*nix Genealogy

*nix Genealogy, is a performance by a Dell Mini 9 “hackintosh” laptop computer, that recites the genealogy of the operating system it is currently running, using language typical of Old Testament Biblical genealogies. It starts in 1969, with UNICS, from AT&T Bell Labs, and traces it all the way to Mac OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard, which the machine is running. The script is written and fed into a program written in Processing that is then translated into speech using the RiTA text to speech library, Java TTS, and Mac TTS. This is the first iteration of the project.

*nix Genealogy, was created for the “1969″ show curated by Vincent Ramos, on December 5, 2009, at Dan Graham. “’1969′ is a show of performance-based works that respond to the key events of 1969 and/or uses them as a catalyst for commenting on our current state of affairs in this country and abroad.”