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AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video] (1982)

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Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

Top comments

Submitted like 30 times but mostly with no comments, except in 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7830478

dang·105-point thread·

RIP Dennis Ritchie. We all owe a great debt to you. Heck, here I sit typing this in Firefox, written in C++, a derivative of C, on OS X, a derivative of the UNIX system. I have a Terminal open with which I am compiling PHP, written in C. His works are still relevant to today's world beyond the grave.

watching this is like seeing the founding fathers casually chat, everything we build today still stands on what these guys sketched out in Bell Labs

Kernighan, Ritchie, Thompson, Aho, Johnson, and other seminal figures at Bell Labs explain why they invented Unix. If I had watched this classic film in 1982, it might have altered the direction of my work in software development.

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

HN stats

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
418

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
80

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2012-03-24From the AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System (Video)shimon_e40
2012-07-02AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System ciderpunx20
2012-07-06Beards, terminals and big keyboardsnrcha10
2012-07-16AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System hypervisor50
2012-09-06AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]friism50
2013-02-10AT&T video from 1982 about Unixbpedro50
2013-02-141982 The Unix System: Making Computers More Productivetambourine_man10
2013-07-01AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [1982]wallflower20
2013-07-01Bell Labs: The Unix OS - Thompson, Ritchie, Kernighan, Aho, and MoreOmni5cience20
2013-10-07AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]petercooper30
2014-01-02AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System (1982 Video)asaikali50
2014-02-171982 Bell Labs Film: Ritchie, Thompson explain the Unix Operating SystemForHackernews20
2014-05-30The Unix operating systematilev40
2014-06-01AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemyror106321
2014-08-24AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemgauthamshankar20
2014-10-29AT&T Archives: the Unix operating systemjgamman20
2014-12-16The Unix System: Making Computers More Productive (1982)Jonhoo20
2015-03-28AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemdethi20
2015-04-22AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System (1982) [video]skeuomorf10
2016-06-13AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]evanb20
2016-10-03AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemsigna1121
2017-03-23AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]basename10
2018-04-11AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemsyadegari30
2018-04-13AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemrailshand20
2018-05-23AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemuceuceuce10
2018-06-14AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System (1982)qz_20
2018-11-12AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]darshan10
2019-01-02AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemghouse20
2019-04-02The Unix Operating SystemCoolGuySteve50
2019-05-24AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemtangue20
2020-01-01AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]colund10
2020-02-12The Unix Operating System (1982)sremani20
2020-02-24The Unix System: Making Computers More Productive (1982)kesor10
2020-03-08AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemsajid20
2020-03-09AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systempabo10
2020-03-23AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemtomerbd10
2020-03-26The Unix Operating System (1982)phlhar20
2020-04-22AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating Systemkediz20
2020-04-25The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productivetzury20
2020-05-28The Unix Operating System (1982) [video]First breakoutotagekki10529
2020-05-29AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System (Video)basicplus210
2021-08-28AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video] (1982)Best thread · Latest 20+ point returnneilpanchal14328
2022-12-28The Unix Operating System (1982) [video]spinlock_10
2023-04-13AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]nixcraft10
2023-06-22AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System (1982) [video]cocacola110
2023-10-11AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]malingo40
2023-12-26AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]jfoucher20
2024-04-01AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]hendler10
2025-08-22AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]thunderbong20
2025-11-17AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System [video]akagusu40
2026-01-21AT&T Archives: The Unix Operating System (1972) [video]vismit200010
2026-03-13Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson And others on the Unix system [video]tzury21