Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!sei!bwb
From: bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Wanted: easter eggs
Message-ID: <7777@fy.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 9 Jul 90 19:13:55 GMT
References: <9007081641.AA25236@volitans.MorningStar.Com> <31567@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson)
Organization: Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 22

In article <31567@cup.portal.com> dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) writes:
>Easter Eggs, huh?   Cute name...
>
>One that comes to mind is in Hewlett Packard's workstation BASIC,
>we were scanning the binary code one day, looking for I don't
>remember what, when I spotted the string "XYZZY". That looks
>familiar, I mumbled; what if I tried it as a command? Sure enough,
>instead of the expected "Syntax Error", it responded "I see no caves here."
>
>Rumor has it that some (one or more?) of HP's instruments reacted
>the same way when commanded XYZZY over the bus...

Heathkit's HDOS would respond to "set system stand-alone" (or something close)
with "It is now pitch dark and if you continue you will likely fall into a 
pit" (can't remember the *exact* sentence - thou I played it zillions of 
times).  Interestingly, the only program that ever required this system command
was the Software Toolworks Adventure game....

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