By 1983, I had already written my first "systems" documentation, for a desktop server that could run UNIX System III, supported by Mt. Xinu (Unix Tm. spelled backwards). I was asked to write more extensive documentation for a Unix-like system developed for Morrow Designs (later just Morrow), based in the Bay Area. My guess is that this system borrowed heavily from BSD source for commands, but the operating system itself was developed at Morrow by one programmer whose name I don't remember.

Micronix ran on an eight bit system using a Z80 CPU, but in addition to having most of the commands found in early BSD, could also run CP/M commands, as well as handling CP/M formatted floppy disks. This was sort of a boon for me, as it meant I could learn more about UNIX, but still use WordStar to write the documentation.

As I was pretty much self-managed, I thought it would be nice to write a friendly introduction into one day in the life of a system administrator. I wanted to make the job appear as easy as possible, while covering some essential basics. For example, it was expected that the system was turned off every night, after being backed-up to floppy disks. That might sound ridiculous, but since hard drives were pretty small, measured in tens of megabytes, backing up user data really didn't take that long to do. I noticed that the next thing I covered was running fsck, not an easy thing to explain. I probably should have covered adding users next, keeping things simple.

I found my Micronix manual while cleaning out the storage shed. My forward is dated June 30, 1983, which was probably the last thing I wrote. I didn't see a copyright page, but there might be one, as the first two pages are stuck together, and I haven't managed to pry them apart in a way that doesn't destroy them. I hope George's estate will consider this short section fair use.

A Day in the Life of a System Administrator, 1983