Live site: unixmagic.net
A Hugo pipeline that catalogues and annotates every reference on the classic USENIX UNIX Magic poster. The goal is a structured way to explore and understand each element of the poster — part reference, part love letter to early Unix.
The UNIX Magic poster was created by Gary Overacre and published by UniTech Software, Inc. in the 1980s.
- 📋 Marker list issue.
- Hacker News discussion (2025).
- Hacker News discussion (2025, part 2).
- Hacker News discussion (2021).
- Jan-Piet Mens blog post.
Contributions welcome. When adding an annotation, remember this is a chance to dig into the history behind what you're describing. Share what the component means to you, but also frame the explanation in the context of Unix's early days: how did this functionality compare to other systems at the time? What made it special? This project isn't just about explaining what things are, but why they mattered — technically and culturally.
Below: the original poster, and a custom puzzle drio had made featuring the poster's artwork.
Gary also made two other posters that never quite landed the same way. I prefer "UNIX Magic", but here they are.
