FACTOID # 33: Kenyan women work 35% longer than their menfolk.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

FACTS & STATISTICS    Simple view

  1. Select countries to view: (hold down Control key and click to select several)

     

     

    Compare:

     

     
  1. Select fact or statistic: (* = graphable)

     

     

     

  2. (OPTIONAL) Compare to statistic: (both need to be graphable)

     

     

     

  3. View result as:

     

       
(OR) SEARCH ALL encyclopedia, stats & forums:   

Encyclopedia > Wheel warring

For information on wheel warring regarding Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Wheel war


A wheel war is a contest between privileged users on a shared, on-line computer system, in which each user discovers or invents ways to interfere with others' use of the system. Though generally done as a practical joke or a way of blowing off some steam, such warring can also be the result of serious administrative disagreements. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...


Origin of term

The term originates in the TENEX operating system, which became more widely distributed under the name TOPS-20 in the 1960s and early 1970s: WHEEL describes a level of user capabilities greater than that of OPERATOR. The name was most likely chosen because a wheel was among the earliest tools for getting things done, and "big wheel" denoted an important person in the vernacular.[1] The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC - the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10 - preferred by most PDP-10 hackers over TOPS-10 (that is, by those who were not ITS or WAITS partisans). ... An operating system (OS) is a computer program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC was the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... A driving wheel on a steam locomotive. ...


Because of the movement of operating system developers and users from TENEX/TOPS-20 to Unix, the term was likewise adopted by the Unix community. In many Unix systems, the su command could be used to gain superuser access to a machine. Fearing misuse, some system administrators only allowed users in a certain group to use su; this group was frequently referred to as "wheel", which similarly indicated a level of trust greater than that of a system operator. Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy. ... The Unix su (subsitute user) command is used to assume the login shell of another user without logging out. ... On many computer operating systems, superuser is the term used for the special user account that is controlled by the system administrator. ... In Unix-like systems, multiple users can be combined to form groups. ... A SysOp is short for system operator, and is a commonly used term for the administrator of a bulletin board system (BBS) or special-interest area of an online service or, historically, the operators of any computer system, especially a mainframe computer. ...


GNU su does not support "wheel", primarily for such philosophical reasons [2]. GNU (pronounced ) is a free operating system consisting of a kernel, libraries, system utilities, compilers, and end-user applications. ...


References

  1. ^ BigWheel in TheFreeDictionary
  2. ^ 22.5 su: Run a command with substitute user and group id in the GNU Core-utils manual

  Results from FactBites:
 
Wheel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1196 words)
The wheel reached Europe in the 4th millennium, and India with the Indus Valley Civilization in the 3rd millennium.
In China, the wheel is certainly present with the adoption of the chariot in ca.
The invention of the wheel turned out to be of great importance not only as a transportation device, but for the development of technology in general, important applications including the water wheel, the cogwheel (see also antikythera mechanism), the spinning wheel, the astrolabe or torquetum.
Wheel war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (265 words)
A wheel war is a contest between privileged users on a shared, on-line computer system, in which each user discovers or invents ways to interfere with the other's use of the system.
Though generally done as a practical joke or a way of blowing off some steam, such warring can also be the result of serious administrative disagreements.
The name was most likely chosen because a wheel was among the earliest tools for getting things done, and "big wheel" denoted an important person in the vernacular of the time.
  More results at FactBites »


 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:
 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.