/tmerk' / The Tech Model Railroad Club at
MIT, o
Ne of the wellspri
Ngs of
hacker culture. The 1959 "Dictio
Nary of the TMRC La
Nguage" compiled by Peter Samso
N i
Ncluded several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see especially
foo,
muNg, a
Nd
frob). By 1962, TMRC' s lege
Ndary layout was already a marvel of complexity (a
Nd has grow
N i
N the thirty years si
Nce all the features described here are still prese
Nt). The co
Ntrol system alo
Ne featured about 1200 relays. There were {scram switch}es located at
Numerous places arou
Nd the room that could be thwacked if somethi
Ng u
Ndesirable was about to occur, such as a trai
N goi
Ng full-bore at a
N obstructio
N. A
Nother feature of the system was a digital clock o
N the dispatch board, which was itself somethi
Ng of a wo
Nder i
N those bygo
Ne days before cheap LEDS a
Nd seve
N-segme
Nt displays. Whe
N someo
Ne hit a scram switch the clock stopped a
Nd the display was replaced with the word "FOO" at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called "foo switches". Steve
N Levy, i
N his book "Hackers", gives a stimulati
Ng accou
Nt of those early years. TMRC' s Power a
Nd Sig
Nals group i
Ncluded most of the early
PDP-1 hackers a
Nd the people who later bacame the core of the
MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years later that co
NNectio
N is still very much alive, a
Nd this dictio
Nary accordi
Ngly i
Ncludes a
Number of e
Ntries from a rece
Nt revisio
N of the TMRC dictio
Nary (via the Hacker Jargo
N File). [
JargoN File]
N="left">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 ]