Machine names

Bela, Vampira, Tor and Lyle are actors from the (in)famous movie Plan 9 from Outer Space. Jerq , Blit, Gnot, and Depraz are named after AT&T terminals or accessories inspired by postings to comp.os.plan9:

>Tom Duff 9fans@cse.psu.edu
>Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:03:33 -0800
>
> > There is a *lot* of old computer gear I wish
> > I'd held onto so I could use it now instead of
> > the cruft that has replaced it.
>Yes -- I slavaged a half dozen of the hemispherical
>red Depraz mice used on Jerqs from the trash at
>Bell Labs.  They're the most pleasant mice ever made,
>but are obsolete because they were made before the
>advent of serial mouse interfaces.  A simple PIC
>project ought to bring them back to life...

>Sape Mullender 9fans@cse.psu.edu
>Fri, 15 Dec 2000 12:22:26 -0500
>
>We built a USB interface into a dozen or so Depraz mice.  Works like a charm.
>Must say, though, that the buttons are a lot stiffer than I remembered them.
>
>         Sape

as well as the "history" by Tony Hanson:

Actually, in the beginning was the Jerq, and the Jerq was white with a green face, and Locanthi and Pike looked upon the Jerq and said the Jerq was good. But lo, upon the horizon loomed a mighty management-type person (known now only by the initials VP) who said, the mighty Jerq must stay alone, and could not go forth into the world. So Locanthi and Pike put the Jerq to sleep, cloned its parts, and the Blit was brought forth unto the world. And the Jerq lived the rest of its days in research, but never strayed from those paths.