$1.00
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Contents
Gnu's Zoo 2
What is Gnu Emacs 3
Version 17 comes with its own doctor 4
How to get Gnu Emacs 4
Status of Gnu Emacs on Various Machines and Systems 5,6
A Sample .emacs File 7
What is the Free Software Foundation? 8,9
Gnu Status 10,11,12
Some Arugments for Gnu's Goals 13
Wish List 14
Free Software Foundation Order Form 15
Thank Gnus 16
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Gnu's Zoo
First and foremost there's our porcupine Richard M. Stallman. The last
of the true hackers and founder of project GNU.
Secondly there's Leonard H. Tower, Gnu's teddy bear. Len is Gnu's
first and so far only paid full time employee.
Gnu's Hawk, Robert Chassell, is the world's only generous treasurer.
Gnu has two wise old night owls, Professor Hal Abelson and Professor
Gerald Sussman. They are advisors and round out FSF's board of
directors.
Amoung our volunteer hackers there's Dean L. Elsner, our world hopping
platypus (I originally called him a kangaroo but he insists he's a
platypus). In case you haven't guessed, Dean comes from Australia.
Dean is writing Gnu's assembler.
Another Australian, Richard Mlynarik, is acting as Gnu's Emacs Guru. I'll
try calling him our kangaroo and see what happens.
Eric Albert walked in off the street on January 24. So far, he's sped
up the GNU LD command to be faster than UNIX's (it was much slower),
and is now fixing some bugs in it. After that, he'll be working on
removing fixed-length limits from GNU CPP, and also speeding it up.
Eric claims he's Gnu's humuhumunukunukuapuaa, the current state fish
of Hawaii. And we're happy to have the help of such a rare fish.
There is also Paul Rubin on the West coast. Gnu's spider, Paul weaves
Gnu Emacs reference cards and produces nifty covers for the new
version of the Gnu Emacs manual.
Me? My name's Jerry Puzo. I answer the mail and send out tapes. It
explains a lot to say I'm Gnu's turtle.
*end*
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G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Copyright February 1986
by the Free Software Foundation.
Editor: Jerome E. Puzo
Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim
copies of this document as received, in any medium, provided that
the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, and
that the distributor grants the recipient permission for further
redistribution as permitted by this notice.
*end*
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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What is GNU Emacs and do you want a copy?
by Richard M. Stallman
GNU Emacs is a new implementation of the Emacs text editor.
(Recently text editors have been called "word processors" among
microcomputer users.)
Emacs is a kind of architecture for text editors, in which most
editing commands are written in an interpreted language (usually
Lisp) so that the user can write new editing commands as he goes.
This allows Emacs to have editing commands that are more powerful
or more adapted to individual uses than other kinds of editors.
Any particular editing command could be written in C, but with
Lisp it is much easier for users to change the editing commands
or to implement new editing commands. Users can also exchange
their adaptations and extensions of Emacs. The result is a library
of extensions that continues to grow.
GNU Emacs boasts an especially clean Lisp system for writing editing
commands, and an already large library of extensions.
GNU Emacs is written in C, designed for a Unix or Unix-like
kernel. It includes its own Lisp interpreter which is used to
execute the portion of the editor that is written in Lisp.
It is a fairly large program, around 525k on vaxes or 68000s, to
which must be added space for the files you are editing, undo
buffers, Lisp libraries loaded, and Lisp data such as recently
killed text, etc. This is not really a problem on a timeshared
machine because most of that 525k is shared, but on a personal
computer there may be nobody to share with. Thus, GNU Emacs
probably could not be used on an IBM PC clone for lack of memory,
unless you want to implement virtual memory in software within
Emacs itself. Perhaps on an 80286 with 1 meg of memory you can
win using their memory management.
In general, a 32-bit machine with either a meg of real memory
or virtual memory can probably run GNU Emacs, as long as a suitable
Unix system call environment is provided, simulated or imitated.
*end*
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Version 17 of Gnu Emacs comes with its own doctor
* Gnu Emacs version 17 is now available. See the article HOW TO GET
GNU EMACS and our Order Form elsewhere in this bulletin.
* Gnu Emacs 17 works on system V. Even subshells work.
* The online Emacs manual is available through the info command.
* Outline mode now allows the user to selectively hide or display the
subtree of an item.
* TeX and Nroff editing modes have been added.
* C editing mode has been made smarter. It now understands how to indent
else clauses.
* Consistency between modes has been improved by assigning some
commands to different keys.
* Toys. To the disassociated press has been added:
hanoi, the (slightly) animated puzzle solver,
yow, a Zippy saying producer, and
doctor, the infamous psychiatrist.
The folks on net.emacs have sent a suggestion for yowza which lets you
watch the doctor respond to yow.
*end*
H O W T O G E T G N U E M A C S
All software and publications are distributed with a permission to
copy and redistribute. The easiest way to get a copy of GNU Emacs
is from someone else who has it. You need not ask for permission;
just copy it.
If you have access to the Internet, you can get the latest
distribution version of GNU Emacs from host: `prep.ai.mit.edu'
For more info read: `/u2/emacs/GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE' on said host.
If you cannot get a copy in any of these ways, you can order one from
the Free Software Foundation. Please consult the accompanying Order
Form for prices and details.
Although Emacs itself is free, our distribution service is not.
The income from distribution fees goes to support the foundations's
purpose: the development of more free software to distribute just like
GNU Emacs.
Currently, all software is available for UNIX 4.2 BSD on 1600 bpi tar
tape. It runs on VAX computers, as well as several 68XXX and 32XXX
machines. Contact FSF regarding suitability of your computer system.
We encourage porting to other machines.
*end*
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Status of GNU Emacs on Various Machines and Systems.
Systems:
For each type of system, the name of the appropriate s- header file
is given.
Berkeley 4.1 (s-bsd4.1.h)
Some conditionals have been provided for 4.1, but I do not know
for certain that they work as merged in.
Berkeley 4.2 (s-bsd4.2.h) Works on several machines.
Berkeley 4.3 (s-bsd4.3.h) Works, on Vaxes at least.
Ultrix This is another name for Berkeley 4.2.
Uniplus 5.2 (s-unipl5.2.h) Works, on Dual machines at least.
System V rel 0 (s-usg5.0.h) Close to working, on Vaxes.
A couple of bugs remain.
System V rel 2 (s-usg5.2.h)
Works, on Stride, TI/LMI Nu and HP 9000s200 machines; but in each case
the basic system V has been enhanced somewhat. How Emacs works on a
vanilla system V (if you can find one) is not clear.
The s- file for the HP machine is s-hpux.h, not s-usg5.2.h.
System V rel 2.2 (s-usg5.2.2.h)
In 5.2.2 AT&T undid, incompatibly, their previous incompatible
change to the way the nlist library is called. A different s- file
is used to enable the other interface.
Machines:
For each type of machine, the names of the m- and s- header files
are given.
Apollo running Domain (m-apollo.h; s-bsd4.2.h)
Currently has a bug: exhausts pure Lisp code space while building
Emacs. This is probably one trivial error, but someone with an Apollo
will have to find it.
Once that bug is fixed, one problem will remain permanently. It is
impossible to dump Emacs; the standard Lisp code must be loaded each
time Emacs is started. This is a limitation of their operating
system. In other respects the system appears to be Berkeley 4.2, and
Emacs is told that it is running under 4.2.
AT&T 7300 running System V
This port has been done but I have not received the diffs yet.
Celerity
17.36 has been ported, but I have not seen the port yet.
*cont*
5
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Status of GNU Emacs on Various Machines and Systems con't
Dual running System V (m-dual.h; s-usg5.2.h)
As of 17.46, this works except for a few changes
needed in unexec.c.
Dual running Uniplus (m-dual.h; s-unipl5.2.h) Works.
Gould
Previous versions ran into trouble with their failure to support
alloca. Now that there is a portable alloca supplied with Emacs, it
should not be very hard to do this port.
HP 9000s200 (m-hp200.h; s-hpux.h) Works. This machine is a 68020.
Megatest (m-mega68.h; s-bsd4.2.h)
Emacs 15 worked; do not have any reports about Emacs 16 or 17
but any new bugs are probably not difficult.
Nu (TI or LMI) (m-nu.h; s-usg5.2.h) Nearly working; a few bugs remain.
Pyramid (m-pyramid.h; s-bsd4.2.h) Works.
Sequent Balance (m-sequent.h; s-bsd4.2.h)
Emacs 17.48 works in their system version 2.0.
Emacs has not been tried on their system version 1.3.
Stride (m-stride.h; s-usg5.2.h)
Works, though has not been tested for long. Note, however, that this
was on a Unix version not yet released by Stride. It is probably also
possible to run on Stride's 5.1 system but changes in the s- file are
probably needed.
Sun (m-sun.h, m-sun2.h, m-sun3.h; s-bsd4.2.h)
There are three m- files for different models of Sun.
All use Berkeley 4.2. Emacs 17 has run on all of them.
Tahoe (m-tahoe.h; s-bsd4.2.h) Works.
Tektronix(?) 16000 box (m-16000.h; s-bsd4.2.h)
Emacs 15 worked; no reports since then.
Vax running Berkeley Unix (m-vax.h; s-bsd4.1.h or s-bsd4.2.h or s-bsd4.3.h)
Works for certain under 4.2 or 4.3; probably a few bugs to fix
for 4.1. Note tha "ultrix" is essentially 4.2; use s-bsd4.2.h.
Vax running System V rel 0 (m-vax.h; s-usg5.0.h) Still has a couple of bugs.
Vax running VMS Port nearly completed.
*end*
6
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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A Sample .emacs File
; Robert J. Chassell 6 December '85 simplified 9 January '86 Jerome E. Puzo
; This is a sample .emacs file for GNU Emacs on a Vax running BSD 4.2 Unix.
; Lines that begin with a semi-colon are comments not executed by Emacs.
; TEXT MODE AND AUTO-FILL-MODE
; The next two commands put Emacs into text mode and auto-fill-mode
; when Emacs starts. They are designed for writers who want to start
; writing prose rather than code.
; A programmer might want to enter Lisp mode or C mode.
(setq default-major-mode 'text-mode)
(setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
; Sample KEY BINDINGS for a Z-29 terminal
; These functions show how to bind keys to commands.
; The keyboard commands continue to work: for example, you can go
; forward by word either with the right arrow key or with <esc f>.
; If you do not know what meta sequence a function key returns,
; you can use the `describe key' function: type control-h k and then
; the key. Emacs will tell you the meta sequence and any commands
; to which the key is bound.
; note: \e indicates the esc character
(global-set-key "\eT" 'backward-kill-word) ; function key F2
(global-set-key "\eU" 'kill-word) ; function key F3
(global-set-key "\eD" 'backward-word) ; function key left-arrow
(global-set-key "\eC" 'forward-word) ; function key right-arrow
(global-set-key "\eB" 'scroll-up) ; function key up-arrow
(global-set-key "\eA" 'scroll-down) ; function key down-arrow
(global-set-key "\eJ" 'forward-sentence) ; function key erase-key
(global-set-key "\eH" 'backward-sentence) ; function key home-key
(global-set-key "\eP" 'goto-line) ; function key F6
; Example of how to specify control key:
; to redefine control-y to go to the start of the line (like control-a)
; (global-set-key "\C-y" 'beginning-of-line)
; Example of how to cancel a key binding:
; (global-unset-key "\C-y)
; UPDATING EMACS
; After writing a function in your .emacs file, you can send the
; changed information to the rest of emacs by entering meta-control-x .
; This command finds the function around or following the point.
; As soon as you do this, you can begin to use your new function.
*end*
7
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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What is the Free Software Foundation?
by Richard M. Stallman
The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to eliminating restrictions
on copying, redistribution, understanding and modification of software.
The word "free" in our name does not refer to price; it refers to
freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and redistribute it to
your neighbors, so that they can use it as well as you. Second, the
freedom to change a program, so that you can control it instead of it
controlling you; for this, the source code must be made available to
you.
The Foundation works to give you these freedoms by developing free
compatible replacements for proprietary software. Specifically, we
are putting together a complete, integrated software system "GNU" that
is upward-compatible with Unix. When it is released, everyone will be
permitted to copy it and distribute it to others; in addition, it will
be distributed with source code, so you will be able to learn about
operating systems by reading it, to port it to your own machine, to
improve it, and to exchange the changes with others.
There are already organizations that distribute free CPM and MSDOS
software. The Free Software Foundation is doing something different.
1. The other organizations exist primarily for distribution; they
distribute whatever happens to be available. We hope to provide a
complete integrated free system that will eliminate the need for any
proprietary software.
2. One consequence is that we are now interested only in software
that fits well into the context of the GNU system. Distributing
free MSDOS or Macintosh software is a useful activity, but it is
not part of our game plan.
3. Another consequence is that we will actively attempt to improve and
extend the software we distribute, as fast as our manpower permits.
For this reason, we will always be seeking donations of money,
computer equipment or time, labor, and source code to improve the GNU
system.
4. In fact, our primary purpose is this software development effort;
distribution is just an adjunct which also brings in some money. We
think that the users will do most of the distribution on their own,
without needing or wanting our help.
*cont*
8
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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What is the Free Software Foundation? con't
Why a Unix-Like System?
It is necessary to be compatible with some widely used system to give
our system an immediate base of trained users who could switch to it
easily and an immediate base of application software that can run on
it. (Eventually we will provide free replacements for proprietary
application software as well, but that is some years in the future.)
We chose Unix because it is a fairly clean design which is already
known to be portable, yet whose popularity is still rising. The
disadvantages of Unix seem to be things we can fix without removing
what is good in Unix.
Why not imitate MSDOS or CPM? They are more widely used, true, but
they are also very weak systems, designed for tiny machines. Unix is
much more powerful and interesting. When a system takes years to
implement, it is important to write it for the machines that will
become available in the future; not to let it be limited by the
capabilities of the machines that are in widest use at the moment but
will be obsolete when the new system is finished.
Why not aim for a new, more advanced system, such as a Lisp Machine?
Mainly because that is still more of a research effort; there is a
sizeable chance that the wrong choices will be made and the system
will turn out not very good. In addition, such systems are often tied
to special hardware. Being tied to one manufacturer's machine would
make it hard to remain independent of that manufacturer and get broad
community support.
*end*
9
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Gnu Status
by Richard M. Stallman
1. GNU Emacs.
GNU Emacs is in wide use on several kinds of 4.2 systems. Support for
some versions of system V now exists, and VMS support is expected now
in a few weeks. There is now an Info-style reference manual also.
Berkeley is going to include GNU Emacs on the 4.3 distribution, and
DEC has also expressed an interest in distributing it with Unix
systems.
2. gsh, the GNU imitation C shell.
This is being tested at a few sites. Wider distribution is expected
soon.
3. Kernel.
I am planning to use a remote procedure call kernel called TRIX,
developed at MIT, as the GNU kernel. It runs, and supports basic Unix
compatibility, but needs a lot of new features. Its authors have
decided to distribute it free. It was developed on an obscure,
expensive 68000 box designed years ago at MIT.
4. C compiler
Although I have a portable C and Pascal compiler, it has a serious
drawback: it is a very large program, and intrinsically cannot be made
smaller. It is also very hard to bootstrap.
The problem is that most of the compiler is written in Pastel, a
super-hairy extended Pascal, and it is also the sole compiler for that
language. To make it smaller, we must eliminate the hair needed to
compile Pastel; then we will not be able to compile Pastel, so it must
all be rewritten into C.
Len Tower, the sole full-time GNU staff person, is working on this,
with one or two assistants. He can certainly use more, but they must
be in Cambridge or else be able to communicate on the Internet.
5. Documentation system.
I now have a truly compatible pair of programs which can convert a
file of texinfo format documentation into either a printed manual or
an Info file.
Documentation files are needed for many utilities.
*con't*
10
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Gnu's Status Con't
6. Other utilities.
`diff', `tar' and `find' are being written. `ls', with full 4.2 and
system V features, is finished. `make', with full 4.2 features, is
also finished. `lex' is supposedly finished and to be sent soon.
A mostly-machine-independent assembler is mostly finished.
I have started writing a debugger, somewhat along the lines of dbx.
It can now read dbx symbol tables and evaluate C expressions with
respect to a core dump.
7. Free Software Foundation.
This foundation exists for two purposes: to accept gifts to support
GNU development, and to carry out distribution. It was incorporated
at the beginning of October, and we applied for a tax examption in
late December.
Its address is
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1000 Mass Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
and its phone number is (617) 876-3296.
According to our incorporation papers:
"The corporation is formed for literary, educational and charitable
purposes with the special purpose of
i) encouraging, fostering, and promoting the free exchange of computer
software and information related to computers and other technology.
ii) distributing and disseminating software and information related
to computers and other technology; and
iii) increasing the public's access to computers and high technology
devices.
*con't*
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Gnu's Status Con't
8. Service directory.
The foundation now maintains a Service Directory; a list of people who
offer service to individual users of GNU Emacs and, eventually, all
parts of the GNU system. Service can be answering questions for new
users, customizing programs, porting to new systems, or anything else.
9. Porting.
It is too early to inquire about porting GNU (except GNU Emacs).
First, we have to finish it.
10. Possible target machines.
GNU will require a cpu that uses 32-bit addresses and integers and
addresses to the 8-bit byte. 1 meg of core should be enough, though 2
meg would probably make a noticeable improvement in performance.
Running much of the system in 1/2 meg may be possible, but certainly
not GNU Emacs. I do not expect that virtual memory will be required,
but it is VERY desirable in any case.
GNU Emacs requires at least a meg of memory in the system, either
physical or virtual.
A hard disk will be essential; at least 20 meg will be needed to hold
the system plus the source code plus the manual plus swapping space.
Plus more space for the user's files, of course. I'd recommend 80meg
for a personal GNU system.
This is not to say that it will be impossible to adapt some or all of
GNU for other kinds of machines; but it may be difficult, and I don't
consider it part of my job to try to reduce that difficulty.
I have nothing to say about any specific models of microcomputer, as I
do not follow hardware products.
*end*
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Some Arguments for Gnu's Goals
==============================
by Richard. M. Stallman
Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system
software free, just like air.
This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a license.
It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort
will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state
of the art.
Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a
user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them
himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for
him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or
company which owns the sources and is in sole position to make
changes.
Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by
encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could
be installed on the system if its sources were not on public display,
and upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was
very much inspired by this.
Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and
what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
"So, how could programmers make a living?"
There are plenty of ways that programmers could make a living without
selling the right to use a program. This way is customary now because
it brings programmers and businessmen the most money, not because it
is the only way to make a living. It is easy to find other ways if
you want to find them. Here are a number of examples.
A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
operating systems onto the new hardware.
The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also
employ programmers.
People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking
for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
I have met people who are already working this way successfully.
Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A
group would contract with programming companies to write programs that
the group's members would like to use.
*end*
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Wish List
There are various thing which project GNU and the Free Software
Foundation can do with the donation of:
* Money
* A modular, customizable, optimizing, free or public domain C compiler
with source.
* Money. Salary for two more full time programers.
* Equipment to keep them busy on. Or a 68xxx or 32xxx based system
with one meg or more of memory and 80meg of disk storage would
do.
* Money
* Office space of our own.
* Money
* Dedicated people, with C and Unix knowledge, especially those with
a local (Cambridge and surrounds) address. We have utilities for
programmers to program. We have documentation for dedicated people to
write.
* Money
*end*
14
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Free Software Foundation Order Form
February 6, 1986
All software and publications are distributed with a permission to
copy and redistribute.
Quantity Price Item
________ $150 GNU Emacs source code, on a 1600bpi industry standard
mag tape in tar format. The tape also contains
MIT Scheme (a dialect of Lisp), hack (a rogue-like game)
and bison (a compatible replacement for yacc).
________ $15 GNU Emacs manual. This includes a reference card.
Thus, a tape and one manual come to $165.
________ $60 Box of six GNU Emacs manuals, shipped book rate.
________ $1 GNU Emacs reference card. Or:
________ $6 One dozen GNU Emacs reference cards.
Shipping outside North America is normally by surface mail. For air
mail delivery, please add $15 per tape or manual, $1 for an individual
reference card, or 50 cents per card in quantity twelve or more.
Prices are subject to change without notice. Massachusetts residents
please add 5% sales tax to all prices.
________ Total paid
Orders are filled upon receipt of check or money order. We do not have
the staff to handle the billing of unpaid orders. Please help keep
our lives simple by including your payment with your order.
Make checks payable to Free Software Foundation. Mail orders to:
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1000 Mass Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
All software from the Free Software Foundation is provided on an "as
is" basis, with no warranty of any kind.
15
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February 1986 G N U ' S B U L L E T I N Volume 1 No.1
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Thank Gnus
The Free Software Foundation would like to send special thank gnus to
the following:
Thanks to Micheal Zelyony. Mike answered the mail and sent out manuals
and publicity for the FSF from September to November of 1985. As the
one who has taken over his job I can appreciate the size of his
contribution.
Thanks to Ed Zimmer. Ed's philanthropy has given the FSF the salary
for one full time programmer.
Thanks to Lisp Machine, Inc. LMI has generously provided office space,
computer resources and a mailing address for FSF.
Thanks to Jerry Pournelle. Jerry mentioned us in his BYTE column.
We have received over one hundred responses so far. Ninety percent of
Jerry's readers take what he says literally. One or two single dollar
bills seem to fall out of each letter I open.
Thanks to all those who have contributed source code.
Thanks to those who sent money and offered help. Thanks also to those
who support us by ordering Emacs manuals and distribution tapes.
The creation of this bulletin is our way of thanking all who have
expressed interest in what we are doing.
*end*
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Free Software Foundation, Inc. | stamp |
1000 Mass Ave | |
Cambridge, MA 02138 | here |
| |
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