Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!iconsys!caeco!dave From: dave@hera.scs.com (Dave Holcomb) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: RE: 'foo bar' <- What's the meaning of? Message-ID: Date: 14 Aug 90 16:33:51 GMT Sender: Unknown@caeco.UUCP Distribution: comp Organization: none Lines: 22 In addition to the military reference to an items state of repair, my VAX HARDWARE HANDBOOK (1982-1983), on page 293, discusses the Failed UNIBUS Address Registers (FUBAR): (I quote) The FUBAR contains the upper 16 bits of the UNIBUS address translated from an SBI address during a previous software-initiated data transfer. The occurrence of either of two errors indicated in the status register will lock the FUBAR: UNIBUS Select Time Out (UBSTO) and UNIBUS Slave Sync Time OUT (UBSSYNTO). When the error bit is cleared the register will be unlocked. Obviously, the original purveyors of "foo bar" (i.e. the original BSD UNIX crew) saw the reference in the VAX manual; saw that the DEC VAX designers had had a "field-day" when they designed the hardware [and laughed even harder when the DEC censors blindly accepted the register "designation"], and "ran" with the joke. -- Dave Holcomb, Mentor Graphics, Silicon Design Division (formerly SCS/CAECO) 5295 South 300 West Suite 300 Murray, UT 84107-4763 USA (801)265-8007 caeco!dave@cs.utah.edu