Open-System Fans of the World Unite!

Are you a self confessed, hardcore Unix fan who just has to have your very own copy of the Unix History Diagram? (I see you there behind that screen...)

Do you long to adorn the walls of your lunchroom with it?

Or maybe you're on a mission to paper the panels of your cubicle with many sheets of paper containing cryptic little lines and arrows.
You're in good company.

Then again, it could be as simple as the desire to wrap yourself several times in its informational goodness that documents the history of 1000+ versions of more than 150 different Unixes.

Either way, bigger is definitely better!

Think about it for a moment; how small is the text on that chart when printed on letter sized paper? If you're one of the many who have done just this, you know first hand the pain of paper cuts, ink smears from sweaty hands, and sticky tipped fingers from your time spent playing with Scotch tape - what's worse? The end result of your efforts isn't overly great to look at - in fact it's an ugly mess, even if it does contain some very riveting information :)

That's not to mention how close you have to stand to the wall to actually read it. Unless you own a really big ass magnifying glass your masterpiece of paper and tape will soon be covered in nose prints. Gross!

Break free of that mess!

Printed on 40 feet (12.2m) of weatherproof, crease and tear resistant banner material, I've created a durable, gigantic, talk about it around the water cooler masterpiece of Éric Lévénez's Unix History Chart. More pics here.

Weighing in at a mere 10 pounds (4.5kg), I've combined the usefulness of the original chart with the eye pleasing, original fractal artwork of Alan Tennant. Rendered full-scale at 600 dpi, the image clarity of this banner is insane! See what insane clarity looks like for yourself - click the image above. (And wait...cuz it's a big file and crazy clarity takes time.)

The diagram is available printed on three different materials, in three different sizes: 30" x 40' (0.7m x 12.1m), pictured 24" x 30' (0.6m x 9.1m) 15" x 20' (0.38m x 6.0m) Click thee here for more pics from the photoshoot!

Full Specifications

150+ Main versions of *nix	93 square feet (8.6 square metres) of print
1000+ Sub versions	4.8billion pixels (give or take a few, 600dpi)
Four days to render the fractal (P4-3.0ghz using Ultra-Fractal 5)	Weighs 10lbs (4.5kg)
40 feet x 30 inches (12 metres x 0.7 metres)	Grommetted every 2 feet for easy installation
925mb for the 9 png files used to make up the fractal image	Exports to a 2.6gb EPS v3 file, and generates 6.7gb of raster data
Exporting from Corel Draw takes 40 mins to eps	Full raster generation takes three hours
Each banner takes three hours to plot

How It's Made - Just In Case You Care

Éric has given me exclusive rights to reproduce his diagrams in a commercial format. Each diagram is made to order, by hand, by me. This diagram represents how the project is put together, image built in Gliffy: