Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!know!tegra!vail
From: vail@tegra.COM (Johnathan Vail)
Newsgroups: alt.sources
Subject: Re: GENERAL WARNING
Message-ID: <1548@atlas.tegra.COM>
Date: 5 Oct 90 15:16:19 GMT
References: <1990Sep29.004107.17548@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU> <1990Oct1.192920.679@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu>
Organization: Tegra-Varityper, Inc., Billerica, MA
Lines: 37
In-reply-to: ken@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu's message of 1 Oct 90 19:29:20 GMT

In article <1990Oct1.192920.679@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu> ken@opusc.csd.scarolina.edu (Ken Sallenger) writes:


   It only took about 6 weeks for one of us (yes, I confess, it was I) to
   type "xyzzy" to the command interpreter prompt, just to see what would
   happen... 

   The system halted, and the user who typed it was thrown into the
   diagnostic ROM monitor. 

   The Customer Service type to whom I reported it couldn't believe what I
   was telling her at first.  And she couldn't imagine why anyone would
   type "xyzzy" to a shell prompt in the first place!  I guess she hadn't
   hung out with too many software hackers.

   Come to think of it, I don't know whether they ever _did_ get around to
   taking that out...

Two years ago when I was working at DG it was still in AOS.  Typing
`xyzzy' at the prompt returned "Nothing happens".  I wondered if
anything ever did happen.  Rumor had it that you had to be in a
certain directory.  This made sense but I tried everything I could
think of, even with all the proveledges on the console.  My conclusion
is that I that was true then the directory necessary was no longer
used on current releases.

Anybody know the real "Truth" about this?

jv


"Even Marilyn Monroe was a man, but, this, tends to get overlooked,
 by, our mother fixated overweight sexist media" -- Robin Hitchcock
 _____
|     | Johnathan Vail | n1dxg@tegra.com
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