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52 year old data tape could contain Unix history (www.theregister.com)

submitted 3 months ago by cm0002@europe.pub to c/linux@programming.dev

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A tape-based piece of unique Unix history may have been lying quietly in storage at the University of Utah for 50+ years. The question is whether researchers will be able to take this piece of middle-aged media and rewind it back to the 1970s to get the data off.

The news was posted to Mastodon by Professor Robert Ricci of the University of Utah's Kahlert School of Computing.

While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #UNIX v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973

Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition

We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum

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[-] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 17 points 3 months ago

It was the first version in which the kernel was written in C.

Interesting. So does this tape contain the source code, or the compiled OS, or both?

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago

The article doesn't really say, but it sounds like binaries.

[-] data1701d@startrek.website 11 points 3 months ago

[-] blave@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

ok, but where else would it be? on a bunch of 5.14" floppies? possibly on a bunch of MO disks?

[-] justlemmyin@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

I nix, U nix, we all nix OS

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

We need Lex Murphy on the case.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025

174 points (99.4% liked)

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