Ghosts in the ROM (2012) • Hacker News Board

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#21

Post by HeckFeck » Wed, Jun 26, 2024, 8:57 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #15

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.

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.

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#22

Post by Aerbil313 » Wed, Jun 26, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #15

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.

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.

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#23

Post by 3abiton » Wed, Jun 26, 2024, 11:20 PM UTC

HeckFeck wrote: post #21

kalleboo wrote: post #15

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.

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.

Terry Davis is an easter egg by himself.

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#24

Post by kalleboo » Thu, Jun 27, 2024, 5:03 AM UTC

kevindamm wrote: post #18

wslh wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Commodore Amiga you can turn off and on the power light. Weird for these times.

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.

On the Macintosh Classic, there's a whole OS boot disk image in ROM that can be activated by booting with the keys "command option X O" held down (X-O was the code name for the machine). These are the remains of a prototype for making a diskless terminal Macintosh. It comes in handy if you've hosed your boot disk somehow.

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#25

Post by duskwuff » Thu, Jun 27, 2024, 5:40 AM UTC

grvbck wrote: post #5

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!"

System 7.0: "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!"

System 7.1: "Help! Help! We're still being held prisoner in a system software factory!"

System 7.5: "Help! Help! He's STILL being held prisoner in a system software factory!"

System 7.5.3: "Mercenaries hit the software factory and freed the prisoners."

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#26

Post by hackmiester » Thu, Jun 27, 2024, 5:47 AM UTC

Aerbil313 wrote: post #22

kalleboo wrote: post #15

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.

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.

That's why people found his work so amazing.

Re: Ghosts in the ROM (2012)

#27

Post by unwind » Thu, Jun 27, 2024, 5:53 AM UTC

wslh wrote: post #12

sircastor wrote: post #10

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.

In the Commodore Amiga you can turn off and on the power light. Weird for these times.

That is because the power indicator LED also serves as an indicator of the audio low-pass filter. Rather quirky, yes.