/tmerk' / The Tech Model Railroad Clu
B at
MIT, one of the wellsprings of
hacker culture. The 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language" compiled
By Peter Samson included several terms that
Became
Basics of the hackish voca
Bulary (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 features descri
Bed here are still present). The control system alone featured a
Bout 1200 relays. There were {scram switch}es located at numerous places around the room that could
Be thwacked if something undesira
Ble was a
Bout to occur, such as a train going full-
Bore at an o
Bstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch
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 stimulating account of those early years. TMRC' s Power and Signals group included most of the early
PDP-1 hackers and the people who later
Bacame the core of the
MIT AI LaB staff. Thirty years later that connection is still very much alive, and this dictionary accordingly includes a num
Ber of entries from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary (via the Hacker Jargon File). [
Jargon File]
In addition suitaBle contents:<Br>[ 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 ]