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TempleOS | Down the Rabbit Hole

Fredrik Knudsen

1.3M subscribers • 1 video on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 8 people: 7 on Hacker News and 1 on Lobsters.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2018 to 2022.
  • Presented by Fredrik Knudsen

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

7.8M views7 years ago8 recommendations

Systems programmingHistory and cultureOperating systemsHistory of computing

Fredrik Knudsen presents a detailed documentary on the life of Terry A. Davis, his struggles with schizophrenia, and his creation of TempleOS.

In the late 2000s, a man begins relentlessly sharing his custom operating system, but when people take notice of the man's strange behavior, they become witness to the degradation of his mental state. Twitter: twitter.com/FredInTheKnud Patreon: patreon.com/fredrikknudsen Video at by FkeBld: youtube.com/watch?v=orgXI1McxL4 Intro: LoseThos: Terry's Efforts Escalate: Newfound Interest: Messages from God: TempleOS: Terry's Lucidity Wanes: God's Lonely Programmer: "He's Even More Hilarious Now": Terry is Arrested: The End:

Why it's here

8 people recommend this

What people say. Engineers recommend this documentary as the definitive and deeply moving account of Terry A. Davis and the creation of TempleOS.

itistodayon Lobsters • Recommends

TempleOS | Down the Rabbit Hole
12View on Lobsters

sas41on Hacker News • Recommends

On “TempleOS: – God, the Random Number Generator”

Here is a great video on TempleOS and Terry Davis himself. It talks about the development of the OS, it's history and his life in a chronological order. link to this video
View on Hacker News

Rendelloon Hacker News • Recommends

On “TinkerOS: A Fork of TempleOS”

(Context, the late creator of the original TempleOS, Terry Davis, was very schizophrenic.) This video is the definitive rundown on his life and illness: link to this video Terry Davis, in life and online, was completely wild. What's interesting though is that when you play in TempleOS for a little while, it's easy to forget that. The OS is religious and super idiosyncratic, but that nasty, manic, hateful, attitude isn't there (with few exceptions). And the code and docs are damn good. I think Terry tried hard to keep the actual OS and documentation "pure", in a way. I think digging in and working on extremely complex C code was a regulating force that calmed him, in the exact opposite way that being je…
View on Hacker News

beezischillinon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Troubled legacy of Terry Davis, ‘God’s lonely programmer’”

There's a long video about Terry and TempleOS by YouTube creator Fredrik Knudsen, link to this video It's pretty heart-breaking to watch, though. Had he not drawn the short straw, he could've gone down as a legend. He built his own home-made CNC milling machine in the 90s. Who knows what he could've accomplished? Rest in peace, Terry. May the Internet never forget your struggle.
View on Hacker News

kuroguroon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Show HN: The operating system I built as my high school project (2016)”

The author had some... memorable quotes. It was a reference to his most infamous post. I assumed the OP knew about the author's past and wasn't asking for a genuine comparison. Tho looking back I'm not so sure. For the brave of heart (NSFW): link to this video Won't make much sense out of context. The video does a pretty good job of explaining the whole story if you have time.
View on Hacker News

jszymborskion Hacker News • Recommends

On “TempleOS: Installation”

…centric and strange life because of the internet. It also ended it. I hope the internet can heal... I know people like you and I hope it can. It didn't here. If you want to learn more about Terry's life and death, please check out Fredrick Knudsen's video essay. It is in-depth and important, although very challenging because of the subject matter. link to this video Finally, if you feel like you or someone you care for are in crisis, or might be soon, consider speaking to the folks at NAMI in the US. If you're not in the US, they can direct you to people in your country. 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org…
View on Hacker News

lethologicaon Hacker News • Recommends

On “The Digital Human – Terry A. Davis and Temple OS”

There's another (lengthy) video that I watched on Terry and TempleOS recently here 1 which was quite good. Honestly, it's such a tragic story. The guy was clearly talented but wasn't able to ever get the help needed in order to properly harness that talent. 1 link to this video
View on Hacker News

Rendelloon Hacker News • Recommends

On “The best things and stuff of 2020”

…the source code is included in the operating system (since everything except the boot code is JIT), and if you ever want to develop inside TempleOS, you'll be referring to it a whole lot I can tell you that :D (Terry Davis mirrored the OS online with a DolDoc -> HTML tool, you can browse the source code / system files on the archived site 2) 1. link to this video 2. link…
View on Hacker News

qzx_pierrion Hacker News • Recommends

On “NSA urges orgs to use memory-safe programming languages”

TempleOS was an OS created by a genius programmer named Terry. Also, I very rarely use the word genius, but he was a genius by definition. He was extremely mentally ill, but his brilliance lives on through TempleOS (and HolyC). Check out this Down the Rabbit Hole video about him. link to this video
View on Hacker News

tlrobinsonon Hacker News • Mentions

On “TempleOS: Installation”

Several interesting videos have been made about TempleOS and Terry's life since he passed away last year: link (12 minutes) link to this video (1.5 hours)
View on Hacker News

u/adamthekiwiin r/ProgrammingLanguages • Mentions

On “🌱The Sage Programming Language🌿”

Thanks for checking out the blog post :) He was a bit of an inspiration of mine when I was in highschool -- this video helped get me interested in writing compilers! RIP King Terry :(
1View on Reddit