
Terry Davis, Author of TempleOS, has passed away [unconfirmed, mods please rm] - rjeli
https://twitter.com/cthulhu20234/status/1035682925956788224?s=21
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elorm
Neither the post nor the Album stated appear in her timeline. Are they
private? I'd hate to be the skeptic here, but there's no way I'm believing a
screenshot that appeared on 4chan[0] without verifying first.

[0]
[http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/67398108#p67398129](http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/67398108#p67398129)

~~~
striking
Someone else with a childhood Facebook picture of him claims it's not true.
[http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/67398108#p67399396](http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/67398108#p67399396)

Reverse Image Search has no results.

I don't believe the OP.

~~~
bignibba123
That image doesn't mean anything.

He used to share his personal family pictures a lot back when he was streaming
in the van.

~~~
striking
The image name makes it look like it came from a Facebook CDN.

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LeoPanthera
For those who don't know:

TempleOS (formerly J Operating System, SparrowOS and LoseThos) is a biblical-
themed lightweight operating system created by the American programmer Terry
A. Davis. He developed the system alone over the course of 10 years. It was
designed to be the Third Temple, according to Davis, and uses an interface
similar to a mixture of DOS and Turbo C. Davis describes the operating system
as a modern x86-64 Commodore 64 with a variation of C (named HolyC) in place
of BASIC.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS)

~~~
AceJohnny2
More interestingly, it was 64-bit from the core, and eschewed the use of
traditional MMU in favor of just using the 64-bit address space to separate
process's memory.

Except, Terry Davis became schizophrenic and wouldn't take his meds. He
changed the name of his OS to TempleOS after he decided he was hearing god
through it.

He used to comment here on HN (user "templeos" now deleted apparently), but
his increasingly irrelevant and (literally) insanely racist comments quickly
led him to being shadowbanned.

Vice wrote an article about him:
[https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wnj43x/gods-
lonel...](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wnj43x/gods-lonely-
programmer)

Last we heard a year or so ago, he was homeless in Vegas after getting kicked
out by his parents:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16105043](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16105043)

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
He kept posting on his account after being hellbanned, up to 3 months ago. You
need showdead on.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=TempleOS](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=TempleOS)

~~~
S_A_P
These sorts of things interest me so I went though a few of his posts. It’s
interesting that his “God says” messages are all 32 words long. Makes me
wonder if it’s a cypher, just gibberish or some combination of both.

~~~
Kiro
He generated them in TempleOS. A lot of features in the OS were supposed to be
direct messages from God.

------
shiado
Very few people can say they have built something as interesting as TempleOS.
It was incredibly tragic to watch Terry's condition deteriorate over the
years.

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sunseb
This guy definitely belongs to the hacker community. He was a weirdo, a
misfit, a nerd, like many of us. There is always a thin line between being a
genius and being insane.

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NuSkooler
There's a fairly interesting write up on TempleOS here:
[http://www.codersnotes.com/notes/a-constructive-look-at-
temp...](http://www.codersnotes.com/notes/a-constructive-look-at-templeos/)

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ledriveby
A very bizarre set of reaction tweets, was Terry big among the alt-right/4chan
crowds?

It was very sad to witness his condition deteriorating over the past months.

~~~
moetech
>A very bizarre set of reaction tweets, was Terry big among the alt-
right/4chan crowds?

What makes you say that? And what does the alt-right have to do with 4chan?

~~~
atomicthumbs
>And what does the alt-right have to do with 4chan?

Oof

~~~
prudentbot
Yeah, not sure I really felt old until this moment.

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grawprog
I tried templeOS because it did sound like a fairly cool project or at least
some of the ideas behind it. I was never really able to do much with it though
and I didn't really have the patience to learn all the obscure nonsense built
into it. But I do like the idea of a simple operating system with flat memory
that encourages hacking and playing with it in a way that's not really
possible with most modern operating systems.

I know his behaviour wasn't looked at the best and he generally offended just
about everybody that read the stuff he wrote but, it's kinda funny, when I
first discovered templeOS I was right in the middle of trying to help a fairly
intensely schizophrenic friend of mine get their life together. A lot of stuff
I read about Terry's life and the stuff he did reminded me a lot of the stuff
my friend was going through. Terry seemed like he could have had some
semblance of a reasonable life if he'd gotten the kind of help he needed but
the way he acted seemed to alienate anyone who tried even his family. It's
sad. He really did seem like a genius in a lot of ways. It's too bad he was
totally fucked and never got the help he needed.

~~~
robobro
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum

"Of the dead, speak no evil"

~~~
grawprog
I wasn't trying to speak poorly of him. I'm not very good at wording such
things. Personally, I think it sucks people let the things he said stop them
from doing anything for him. Sometimes all it takes is one person caring and
putting effort in to help someone change their life for the better.

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bifrost
I was very sad to hear about this. Terry always had a special place in my
heart and I'm sad to hear of his passing. I don't think I'll ever forget him.

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holy_c
F

We'll miss watching your live streams Terry. See you on the other side.

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savethefuture
This is terrible news... I'll never forget the glory of TempleOS and holyC.

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esaym
Dang, how do we confirm this?

~~~
dang
We wait for a reliable source.

~~~
endgame
If it is confirmed, can we please black-bar HN? Terry was one-of-a-kind.

~~~
esaym
Thats a good idea.

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Sadkov
Godspeed, Terry! You was crazily talented and I will miss you :'(

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6nf
Wait really? That's extremely sad. I hope this is not true.

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RickSanchez2600
Sad if true, a troll on us if not true.

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tfolbrecht
usermod -a -G Heaven Terry

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robobro
NOOOOOO

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m1573rp34130dy
Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep. I am a
thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow, I am the sun on
ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning’s
hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the
soft star-shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there; I
did not die.

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samiur1204
Genuinely curious about what other people think about this, but why do people
think it's an acceptable excuse for formerly mentally healthy people making
insanely offensive comments after they start suffering from a mental health
issue? I truly feel compassion for those going through mental health issues,
but is it possible that the people who become offensive after becoming
mentally ill always thought these things but just had a filter? Should we
accept that?

~~~
DanBC
> but why do people think it's an acceptable excuse for formerly mentally
> healthy people making insanely offensive comments after they start suffering
> from a mental health issue?

People don't think it's acceptable, which is why he was constantly being
banned from online forums. People think it's understandable because it's a
function of illness, not a core part of his personality.

Please don't lump all mental health "issues" together as you have here.
Schizophrenia is quite different to something like depression. Psychosis does
not "remove the filter" or "reveal the true identity".

Terry was an ill person who was failed by society -- he didn't get the
treatment he needed. We don't need to add to that by blaming him for things
caused by his illness.

