24 Oct
2024
24 Oct
'24
1:56 a.m.
Sad to hear about the confirmation and circumstances of his passing. I
had been hoping it wasn't true (a different Ward or something), but I see
now a week ago Als Geek Lab already put a tribute video up (and included a
section about xmodem). And of course the NYT article now.
I hope any surviving family will keep in mind that the CBBS equipment is
historical - don't toss it! (I think it is a "homebrew IMSAI 8080" base).
When I spoke with Ward last year, one of the questions I had was whether he
still had that equipment - and he did say Yes. I showed him a picture, to
make sure we were talking about the same thing (it's at the bottom of the
1978 column in the final version of my "domesticating the computer"
poster). It's possible he mis-remembered or I misunderstood, but I'd like
to think it's still sitting there next to his chair.
I mentioned previously here that at one VCF last year, I asked Ward to sign
my ComputerLib book. He also signed a poster for my daughter. I'm not
big into sports or PopCulture, but I always thought it would be more
meaningful to get autographs from famous scientists and engineers.
I'm not sure if images can (or should) be shared here (attachments) - and
it's just a small thing really. But if anyone interested, here's an image
of his signing at the bottom of this page:
https://voidstar.blog/2024/10/24/ward-christensen-brief-notes/
A while back I recall trying to find the CBBS source code. I don't think
the original-original is still around, the earliest was maybe a 1979 or
1980 update to it.
Well - I think I have my topic now for VCF next year.... not about BBS's.
But I'm thinking maybe to cover more about the ComputerLib book itself
(which I only very lightly touched on earlier this year). It has no Table
of Contents, nor an index, so it really is a bit of a hard read (that, and
my eyes vs its font) - eveni digitally scanning it is tough. Mine's one of
the later 1987 revised editions. As someone mentioned, it probably has a
section about Ward in there - I'll keep looking through it.
- SteveL (v*)
On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 4:10 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Wed, 23 Oct 2024, Wayne S via cctalk wrote:
I have to respectfully disagree.
This is an obituary for a person who has died, which is not a complete
history of his life. The articles are rather lengthy, for an obituary in a
major newspaper where space is limited. I think the author did do some
rather deep investigation. He did talk to Ward Christiansen‘s brother for
remembrances and information.
We can get along without agreeing :-)
If you will pardon some exaggeration to make clear my point,
it is somewhat like going into detail about Henry Ford being co-founder of
Kingsford charcoal, and then only two mentions, in passing, of making
cars. :-)
Yes, I admit that is an exaggerated analogy.
CBBS WAS extremely important and significant.
But, I think that XMODEM had even more long-term impact.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com