[HN Gopher] Ghosts in the ROM (2012)
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       Ghosts in the ROM (2012)
        
       Author : gelstudios
       Score  : 128 points
       Date   : 2024-06-26 12:15 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nycresistor.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nycresistor.com)
        
       | whoopdedo wrote:
       | The resource type 'SERD' is a driver for the SCC IO processor.
       | 
       | https://archive.org/details/SWIMDesignDocs/IOP%20serial%20dr...
        
       | jMyles wrote:
       | So uhhh... does anyone know all the people? I'd love to know each
       | person's nane.
        
         | officeplant wrote:
         | Some links in the comments from ex-engineers and people who
         | knew about the easter egg apparently documented for over a
         | decade when this was published.
         | 
         | >https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/08/21/ghosts-in-the-
         | rom/com...
         | 
         | >https://discussions.apple.com/thread/122367?sortBy=best
        
       | grvbck wrote:
       | This brings back fond memories of the various Blue Meanies easter
       | eggs in System 7.0.1 on my first Mac (actually my dad's LC).
       | 
       | "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software
       | factory!"
        
         | 082349872349872 wrote:
         | !re2word dew a ni beno2irqmi need ev'I !qleH
        
       | MontagFTB wrote:
       | Lots of great 90s Apple Easter Eggs are listed here (the PDF):
       | https://www.macintoshrepository.org/226-apple-easter-eggs
       | 
       | My favorite one is the story of an engineer who hid an image of
       | Paula Abdul on a CD-ROM (another version I heard was a ROM chip)
       | without anyone's knowledge. When the image was finally discovered
       | production had already begun, making for a very expensive Easter
       | egg to remove.
        
         | kevindamm wrote:
         | I think perhaps the best side effect of the OSS movement is
         | that software developers now are more likely to consider the
         | impact of licensing.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Discussed at the time (of the article):
       | 
       |  _Ghosts in the rom_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416032 - Aug 2012 (22
       | comments)
        
       | joezydeco wrote:
       | I always got a chuckle out of the guy in sunglasses in the second
       | image. It looks like it was hand-edited to make the shades
       | completely black.
        
       | sircastor wrote:
       | I don't remember how I learned it, but back when my family had a
       | IIci I remember there was a startup key command you could press
       | to display an image of the developers in the ROM. I kind of miss
       | the days when that sort of thing was done.
        
         | wkjagt wrote:
         | Computers were still something special back then. I miss that
         | too.
        
         | wslh wrote:
         | In the Commodore Amiga you can turn off and on the power light.
         | Weird for these times.
        
           | kevindamm wrote:
           | On the Sega Master System there was an entire game in the ROM
           | -- Snail Maze (the walls and floor reminiscent of the
           | company's logo). Pressing up-left and both buttons while
           | turning on the console with no cartridge in the slot would
           | start the game.
        
         | spogbiper wrote:
         | similar on my childhood radio shack computer -
         | https://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/CoCo3_Easter_Egg
        
           | ASalazarMX wrote:
           | As a kid I didn't have Internet yet, but somehow had a CoCo3.
           | Many times I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Reset and wondered what was the
           | purpose of this image, I even made a BASIC program to dump it
           | on tape from the ROM. Didn't learn the answer to that mystery
           | for many years.
        
       | kalleboo wrote:
       | I checked out the comments where some of the original engineers
       | who put this into the ROM commented. Right smack in the middle is
       | a comment from Terry A Davis as well. Damn.
        
         | HeckFeck wrote:
         | Surreal indeed. Here he is:
         | https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/08/21/ghosts-in-the-rom/com...
         | 
         | As early as 2012 he was sharing the gospel of what was to
         | become TempleOS.
        
         | Aerbil313 wrote:
         | Wow. I didn't know he died in 2018 either. Always thought he
         | was from pre-2000s, maybe it's because I thought nobody can
         | create an OS this recently.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-26 23:01 UTC)