{ "version": "1.0.0", "segments": [ { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "0", "endTime": "4.915", "body": "There are plenty of ways to keep track of time, but one of the most fascinating to me" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "4.915", "endTime": "6.223", "body": "is Unix Epoch." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "7.383", "endTime": "13.079", "body": "Now the word epoch itself is often used in astronomy and history to describe a specific" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "13.079", "endTime": "16.18", "body": "moment in time that marks the beginning of a new era." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "16.834", "endTime": "20.145", "body": "Knowing that, the Unix Epoch follows the same idea." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "20.145", "endTime": "24.728", "body": "and a single, specific moment in time as the starting point for its system." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "25.408", "endTime": "29.05", "body": "January 1st, 1970, at midnight UTC." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "29.61", "endTime": "33.432", "body": "From that exact moment, Unix time counts forward in seconds." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "34.132", "endTime": "35.333", "body": "Here's how it works." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "35.613", "endTime": "40.275", "body": "One day after Unix Epoch would be represented as 86,400," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "40.896", "endTime": "43.277", "body": "because that's how many seconds are in one day." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "43.997", "endTime": "53.642", "body": "And right now, as I'm recording this, the Unix timestamp is 1,738,093,237." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "54.322", "endTime": "58.564", "body": "That's the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1st, 1970." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "59.145", "endTime": "64.987", "body": "It's such a cool way to measure time, an exact moment in history, represented as a big string of numbers." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "65.828", "endTime": "68.849", "body": "Now here's what got me into Unix Epoch in the first place." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "68.849", "endTime": "73.191", "body": "I was trying to figure out why a Unix-based computer I was working on" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "73.191", "endTime": "80.615", "body": "displayed the time as December 31st, 1969, at 23.59.59 UTC." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "81.436", "endTime": "86.478", "body": "Turns out, it happens when a computer's internal clock isn't properly initialized." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "87.178", "endTime": "91.901", "body": "For example, if you remove the BIOS battery from the motherboard for too long," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "92.161", "endTime": "94.642", "body": "the clock resets itself to the default state," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "95.022", "endTime": "98.104", "body": "the moment right before the Unix Epoch begins." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "98.864", "endTime": "100.305", "body": "So how is any of this relevant?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "100.805", "endTime": "103.086", "body": "Well, first off, I think it's just cool." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "103.326", "endTime": "106.648", "body": "But as I was digging into this, I noticed something interesting." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "107.468", "endTime": "113.511", "body": "Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, was born on December 28th, 1969." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "114.292", "endTime": "118.594", "body": "Seeing 1969 pop up on Unix machines before made me curious." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "119.034", "endTime": "122.936", "body": "Was there some connection between Linus' birthday and the Unix Epoch?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "123.656", "endTime": "125.237", "body": "Spoiler, there's no connection." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "125.237", "endTime": "131.12", "body": "But it was a fun little coincidence that inspired me to use this as the jumping-off point for this episode." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "131.54", "endTime": "136.002", "body": "A Finnish software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "136.283", "endTime": "138.464", "body": "on this episode of In the Shell." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "140.525", "endTime": "141.085", "body": "Whoa." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "141.625", "endTime": "143.566", "body": "Hey, why we're not shipping Windows 98 now?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "143.566", "endTime": "144.026", "body": "Absolutely." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "144.487", "endTime": "147.128", "body": "Mr. Jobs, you're a bright and influential man." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "147.308", "endTime": "147.888", "body": "Here it comes." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "148.669", "endTime": "153.291", "body": "It's sad and clear that on several accounts you've discussed, you don't know what you're talking about." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "153.291", "endTime": "163.196", "body": "The key to success is developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "163.536", "endTime": "164.997", "body": "Janus and I don't own phones." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "165.377", "endTime": "168.698", "body": "Neither should you people, if you have any kind of common sense." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "170.379", "endTime": "171.66", "body": "Let's start at the beginning." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "172.44", "endTime": "177.363", "body": "Linus Torvalds was born on December 28th, 1969, in Helsinki, Finland." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "177.363", "endTime": "185.567", "body": "His parents, Anna and Niels, were journalists and pretty radical back in their university days during the 1960s." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "186.127", "endTime": "189.349", "body": "His family was part of Finland's Swedish-speaking minority." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "189.769", "endTime": "192.31", "body": "His grandfather was a renowned statistician." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "192.69", "endTime": "193.651", "body": "Another was a poet." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "193.891", "endTime": "196.812", "body": "And his great-grandfather was a journalist and soldier." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "197.313", "endTime": "199.093", "body": "And his name, Linus." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "199.093", "endTime": "206.037", "body": "He said it's partly after Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist, and partly after Linus from Peanuts." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "206.537", "endTime": "209.659", "body": "So, half-genius, half-blanket-carrying cartoon character." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "210.299", "endTime": "210.819", "body": "Classic." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "211.82", "endTime": "213.36", "body": "Now let's talk about computers." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "213.961", "endTime": "219.423", "body": "Linus got his first taste of coding at age 11 when his grandfather introduced him to the VIC-20." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "220.004", "endTime": "224.606", "body": "He started out with BASIC, but it wasn't long before he dove straight into the guts of the machine." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "224.606", "endTime": "229.468", "body": "Working directly with its 6502 CPU, using machine code." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "230.449", "endTime": "232.85", "body": "Later, he picked up a Sinclair QL." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "233.19", "endTime": "235.871", "body": "The QL didn't have much software available in Finland." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "236.172", "endTime": "237.612", "body": "So, what did Linus do?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "237.912", "endTime": "239.213", "body": "He built his own tools." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "239.733", "endTime": "244.956", "body": "He wrote an assembler, an editor, and even a Pac-Man clone that he called Cool Man." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "245.356", "endTime": "249.798", "body": "When most kids were just trying to beat high scores, Linus was building the games himself." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "250.679", "endTime": "256.942", "body": "Fast forward to 1988, and Linus heads off to the University of Helsinki to study computer science." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "257.402", "endTime": "262.004", "body": "He spent the better part of the next eight years there, eventually earning a master's degree." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "262.004", "endTime": "269.566", "body": "but what really set him on the path we all know him for? Two things. First, his textbooks. One of" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "269.566", "endTime": "275.456", "body": "them was Operating Systems, Design, and Implementation by Andrew Tannenbon, which" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "275.456", "endTime": "282.386", "body": "introduced him to Minix, a tiny Unix-based system. Second, a DEC Microvax running Alteryx," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "282.59", "endTime": "288.623", "body": "which gave him his first hands-on experience with Unix. And let's not forget his stint in" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "288.623", "endTime": "295.491", "body": "the Finnish Navy. In 1989, he took a break from university to fulfill Finland's mandatory military" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "295.491", "endTime": "301.239", "body": "service. He enrolled in an officer training program, became a second lieutenant, and served" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "301.239", "endTime": "306.946", "body": "as an artillery observer. Not exactly the kind of experience you'd expect from the guy who would go" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "306.946", "endTime": "314.446", "body": "on to revolutionize the tech world. Let's talk about Linus' personal life. Back in late 1993," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "314.446", "endTime": "317.102", "body": "Linus was running an introductory computer lab course," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "317.243", "endTime": "321.308", "body": "and as part of the exercise, he asked students to send him a test email." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "321.912", "endTime": "324.206", "body": "One of those emails wasn't just a test." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "324.548", "endTime": "329.217", "body": "It was from Tove Mone, a six-time Finnish national karate champion," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "329.74", "endTime": "331.008", "body": "asking him out on a date." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "331.853", "endTime": "333.684", "body": "Bold move, but it paid off." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "334.167", "endTime": "337.145", "body": "The two later got married and now have three daughters." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "337.85", "endTime": "341.452", "body": "Fun fact, the Linux kernel's reboot system call" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "341.452", "endTime": "346.282", "body": "actually accepts their daughter's birthdays in hexadecimal as magic values." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "346.885", "endTime": "350.829", "body": "Only Linus could turn a family milestone into code easter eggs." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "352.379", "endTime": "355.136", "body": "Now Linus doesn't shy away from sharing his views on religion." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "355.961", "endTime": "358.959", "body": "He describes himself as a completely arreligious atheist." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "359.583", "endTime": "360.448", "body": "His take?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "360.69", "endTime": "364.312", "body": "Religion doesn't add to morality or appreciation of nature." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "364.695", "endTime": "366.888", "body": "He thinks it actually distracts from both." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "366.888", "endTime": "372.292", "body": "He's said that people sometimes use religion as an excuse to see creation as miraculous," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "372.893", "endTime": "375.935", "body": "instead of marveling at how things came to be in the first place." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "376.856", "endTime": "383.361", "body": "In Europe, he sees religion as a personal matter, but in the U.S., he's noted how it's become much more political." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "384.122", "endTime": "388.966", "body": "And while Linus doesn't consider himself a Christian, he does live by a couple golden rules." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "389.486", "endTime": "393.189", "body": "One, do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "394.07", "endTime": "395.931", "body": "Two, be proud of what you do." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "397.192", "endTime": "402.897", "body": "In 2004, Linus packed up his family and moved from Silicon Valley to Portland, Oregon." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "403.697", "endTime": "408.161", "body": "By 2010, he'd become a U.S. citizen and even registered to vote." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "408.781", "endTime": "410.563", "body": "His take on American politics?" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "411.123", "endTime": "414.286", "body": "Let's just say he isn't a fan of aligning with any political party." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "414.566", "endTime": "415.747", "body": "In his own words," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "416.147", "endTime": "419.33", "body": "I have way too much personal pride to want to be associated with him." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "419.33", "endTime": "425.329", "body": "with any of them. But Linus isn't all about computers and big ideas. He's also got a hobby." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "425.941", "endTime": "432.899", "body": "In the early 2000s, he got hooked on scuba diving. Not one to just dabble, he dove all in" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "433.43", "endTime": "440.102", "body": "and earned a bunch of certifications. Naturally, he didn't stop there. He went on to create the" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "440.102", "endTime": "446.877", "body": "Subsurface project, which is a dive log software tool. But with diving out of the way, let's dive" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "446.877", "endTime": "451.938", "body": "into Linus' role in creating the Linux kernel, because this is where he leaves his biggest" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "451.938", "endTime": "459.1", "body": "mark on the tech world. Back in late 1991, Linus released the first Linux prototypes online" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "459.1", "endTime": "465.303", "body": "from an FTP server at his university. Here's an excerpt from the message he sent on the mailing" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "465.303", "endTime": "471.772", "body": "list announcing it. Hello everybody out there using Minix. I'm doing a free operating system." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "471.772", "endTime": "478.031", "body": "Bobby won't be big and professional like GNU, for 386-486-AT clones." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "478.833", "endTime": "482.364", "body": "This has been brewing since April, and it's starting to get ready." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "482.725", "endTime": "487.219", "body": "I'd like any feedback on things people like-slash-dislike in Minix," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "487.5", "endTime": "492.074", "body": "as my OS resembles its somewhat same physical layout of the file system," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "492.375", "endTime": "494.903", "body": "due to practical reasons, among other things." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "496.047", "endTime": "502.145", "body": "It was a modest start, but by March 14th, 1994, version 1 of Linux was ready," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "502.908", "endTime": "505.054", "body": "and that's when things really started to take off." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "505.857", "endTime": "509.087", "body": "Linus first encountered the GNU project in 1991," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "509.488", "endTime": "514.383", "body": "when a fellow student took him to hear Richard Stallman speak about free software." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "515.226", "endTime": "517.834", "body": "Stallman's ideas, and a little push from contributors," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "518.576", "endTime": "521.024", "body": "convinced Linus to change Linux' original license," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "521.024", "endTime": "524.213", "body": "which banned commercial use, to the GNU." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "524.213", "endTime": "531.279", "body": "General Public License GPLv2. This was a game changer, ensuring that Linux would stay free" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "531.279", "endTime": "538.085", "body": "and open source for everyone. By 1997, Linus had moved to California to work at Transmeta," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "538.245", "endTime": "545.25", "body": "where he stayed until 2003. After that, he joined the Open Source Development Labs, OSDL." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "545.651", "endTime": "552.576", "body": "This move also brought his family to Dunthrope, Oregon in 2004 to be closer to OSDL's headquarters" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "552.576", "endTime": "561.323", "body": "in Beaverton. Between 1997 and 1999, Linus contributed to 86Open, helping to decide the" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "561.323", "endTime": "567.648", "body": "standard binary format for Linux and Unix. Around this time, he started getting recognition for his" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "567.648", "endTime": "576.655", "body": "work. In 1999, he was named one of MIT Technology Review's Top 100 Innovators Under 35. And that's" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "576.655", "endTime": "584.241", "body": "Same year, companies like Red Hat and VA Linux, both leaders in Linux development, gave him stock options as a thank you." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "585.122", "endTime": "589.486", "body": "Today, Linux is one of the most popular operating systems in the world." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "589.986", "endTime": "598.453", "body": "Even if you don't use it directly, chances are the websites, apps, and services you rely on every day run on Linux-powered servers." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "599.153", "endTime": "600.895", "body": "Now let's talk about the mascot." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "601.455", "endTime": "607.48", "body": "Tux the penguin became the official mascot of Linux, and as no coincidence, Linus loves penguins." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "607.96", "endTime": "616.607", "body": "The story goes that during a visit to a zoo in Australia, Linus was bitten by a little penguin, and instead of being annoyed, he found it hilarious." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "617.148", "endTime": "623.072", "body": "This quirky incident, combined with his fondness for penguins, led to Tux becoming the face of Linux." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "623.893", "endTime": "625.574", "body": "But here's the thing about Linus." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "625.794", "endTime": "629.097", "body": "While he's a huge advocate for open source, he's also..." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "629.097", "endTime": "634.855", "body": "practical. He said that he uses the best tool for the job, even if that means proprietary software." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "635.457", "endTime": "641.656", "body": "Case in point, he was criticized for using BitKeeper, a proprietary version control tool," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "642.117", "endTime": "647.434", "body": "during Linux development. The backlash didn't stop him, though in true Linus fashion," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "647.715", "endTime": "654.395", "body": "he created his own free alternative, Git. Yes, the same Git that powers sites like GitHub and" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "654.395", "endTime": "659.29", "body": "GitLab today. Before making this episode, I had no clue that he was the creator." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "660.133", "endTime": "665.79", "body": "Over the years, Linus has made some software decisions that reflect his no-nonsense approach." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "666.172", "endTime": "671.548", "body": "He used Fedora Linux for a while because of its solid support for PowerPC processors," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "671.849", "endTime": "679.252", "body": "and briefly switched to XFCE after finding GNOME 3.0 too frustrating. He eventually went back to" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "679.252", "endTime": "681.539", "body": "GNOME, noting that the extensions made it usable." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "681.539", "endTime": "688.485", "body": "again. Even though he's a brilliant developer, Linus has a reputation for being blunt. He's had" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "688.485", "endTime": "693.949", "body": "his fair share of disagreements with developers on the Linux kernel mailing list. He once called" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "693.949", "endTime": "699.733", "body": "himself a really unpleasant person and admitted, I'd like to be nicer, but it's just not in me." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "700.294", "endTime": "706.919", "body": "His attitude has drawn criticism, but in 2018, Linus acknowledged the problem. He apologized" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "706.919", "endTime": "712.984", "body": "for his behavior and took a brief break to work on improving how he communicates. Since then," }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "713.244", "endTime": "717.908", "body": "he's made an effort to rein in the personal attacks and focus on constructive criticism." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "718.548", "endTime": "726.074", "body": "One infamous moment, in 2012, during a talk at Aalto University, Linus didn't hold back when" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "726.074", "endTime": "731.659", "body": "discussing NVIDIA, calling it the single worst company he dealt with in Linux development." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "732.059", "endTime": "733.981", "body": "That NVIDIA has been one of..." }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "733.981", "endTime": "739.285", "body": "the worst trouble spot we've had with hardware manufacturers and that is really sad because" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "739.285", "endTime": "746.591", "body": "nvidia tries to sell chips a lot of chips into the android market and nvidia has been the single" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "746.591", "endTime": "757.199", "body": "worst company we've ever dealt with so nvidia you as of now linus works full time on linux" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "757.199", "endTime": "762.263", "body": "thanks to a sponsorship from the linux foundation and even though he no longer writes much code" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "762.263", "endTime": "768.088", "body": "himself only about two percent of the linux kernel is his which is still way more than anyone else" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "768.088", "endTime": "774.733", "body": "he still has the final say on what gets included and finally a fun little detail about the name" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "774.733", "endTime": "781.819", "body": "linux linus originally wanted to call it freaks spelled with an x a mix of free and freak and the" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "781.819", "endTime": "786.423", "body": "x from unix but when his friend ari lemke set up the ftp server" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "786.423", "endTime": "793.883", "body": "for the project he decided to call the directory in linux instead the name stuck and the rest is" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "793.883", "endTime": "806.213", "body": "history and the shell was written researched and recorded by me in bash if you are listening to" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "806.213", "endTime": "813.05", "body": "this in an app that lets you rate shows please take a minute to rate this one if you don't want" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "813.05", "endTime": "822.238", "body": "to rate the show and that is really sad you just kidding that's it take care" }, { "speaker": "Josh", "startTime": "822.766", "endTime": "824.133", "body": "and i'll see you next time" } ] }