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JdeBP
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This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
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Feb 12, 2026
@kaveman@mastodon.bsd.cafe
Yes. I was mentioning this to
@cks@mastodon.social the other day.
https://tty0.social/@JdeBP/116030855863806427
I think that it came out in the early 1990s. The copyright dates in the source uniformly say 1983, which would make OpenWatcom vi the earliest vi clone on record (pre-dating #STEVIE by 4 years).
However, they say this uniformly, even for its OS/2 and Windows NT parts, which couldn't have existed in 1983. And 1983 pre-dates even Waterloo C. So I suspect some Sybase lawyer has lied in these copyright declarations.
Watcom had a non-vi multi-window and menus TUI editor for DOS named wbed.exe at one point.
#Watcom #OpenWatcom #vi #retrocomputing #ComputerHistory
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
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Feb 12, 2026
@gumnos@mastodon.bsd.cafe
I mentioned Guckes's list not having Heirloom vi in that other thread.
I haven't thought about these in years, and they are an understandable additional blind spot in Guckes's list; but the MKS Toolkit had a vi, as did Interix.
https://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/man1/vi.1.asp
The :open test indicates that vi in the MKS Toolkit was actual Joy+Horton vi.
#Interix (at least according to an old Scott Mueller book) had both vi and nvi, so I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to have been Bostic #nvi by two names.
As I recall, Central Point PC Tools, the Norton Utilities, and the Graham Utilities had text editors of varying degrees but did not have vi.
@cks@mastodon.social
#vi #ComputerHistory #retrocomputing
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This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
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Feb 12, 2026
@cks@mastodon.social
OpenWatcom vi is source available.
https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116052015020764901
Ritter's Heirloom #vi is in #FreeBSD ports today, coming from the same place that it has for a long time.
https://freshports.org/editors/2bsd-vi/
It was dropped from #ArchLinux because it did not compile and hadn't changed in 20 years. Ironically, this is because the (GNU) C language had changed, and it has to nowadays be compiled forcing an older GNU C language version.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2285124#p2285124
Several people have independently discovered the Makefile patch that gets it to build on #Debian and the like.
https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=629775
https://gist.github.com/cwfoo/01abac5c39f398b7e7b16a2b87aa518b
#elvis, the precursor to #nvi, is packaged for both #NetBSD/#pkgsrc and #OpenBSD.
https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/current/pkgsrc/editors/elvis/index.html
https://github.com/openbsd/ports/tree/master/editors/elvis
#retrocomputing #ComputerHistory #Watcom #OpenWatcom
Quoting
JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
On #Illumos, Jov vi is in /usr/src/cmd/vi:
https://github.com/illumos/illumos-gate/tree/master/usr/src/cmd/vi
On #OpenBSD, Bostic #nvi is in /usr/src/usr.bin/vi/vi; #NetBSD having it in /usr/src/external/bsd/nvi; and #FreeBSD in /usr/src/contrib/nvi:
https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/tree/main/contrib/nvi
FreeBSD has an nvi2 in ports:
https://freshports.org/editors/nvi2/
OpenBSD has elvis in ports:
https://github.com/openbsd/ports/blob/master/editors/elvis/pkg/DESCR
Ritter's Heirloom vi is on SourceForge:
https://ex-vi.sourceforge.net
STEVIE was posted to comp.sources.unix in 1988:
https://sources.vsta.org/comp.sources.unix/volume15/stevie/
Unfortunately, Sven Guckes's vi Clones WWW site was never completed with some of this, notably lacking Heirloom vi, for example.
https://guckes.net/vi/clones.html
But it does mention oft-overlooked commercial clones such as Watcom's vi, a from-scratch implementation started in 1983 that is also now source-available:
https://github.com/open-watcom/owp4v1copy/tree/master/bld/vi
#vi #retrocomputing #ComputerHistory #STEVIE #elvis #VIM #NeoVIM #Watcom #OpenWatcom
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This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
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Feb 11, 2026
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People waxing lyrical about using 'original vi', both nowadays in 2026 and back in 2006, haven't a clue what that is. There's only one family of operating systems where 'vi' will actually run the orig
JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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JdeBP
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
This is a general, but non-politics, account covering everything from computer programming to supermarket meal deals; any politics will be taken up by @ JdeBP . For # senryu and # SlowLife tasks, see @ JdeBP . For the command-line and system tools (including # nosh and # djbwares ), specifically, see @ JdeBP .
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@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk
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Feb 11, 2026
