There are a lot of complications with the story. The thesis was typed in January 1968 which was before Multics became operational, before PDP-11s. Neither Ken

There are a lot of complications with the story. The thesis was typed in January 1968 which was before Multics became operational, before PDP-11s. Neither Ken Thompson nor Doug McIlroy (nor Brian Kernighan), remember Dennis ever talking about working on his thesis... and people who know Selectrics and 2741 Terminals say that the machines were not set up to automatically type what appears in the dmr thesis, there had to be hand adjustments. You worked at the Labs during this period? Can you write me at billr@thinkfun.com ? Great link to reference paper!