [ la ] [ ld ] [ LED ] [ Lex ] [ li ] [ lr ] [ ls ] [ lt ] [ lu ] [ lub ] [ ly ] [ M ] [ ma ] [ MIT ] [ mo ] [ mod ] [ Mode ] [ module ] [ mp ] [ ms ] [ mu ] [ mung ] [ na ] [ nc ] [ ne ] [ ng ] [ nn ] [ no ] [ nu ] [ O ] [ om ] [ OO ] [ op ] [ pa ] [ PD ] [ PDP ] [ pe ] [ ph ] [ pl ] [ pr ] [ query ] [ rc ] [ re ] [ revision ] [ rl ] [ ro ] [ room ] [ row ] [ ru ] [ S ] [ sc ] [ scram switch ] [ se ] [ segment ] [ sh ] [ si ] [ Sig ] [ so ] [ spec ] [ st ] [ struct ] [ su ] [ switch ] [ sy ] [ system ] [ T ] [ tc ] [ th ] [ this dictionary ] [ TM ] [ tm ] [ to ] [ tr ] [ ua ] [ um ] [ up ] [ us ] [ ve ] [ vi ] [ word ] [ ye ]