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Xref: icaen alt.folklore.computers:47386 bit.listserv.win3-l:23927 comp.os.ms-windows.apps:15851 comp.os.ms-windows.misc:13030 comp.os.msdos.misc:15621 Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,bit.listserv.win3-l,comp.os.ms-windows.apps,comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc Path: icaen!news.uiowa.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!agate!linus!linus.mitre.org!jcmorris From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) Subject: Ye Olde Secrete Screene Cheete Sheete (long; 2000+ lines) (part 1/2) Message-ID: <jcmorris.742508699@mwunix> Sender: news@linus.mitre.org (News Service) Nntp-Posting-Host: mwunix.mitre.org Organization: The MITRE Corporation Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 20:24:59 GMT Lines: 1594

1)

Copies to: alt.folklore.computers

         bit.listserv.win3-l
         comp.os.ms-windows.apps
         comp.os.ms-windows.misc
         comp.os.msdos.misc
         Additionally, a copy will be sent to the cica archives where
         it will appear as 'pub/pc/win3/misc/secret*.zip' where the '*'
         will increment with new versions of this file.)

I don't monitor the Mac, Amiga, or many of the other groups which support some of the non-PC products mentioned in this list. Readers are welcome to repost this document to those newsgroups (or anywhere else); if there's enough interest I can add other groups to the distribution list.

Recipients are encouraged to redistribute this file to anyone who requests a copy, including BBS and archive sites. I cannot offer it by anonymous ftp and my employer would prefer that I not be inundated with requests to mail out copies.

Joe Morris / MITRE

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= begin included text =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

* E A S T E R E G G H U N T R E S U L T S *

Collected from various sources; the names in each entry show where I got the info, which may or may not be where the egg was first discovered. As usual, should you be killed or captured … oops, wrong tape. No warranties, express or implied; your milage may vary, and there may be weather tomorrow. Contributions of additional Easter Eggs gleefully accepted and will be posted on a totally random basis; please send them to jcmorris@mitre.org

If the submitter prefers to remain anonymous, contributions will be merged without the associated name. (Translation: vendor staff submissions are solicited…)

Entries may be edited for clarity, consistency, and whatever I feel like on any given morning.

This listing may be redistributed without limitation. No copyright is claimed on its contents, but suitable credit for both the individual entries and the compilation would be appropriate.

Last update: 7/8/93 (available at cica as 'secreta.zip')


Recent additions:

Windows applications:

Microsoft Access V1.0 and 1.1
Corel Draw! V4
Ami Pro
Excel 4.0

Mainframe systems and high-end boxes:

XDS Fortran
Apollo AEGIS

H-P 110 portable "Nomad":

Supplied configuration files

Macintosh:

Various "About" boxes
IIGS Finder

Miscellaneous:

Coleco ADAM
AT&T UNIX-PC
"Xevious" game
"Smurfs" game
"Dalton's Disk Disintegrator"
CoCo

Additionally, for posting in plaintext on USENET the file has been split into two pieces. The second part contains only the composite list of Macintosh Easter Eggs compiled by Bryan Kendig; users who have already seen Bryan's collection don't need to download it because it hasn't changed since it was first included in this list.

The .ZIP file on ftp.cica.indiana.edu contains all the entries in a single archived file.


Product: Windows 3.0


Source: unknown

Press and hold F3 Type the four characters WIN3 Release F3 Hit the backspace key

The display can be cleared by pressing the left mouse button.


Product: Windows 3.1


Source: Tom Tanida (tanida@esosun.css.gov)

1. Hold down Cntl and Shift simultaneously (keep holding them down for all

   of the following steps).

2. Select Program Manager's Help menu option, and select "About Program

   Manager".

3. When the box pops up, double click inside one of the four panes in the

   Windows 3.1 logo.

4. Click OK. 5. Repeat steps 2-4 to see a flag waving. 6. Repeat steps 2-4 again to see the credits. (Is that a picture

   of Bill Gates there? :-) )
 (Note: my tests indicate that if you try this a third time you'll
 get nothing; try it a fourth time and you're back at the waving
 flag.  jcm)

The display terminates immediately when the OK button is pressed (step 4).

Some followup to the Windows 3.1 egg, from contributions by:

 Mark Scase (coa44@seq1.keele.ac.uk)
 Jill Patterson (bytor@milton.u.washington.edu)
 JT Anderson (jta@locus.com)
 Andrew Turner (act@softserver.canberra.edu.au)

You don't have to be in Program Manager to do this. It seems to work in any "About" box of an application provided with Windows 3.1 (eg file manager, write, paintbrush, clock etc).

The character appearing in the graphic with the name scroll changes each time you see it; there are four distinct figures:

a bald man (Steve Ballmer) a man with a beard and dark hair (Brad Silverberg), a man with glasses and fair hair (Bill Gates), and a Teddy bear…apparently the logo of bugs@microsoft

The Bear is a Microsoft euphemism for someone who comes along and bonks programmers for introducing bugs into test code(as in Smokey the Bear, who crushes your butts). The concept of the Bear is so much a part of debugging at Microsoft that certain, undcoumented functions used for testing Windows components such as USER.EXE are named things like Bear351."


Product: Excel 3.0 for the PC


Source: Aaron Wallace (aaron@jessica.Stanford.EDU) who credits Computer

      Currents for the info

Formula Goto the *last* cell: IV16384 Scroll until this is the only cell visible, in the upper left corner of the

  screen.

Set its row height and column width to 0 Double click on the little button in the upper left corner.


Product: Excel 4.0 for the PC


Source: Phil Wherry (psw@maestro.mitre.org)

Go to the tool bar and right click. Choose customize Now choose custom in the dialog Drag the solitaire icon off to the excel desktop somewhere close the dialog box Now, with the control and shift down click the solitaire icon Keep the keys down to see names…

[A slightly different Easter Egg is reported in the following entry]

Reported by: Will Leland (hole@netcom.com), citing the LA Times 11/22/92 Submitted by: The Cybard= (dudek@acsu.buffalo.edu)

Excel 4.0: Blue and pink logo moves across screen leaving bugs and debris. Archrival logo swoops down, ejects competitor, and says "No Problemo." How: Call up a blank worksheet with a Standard Tool Bar on top. Use the right hand button on the mouse and click. From the Customize option, select Custom, drag the Solitaire icon to an empty spot on the Tool Bar. Under Assign to Tool, click OK, click Close, then hold the Ctrl Alt Shift keys while clicking on the Solitaire icon.


Product: Excel 3.0 for the Mac


Source: Arthur Evans (ae@sei.cmu.edu)

Under Excel 3.0: Open a new worksheet and select a cell. Using STYLE in the FORMAT menu, give it style EXCEL. Open the About… menu from the Apple menu click in the Excel symbol. Keep waiting – there are two screens.


Product: Word for Windows, v1.1


Source: Todd Lutz (tlutz@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com)

Here is a hidden feature of Word for Windows:

1. Turn CAPS LOCK on.
2. Choose Format, Define Styles, Options.
3. In the Based On field, select Normal.
4. You will get an error message, select OK.
5. Select Cancel.
6. Select Help, About.
7. Make sure your mouse cursor is inside the help box, then press the
   following four keys all at the same time: OPUS

You should get some fireworks with the authors names scrolling on the screen.


Product: Word for Windows, v2.0


Source: nancyb@ryko.enet.dec.com (nancy b.)

  To see some cute animation, a not-so-subtle jab at WordPerfect,
  and a list of those responsible for "wizardry", "quality",
  etc...  on the Word for Windows 2.0 project:
  1) Start WfW 2.0.
  2) In the Tools menu, click on Macro.
  3) For the Macro Name, type   spiff  [stop the macro recorder -- jcm]
  4) Click on Edit.
  5) Delete the lines    Sub MAIN   and  End Sub
  6) In the File menu, choose Close.
  7) You will be asked if you want to save the changes.
     Click on Yes.
  8) In the Help menu, click on About.
  9) Click on the Word icon in the upper left, and enjoy ;-).
  If you have high resolution drivers, you might not see that awful
  green WordPerfect monster or the little people jumping up and
  down in glee after they make it go away.  If all you see is the
  fireworks with the credits rolling in the foreground, then this
  is the case.  Change to a lower resolution (800x600 or 640x480)
  driver to see the first part also.

Product: Microsoft Access


Reported by: Aaron Bregel (and in a slightly shorter form by William Luitje,

            who credits "Computer Reseller News", 4 January 93, Shadowram
            column as his source.)

[reported as applicable to both version 1.0 and 1.1]

Taken from Access Advisor/Premiere issues 1993 p. 41 without permission By Michael R. Irwin

1. Open any Access database (the sample NWIND database will do.) 2. Create a new table named "cirrus". Be sure you type the

  name in all lowercase letters, as I have here.

3. Give this new table one field of any type, with no primary key. 4. Save this new "cirrus" table. 5. Highlight "cirrus" in the table container. 6. Select Help, About Microsoft Access…from the database menu.

  Access opens a dialog titled "About Microsoft Access" that
  presents information about your version.  This dialog also
  displays the Access logo at the top left corner. (The logo
  is a key and a table icon with the name Microsoft above
  them.)

7. Position the mouse pointer on the Access logo. Hold down the

  Ctrl and Shift keys, and simultaneously double-click the right
  mouse button.
  A special dialog box appears.  The first surprise is the cartoon
  it displays.  Then you will see several minutes of acknowledgments.
  You can speed up the acknowledgments by pressing the Esc key, but
  don't miss the second surprise.  Let the Special Thanks To dialog
  run its course.  Look closely at the last name on the list of
  people being thanked.
  One final hint.  The cartoon might be interpreted as a pair of
  ____."

The answer of course if pair of ducks. (Paradox)

[William Luitje reports that the cartoon is animated: two lightning bolts come down, annihilating the pair of ducks]


Product: Other Windows applications on a PC



Application: PageMaker 4 for Windows


Source: Peter Reece (REECE@camins.Camosun.BC.CA)

There is an egg in Pagemaker 4 as follows:

 1. Depress and continue to hold shift-control
 2. Open 'Help', 'About PM4'
A list of PageMaker authors and contributors will appear

There is also an Egg in Aldus's Table Editor as follows:

 1. Depress and continue to hold shift-control
 2. Open 'Help", 'About TableEdit"
A list of TableEditor authors and contributors will appear

Application: Solitaire game distributed with Windows


Source: Joe Robison (joero@microsoft.com)

From: pfeil@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Hank Pfeil-Alumnus)


Here's a neat trick you can play on your computer: Start "Solitaire"
… Now, if the card game only had a cheat mode….

There is. If you're playing "Draw Three" you can hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift and click on the deck to draw single cards (just don't hit the Del key!)


Application: Norton Desktop for Windows 2.0


Source: Rich Santalesa and David Harvey's column in 6/92 _Computer_Shopper_

With NDW 2.0 in the foreground, hold down the N, D, and W keys, then click HELP → ABOUT, then double-click on the Symantec icon in the upper left corner. The response is a group of photos of the NDW development team, plus a scrolling title bar with quotes from Shakespeare.

In a followup, Brian Downing (bdowning@fordmulc.bitnet) says:

Just choose HELP|ABOUT and then double click on the icon to make symantec disappear, then press the N,D,&W keys.

In another followup, Mark Scase (mos11@cus.cam.ac.uk) adds:

Whilst in the desktop, click on help about. Press N, D and W at the same time and double click on the icon in the about box.

A window pops up containing 15 black and white pictures of people with the status bar entitles NDW Development Team. This title scrolls to the left and is replaced with the following (it takes a time for it all to scroll past):

VIPER TEAM: Yet another great truth I record in my verse, that some vipers are venomous, some the reverse (Hilaire Belloc) ENRIQUE & PETER: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds (Emerson) MARK: An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come (Victor Hugo) MICHAEL: You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one (John Lennon) DOUG: As you already knew, this is the wave of the future! (NDW) MANSHAN: Very ingenious/important product enhancement realized! (Anonymous) SUE: I want you all to stonewall it (Richard Nixon) RENEE: What you achieve depends on what you settle for (Anonymous) BILL: Fame, fame, fatal fame, it can play hideous tricks on the brain, but still I'd rather be famous than righteous or holy any day, any day, any day (Morrissey) Congratulations Bruce & Vickie!!!! (The Gang)


Application: Procomm Plus for Windows


Source: Joseph Malloy (jmalloy@ITSMAIL1.HAMILTON.EDU)

1) From the Window menu, select Monitor 2) Keep the focus on the monitor (i.e., make sure monitor is active, not the Procomm Plus terminal window) 3) type GO DATASTORM! (case doesn't appear to matter, but the exclamation mark is necessary; you'll probably hear beeps as the system tells you this is an error) 4) Choose Help/About/Credits: instead of the usual list of names, you should see a nice color picture of, I assume, the primary developers.


Application: AMI Pro


Source: AVINOAM SHMUELI (s8276758@phobos.ucc.umass.edu), quoting from

      8/92 issue of _PC_ Magazine

Go to the About box under the Help menu and hold down the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys, Press F7, then type the letters S,P,A,M followed by the last number in the Available Memory display and the third from the last number in that display. [in my case, 9202k, it was "2" and "2".] Then release the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys.

Tiny photo images of the Ami Pro developers appear.

[followup information:] Reported by: Paul Gronke (Paul.Gronke@bbs.oit.unc.edu) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

[After calling up the Ami Pro gang screen]

Hey, if you then click on each face, they disappera. Except for one (appears to be randomly selected) which spins around and transforms into "D King" (i think) with a kind of alien looking forehead. Anyone know who it is?

~From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)

Anyone know who it is?

It's elvis! Da' King! See, you can't kill him…


Application: Minesweeper game


Source: Jay Rosenbaum (jdr@pub2.bu.edu)

Just start Minesweeper normally. When it has loaded, type "xyzzy <ENTER> <SHIFT-ENTER>". The upper left hand pixel on your screen will light up whenever your mouse is over a safe square.


Application: Corel Draw! V3.0


Source: jdmathew (faculty@mtu.edu)

  Hold down CTRL-SHIFT and select "help" and then "about", while still

holding down CTRL-SHIFT, double click on the balloon on the left side of the help box. The box expands, and the text dissapears, and the balloon moves to the bottom of the box. Hold down the right mouse button to light the burner on the balloon. If you hold the mouse button down, you'll see the balloon move up, pulling a text banner listing authors and beta testers.

[My tests show that the *left* button lights the burner. Also, if you release the burner button (whichever one it is) the balloon will slow its ascent and begin to sink…just like a real balloon. jcm]


Application: Corel Draw! V4.0


Reported by: goldsborough@news.brandonu.ca

                              CorelDraw version 4 has an

"easter egg" in it similar to the one in version 3. See it by opening the "About" dialog box (Help - About CorelDraw), and double click on the balloon icon in the upper left corner. The dialog grows larger, showing a Corel balloon with a waving Canadian flag (!). As before, press and hold the left mouse button to activate the burner on the balloon, causing it to rise, pulling up a credits screen. The nifty part comes when you click the right mouse button. A parachuting Elvis drops from the top of the dialog. Someone at Corel has evidently seen the movie, Honeymoon in Vegas.


Product: OS/2


Source: Janos Haide (jhaide.novell@sjfsmtp.novell.com),

      also Panagiotis Skagos (skagos@hercules.cs.uregina.ca)

Make the desktop active (i.e., click on the desktop).

Press alt-shift-ctrl-o simultaneously. You get a beach scene with a pink flamingo (and other nifty things) plus a list of the program authors.

Press any other key returns you to your regularly scheduled Workplace Shell.

A followup posting from Mike Levis (mlevis@ringer.cs.utsa.edu) says:

According to the FAQL, you also need to have the optional bitmaps installed as well. I think selecting the optional bitmaps unpacks two files called "AAAAA.EXE" and "AAAAA.MET" to the \OS2\BITMAP dir.

Source: Cjin Lee (cjin@snake3.cs.wisc.edu, cjin%bc@cs.wisc.edu)

Click on the desktop with right mouse button. Select Setting→Lockup. Go to Page 2/3 for Lockup settings. Select (none) for the bmp to display for lockup. Now get out of the settings mode and try lockup.

When "none" means something……


Product: Macintosh hardware and OS


Product: Apple IIgs finder Reported by: Joel Sumner (q4kx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

[Apple IIgs finder] If you hold down (I think) Shift-Option and select the Apple menu and the 'About the Finder' option, it will turn the ENTIRE SCREEN upside down and stay that way until you click the mouse. (Interestingly enough, the mouse cursor inverts and moves in the inverse direction).


Product: ABOUT boxes in various Macintosh programs Reported by: Matthias Urlichs (urlichs@smurf.sub.org) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

The comment about XXXXXes, below, doesn't apply because the parts in question have been diligently restored from beta copies. For best effects, switch to soft scroll now and watch one line at a time scroll up slowly.

The AboutBox - a Ringewald/Goldman production

               Introducing The Juggler...
       the 'True' Multitasking Extravaganza!!!
    Please note: some extremely funny things have been
    replaced by xxxxxxx at the insistence of Apple's Legal
    Department. The producers hope this does not detract
    from your enjoyment of the About Box.
    Edited for television.

Produced by………Charlie 'Chuckles' Bedard Directed by………Erich Ringewald Written by……….Erich Ringewald and Phil Goldman Not written by……Andy Hertzfeld or Sir Francis Bacon Continuity……….Charlie Oppenheimer Screenplay by…….Harry Greenwald Context Switches…._BlockMove()

Yogurt by………..Frank Leahy Breath by………..Altoid's of England Fashion consultant and Helicopter stunts…Charles Simonyi Fashion insultant…Charlie 'Giorgio' Bedard Encouragement by….Dr. Jerome 'at most one task!' Coonen Technical Advisor…David 'No Command Keys!' Goldsmith Interruptions…….George 'Geocomm' Norman

Mooses supplied by..The Berkowitzes Crowd control…….Sheila 'Airhorn' Brady Set Design by…….Annette Wagner Best Boy…………Jeff Hokit Head finger pointer.Jim "TMON works fine for me" Friedlander General Piracy……Terrie Sima Stunts by………..Phil 'Scrappy' Goldman Mascot…………..Spot, the wonder half-pinata Obscure bugs……..Dr. Dan 'Einstein' Allen Uncoordination……Michael 'Nesmith' Holm Lighting by………Judy York Trap Monitor……..Larry 'Time/Space Performance' Kenyon Animal Trainer……Linda Curry

Buckets o' Blood….Maura 'Yes Boxer Shorts' McNamara Scott Bongiorno by..Mr. and Mrs. Bongiorno Spam and Buns by….Carol 'Yes Boxer Shorts' Crews Deviance by………Andrew Yarborough DayGlo…………..Julia 'No Boxer Shorts' Menapace Underwear by……..Cliff 'No Boxer Shorts' Deighan Hair by………….Eli Cochran and Mary Jo Greene Gaffer…………..Debbie Brackeen Artisto testing…..Paul Foraker DGA Trainee………Leona Guthrie Harmonic Analysis…John Perry Hawaiian vacations..Greg Henderson Neck Rubs………..Ginny Reed Spelling advizer….Mary Cadloni Fitness consultant..Sandy 'No Boxer Shorts' Tompkins Guerilla tactics….Steve 'No Boxer Shorts' Mayzels 3rd degree burns….Mike Ansnes Steamy eruptions….Heinrich 'Old Faithful' Koenig

Introducing the Princes of Background…Patrick Ross

                      Jay Patel
                      Bayles Holt
                      Scott Douglass
                      Gifford S. Calenda
                      Tom Shea
                      George Jarrett
                      Carl Brown

Public Relations…..The Lovely Carol Cochrane Party planning…….Dan 'Ortega' Torres Incompatibilites…..Our Developers Special Effects……Microsoft English translation..Scottie Zimmerman Italian translation..Enrico Hardsalami Hairstyles………..Marci & Charlton Mr. Bedard's suits…K-Mart Mr. Goldman's suits by accident Philosophies by……Zippy the Pinhead Low memory by……..Brian "it doesn't exist and you

                   couldn't have it even if it did" McGhie

Music by………….John 'Mr. Sound' Worthington Music also by……..Irwin Griswold

Satanic incantations…Jim "The" Lord Final touches……….Ed (Eee-Dee) Heyl Lowest % Body Fat……Peter Potrebic Salinas Unit………..Lynnea Johnson Wanted his name here…Steve Horowitz Vandalism…………..Judy Marchant

Automobiles (sort of) by BMW Otter Pops by John Meier. Dental work by Mo Budak, D.D.S. Bowling Lessons by Ed 'Kingpin' Birss.

All guests of MultiFinder stayed in Motel Schnell…

"Never more than an Appletalk bridge away..."

Promotional consideration (free food) provided by:

    Kirk's Steakburgers
    Vivi's Falafels
    The Steve Capps' Memorial No-Name Burrito Joint
    Chili's
    The Steak and Seafood Sizzler, where the salad bar
        has potato skins!!!!

Written and debugged on location in sunny Cupertino, Ca.

Thanks to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department for not prematurely arresting the authors of this programme.

Thanks to Satan for C Language brace style.

Thanks to Vice Rear Admiral Edward Colby, III, (ret.) for keyboards and other flotation devices.

Extra special thanks to that all around great guy, Fred Burst: the only man whose name is a complete sentence.

Executive producer………..Jean-Louis Gassee Copyright © MCMLXXXVII…..Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Computer by…………John Sculley

Filmed in Juggler-vision(TM) and Twitch-R-Scope(TM)

This programme is rated R; application discretion advised.

Any resemblance to other multitasking systems, living, dead, or both, is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Next summer, the adventure continues…Juggler/2!!!!!

 "Just when you thought it was safe to launch again..."

[Followup from Jim Shaffer (uunet!cbmvax!amix!vanth!jms): ]

I've seen several programs [on the Macintosh] where an "About…" box would have a little icon of the designer's head somewhere in it. Clicking on this would yield the message "Please don't click on my head!"

Also I remember a program where holding some weird key combination while selecting the "About…" menu would bring up the normal About… box with a bizarre picture of a half-woman, half-zebra entity filling what was normally an empty section. I think this was either MacPaint or MacDraw shortly after it was taken over by Claris, and I also remember that it disappeared from the next release.

[More followup from Michael Scott Forbes (forbes@sp11.csrd.uiuc.edu): ]

[The "Don't click on my head" message is in] the shareware communications program Red Ryder, by Scott Watson. (Actually it said "Please don't click on my head. Thank you." *before* you clicked on his head, and the icon would stick out its tongue and say "ouch!" when you did.)

Early releases of MacPaint 2.0 would display [the half-woman half-zebra entity] graphic if shift and tab (I think) were held down when selecting the About… box.

In the Infocom game "Enchanter" by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling, the magic spell for "summon a person" could be used to summon… Marc Blank and Dave Lebling. They would appear, look confused, argue with each other about bugs in the code, and vanish. (This only works once; apparently they return to "real life" and fix the bug… :-)


Source: Louis Koziarz (lnk10562@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)

Product: Mac SE

Get into the debugger Set PC to 41D789A (i.e., >G 41D89A at the prompt)


Source: Luke Mewburn (s902113@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au)

Product: Macintosh II models (exact types uncertain); Mac SE/30 (hardware)

Set the system clock to the American release of the machine [what are

      the valid values?  jcm]

Reboot, holding down command-option-model name characters (e.g., on

      an FX you hold down cmnd-opt-f-x)

Source: Louis Koziarz (lnk10562@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)

    (and many, many others)

Product: Mac SE, Mac II ci

On a Macintosh SE, hit the programmer's switch, then type G 41D89A

On a Macintosh IIci, first set the date to 09/20/89, then restart the machine and hold down Command+Opt+c+i during the reboot.

And if you're lucky enough to have an original copy of MultiFinder, the About box has a simple tremendous list of credits. But all is not lost in the newer versions. Leave the `About MultiFinder' box open for about an hour. It will turn into the message [rot13]

  V jnag zl, V jnag zl, V jnag zl ybbx naq srry.

Source: Arthur Evans (ae@sei.cmu.edu)

Product: System 7

Under System 7 with the Finder running, select "About Finder" on the Apple menu with the OPTION key to see a list of all developers. Be patient, it takes a while. Using OPTION-COMMAND does that and also turns the cursor into a smiley.


Product: WORD 4 for the Mac


Source: Louis Koziarz (lnk10562@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)

Call up the "About Word…" dialog box Press and hold the command key Click on the flying W logo


Product: Commodore PET


Source: Jan Schiefer (jan@nasobem.stgt.sub.org)

On the Commodore PET 2001, a "POKE 6502,n" where 0 ⇐ n ⇐ 255 resulted in the machine printing the string MICROSOFT! on the screen n times.


Product: Commodore 128


Source: Norman St. John Polevaulter (MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu)

And of course, going WAY back, there is the credits and anti-war message you could coax out of a Commodore 128 by typing:

SYS 32800,123,45,6

in BASIC.


Product: Commodore Business Machines 1581 Disk Drive


Source: Eric Pass (epass@nyx.cs.du.edu)

 error = $ff3f
 org $3000
 lda #$79
 jmp error

which gives you an author's credit. Substitute #$7a for #$79 to get a dedication to one of the authors' wives.

The two messages are listed in the 1581 dos reference guide as:

$79: Software by David Siracusa. Hardware by Greg Berlin $7a: Dedicated to my wife Lisa

Here is a BASIC program written by Russell Prater to illustrate the messages.

10 open15,9,15:n$="m-w":m$=n$ 20 fori=1to8:reada:n$=n$+chr$(a):next 30 fori=1to8:reada:m$=m$+chr$(a):next 40 print#15,n$:print#15,"m-e"chr$(0)chr$(3) 50 fori=0to1:get#15,a$:i=st:printa$;:next 60 print#15,m$:print#15,"m-e"chr$(0)chr$(3) 70 fori=0to1:get#15,a$:i=st:printa$;:next 80 data 0,3,5,169,121,76,63,255 90 data 0,3,5,169,122,76,63,255

Information derived from messages on the C_B_M Echo by Russell Prater and David Schmoll


Product: Amiga hardware and software


Source: Raymond Chen (raymond@math.berkeley.edu)

On the Amiga (NB), press and hold the following keys:

LeftShift, LeftAlt, RightShift, RightAlt

Now press one of the 10 function keys. (Keep those four keys down!) Each function key produces a different message.

To get the rude message, insert a disk into the internal drive. (Still holding down all those keys?) Now eject it.

The rude message has been deleted from newer versions of KickStart. Get 1.2/33.166 or earlier.


Source: Joe Smith (jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM)

With an Amiga running AmigaDOS-1.2, hold down the left-shift + left-alt + right-shift + right-alt and then press and release F1, then F2, etc. This will display in the title bar the nicknames of the designers. Here's a description from 2 years ago:

:Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga :Subject: Re: silly messages :Message-ID: 5153@cs.Buffalo.EDU :Date: 10 Apr 89 18:07:32 GMT : :In article 1720@wpi.wpi.edu pawn@wpi.wpi.edu (Kevin Goroway) writes: :>Were those silly little messages in workbench taken out in v1.3 OS? :>The ones I am refering to can be seen when one hits LS-LA-RS-RA-Fx :>while looking at the wkbnch screen… :> :>just wondering… : :Coincidentally, I forgot to metion in my last posting on this subject that :it is not just on the workbench screen – workbench must be loaded, i.e., :somewhere the line loadwb had to have been executed before any of this :happens. Sadly, the messages are not still there, or if they are, they are :brought up in some other way in V1.3. : :I retraced my steps so to speak, and have come up with the last 2 messages :mentioned in that last post. Both shifts, both Alt's, F10, pop out df0: :disk for one message. Then, WHILE STILL HOLDING ALL OF THAT (important!!), :position the pointer in the screen drag bar (at the top), hold down the :left mouse button (or simulate it by also catching the left A key next :to left Alt) and reinsert the disk.


Source: Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago (katefans@chinet.chi.il.us)

 Version 1.0 of the Amiga OS Workbench had credits for the hardware

and software team hidden tucked into some unused bytes. They were accessed by holding down 6 keys and pressing a 7th. By holding down the same six keys _and_ ejecting the internal floppy disk you could get:

  "We built the Amiga..."
 and when you pushed the floppy back in:
  "...and Commodore f**ked it up!"

[Following a query from Ye Editor of this FAQ list, the posting continues:]

 Well, it's been a long time since I did this and I probably have it

wrong, and I no longer have a copy of that version, etc., etc.

 But...I think that one held down both shift keys, both alt keys and

both "Amiga" keys, and pressed the function keys in order, to get the ten credits. The delete key was held down and the disk was ejected to get the first part of the last message, and pushed back in to get the second part.

 This is fairly well known in the Amiga community, and the fun stopped

when the biggest Amiga magazine published this little gem. Unfortunetly I had to get rid of all my old copies of "Amiga World" so I cannot check.

P.S. Yes, I typed this on an old Amiga 1000, but don't worry; I'm not

   dangerous.

Source: Peter da Silva (peter@taronga.com)

katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago) writes:

Version 1.0 of the Amiga OS Workbench had credits for the hardware
           ^^^--- 1.2

> and software team hidden tucked into some unused bytes.


Source: Raymond Chen (raymond@math.berkeley.edu)

      (Forwarding from phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au (Phil Kernick) )

You have to be running KickStart 1.2 (33.166 I think, I can't remember if they were all there in the 33.180 release).

Now, press the following all at the same time,

      Left-Shift Left-Alt Right-Alt Right-Shift

and then press one of the 10 functions keys (while still holding down the above four) and you get one of 10 different messages in the menu bar.

Now for the fun bit.

Do the above, and then while holding down all 5 keys, insert a disk in the internal drive, and you get *another* message, and for the classic conclusion after all this (still holding down all 5 keys?) eject the disk, and the message:

      We made Amiga, they fucked it up

appears in the menu bar.

Now another Amiga hidden message (also in KS1.2).

Go into preferences, on the first screen, there are pictures of two mice, one to set the double-click speed and one to set the mouse speed. Click on each of the buttons on the mice 5 time in the following order.

       1234 1234 1234 1234 1234
         /------\    /------\
         | 1  2 |    | 3  4 |
         |      |    |      |
         |      |    |      |
         +------+    +------+

Now select printer setup, scroll all the way up the list of possible printers, and then all the way down.

Then the title bar of the preferences window changes to something like (it been a *long* time since I tried this):

      Congratulations =RJ=

Appearantly just as the guys finished the preferences tool, RJ Michel, one of the Amiga designers became a father (everybody say aaahh!).


Source: Jim Shaffer (jms@vanth.UUCP)

Dale Luck, formerly of the Amiga development team, tells a story about hacking the system software when the custom chips were still on breadboards. To prevent blowing out the hardware, he put an anti-static mat on the floor and convinced everyone to go barefoot.

They would also dance during late-night compiler runs to prevent falling asleep. One of the hidden messages in version 1.2 credits "Moral Support: Joe Pillow and the Dancing Fools."


Source: Jim Shaffer (jms@vanth.UUCP)

Incidentally, I just re-checked my version of KickStart 1.2. The "We made the Amiga, they…" sequence is replaced by "The Amiga - Born a Champion, Still a Champion." I couldn't find anything at all in KickStart 1.3.


Source: Peter da Silva (peter@taronga.com)

katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago) writes:

But…I think that one held down both shift keys, both alt keys and
both "Amiga" keys, and pressed the function keys in order, to get the
ten credits. The delete key was held down and the disk was ejected to
                 ^^^^^^^^^^--- mouse button.

> get the first part of the last message, and pushed back in to get the
second part.

It also only works with rev 1.2 of the OS. There was also another egg hidden in the printer preferences. It was a lot less obvious. :→


Source: rivero@vxd.mdcbbs.com

In article 1992Jan2.122451.18215@news.stolaf.edu, seebs@asgaard.acc

         .stolaf.edu (The Laughing Prophet) writes:

> A quick search through KS2.04 reveals only two things that I noticed:


1] something like "what secret message?". (don't remember - I checked this
a few months back.)
2] in hex, FE ED C0 ED BA BE. :)
The hidden Amiga messages were on the Amiga 1000, and then only on earlier

units. One of the messages, accessed by holding down both "Amiga" keys and two other keys WHILE inserting a disk into the floppy drive, was rather explicit in its opinion of Commodore after they acquired the Amiga company. Once word of that message got out, a purge was ordered of all hidden messages.

BTW, the inside top cover of the Amiga is autographed by the machine

developers (and somebody's dog).


Source: Peter da Silva (peter@taronga.com)

An undocumented feature of the Amiga 1.2 O/S. If you brought up the mouse preferences and clicked all four mouse buttons in the picture, then clicked an invisible gadget next to the date, the window title changed to a cute message about the programmer's SO.


Source: Norman St. John Polevaulter (MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu)

While we're at it, the new OS2.04 has its own set of secret messages. When workbench is running, hold down control, alt, and shift, and start selecting items from the leftmost Workbench menu. It may take a few tries to get them, but they're in there.


Product: Tandy ColorComputer III


Product: Tandy CoCo Reported by: SJS132@psuvm.psu.edu Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

[Tandy Color Computer III] If you hold down the Control and Alternate Screens, it brings up a picture of the designers (dubbed the 3 Mug-a-tears)… It was burnt into ROM, and took up MUCH needed space, that could have been loaded with good code!

If you go to the 40/80 Column mode, and do a CLS X (With X being higher than 100 I think…) It prints the names of the designers and all, after clearing the screen… another one that is sorta simular to that, is to do a Control-A in OS9 Level II… (Software os system) it gives you some names….

[Followup by carl@robot.nuceng.ufl.edu]

Not really… It only takes up aboutt 8k of space, and it wasn't being used for anything. Doubtful that it would have been ever used either, knowing Tandy.

[CLS X] No. It prints "Microware Systems Corp." who are the people who designed the hardware for the CoCo. It happens if you specify any value higher than 15. If you enter any value higher than 9 for the CLS command in the 32 column window, you'll see the word MICROSOFT. Of course, they are the ones who did the BASIC ROMS.

[Ctrl-A in OS9 Level II] Control-A is the last command recall function. I think that under some circum- stances, hitting control-A after booting OS-9 Level II but before entering any commands, it displays a programmers name…

OS-9 Level II is actually a pretty good Unix-like OS. I believe its IBM brother is OS9000 or OS9K.


Source: Jyri J. Virkki (j_virkki@upr2.clu.net)

1) If you hold down <Alt>+<Control> and press the Reset button, you get

 a digitized image of the three guys who wrote the echancements to the ROM's.
 As an additional bonus, this trick served the purpose of performing a
 cold-boot of the computer, allowing you to break out of those annoying
 programs (mostly games) that required you to turn the machine off to
 get out of them.

2) In the built-in BASIC, you could specify CLS n (0⇐n⇐8) to clear the

 screen with various colors. If you specified numbers out of range, but
 <100, you would get an error message as expected, but the first time
 you did CLS n with n>=100, you would get a short message, again with
 the names of these individuals. Subsequent attempts would just give
 you the standard error message.

Product: OS9 level I for the Tandy ColorComputer I, II, and III


Source: Richard Hempsey (rich%knoware@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca)

Hitting CTRL-A, the "repeat previous command line" key at the command line _immediately_ after boot displays

      by K.Kaplan, L.Crane, R.Doggett

This also works for OS9 Level II for the Color Computer 3, at boot or after the creation of any new immortal shell.


Product: Acorn Archimedes


~From: Andrew Brooks (arb@computing.lancaster.ac.uk), who credits

    them to Julian Wright, wright_j@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz)

On RISC-OS 2.00: SYS 68,59243844 On RISC-OS 3.00: SYS 68,60816742

Additional info from Andrew Brooks arb@computing.lancaster.ac.uk

The above two SYS calls print a list of the names of the developers.


Source: Simon Burrows (smb@cs.nott.ac.uk),

forwarded by Andrew Brooks (arb@computing.lancaster.ac.edu)

Following much investigation, disassembly etc, here is a summary of the RISC OS 3 Credits which work on my machines:

RISC OS 3.00

When the RISC OS 3.00 title screen is displayed, quickly type the letters 'r-m-t-m-d', and if you get the timing right, photographs of the RISC OS 3 Development team will be displayed on screen.

Go to the RISC OS 3.00 Info Window (from the switcher icon). Click on the letters 'r-m-t-m-d' from the words 'Acorn Computers Ltd' using the MENU button, and a long list of credits will be flashed up.

RISC OS 3.10

The photograph facility appears to have been removed.

To access the info window credits, click on the letters 't-e-a-m' from 'Acorn Computers Ltd' using the MENU button, and a (different) long list of credits will be displayed. (If you click in the wrong places, the machine *may* crash).

Source: Nicko van Someren (nbvs@cl.cam.ac.uk)

 (also forwarded by Andrew Brooks)

~Subject: RISC OS 3.10 Secret message

The other day I was looking through the template files stored in ResourceFS in the RISC OS 3.10 ROM. In the template file for the switcher there is a dialogue box called power. It appears to contain a secret message left by the RISC OS team. Take a look :-)


Product: NeXT systems and software


Source: schuetz@ectds.com, also Timothy Buck (timbuck@borg.lib.vt.edu)

In Improv (version 1.0) for NeXTstep from Lotus, go to the Info Panel, and in the space to the left of the Improv title, hold down shift, alternate, and command, and click the mouse. A "little man" with big bug-eyes shows up….

To clear it, you quit Improv.


Product: None Of The Above (TM)


Product: FORTRAN compiler on XDS (previously SDS) Sigma computers Reported by: JT Anderson (jta@prodnet.la.locus.com)

With the FORTRAN compiler under the CP-V operating system on Xerox Sigma computers, the program:

10    assign 10 to jail
      goto jail

Would elicit the diagnostic:

      Go directly to jail.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

Product: AT&T UNIX-PC Reported by: Donald Nichols (dnichols@ceilidh.beartrack.com) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

In the AT&T UNIX-PC (aka 7300/3B1), the command ".!." will cause a three-column window to scroll the authors' names. (At least in release 3.51)


Product: Coleco ADAM Reported by: Richard F. Drushel (rfd@po.CWRU.edu) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

      I can provide a few examples of "hidden goodies" from

the Coleco ADAM world…

      In the ADAM implementation of Digital Research's CP/M

2.2, there is a key sequence which, if typed while the system is booting, displays a graphic of a woman entitled "Pam's Face."

      In the unfinished (at the time of Coleco's demise) but

now public domain version of the "Jeopardy!" game, there is a keyboard sequence which results in all the categories being about the programmers–favorite foods, hobbies, etc.

      In the ADAMcalc spreadsheet program, there is a key

sequence which, if followed by the word "SURFNAZI", displays a screen listing the programmers' names.

      In the SmartFiler database program, there is a hidden

database which contains programmers' favorite recipes, perhaps left over from the earlier Recipe Filer program. I have not discovered a way to access this from the actual program, but the data is stored on the digital data pack if you look at the absolute blocks. Viewed this way, there is also the remnants of whatever real-time debugger the programmers were using– there is a screen showing all the Z80 register contents and the flags. There is also a block devoted to the programmers' names and how the work was allocated among them.

      In Coleco's unreleased Graphics Processor cartridge

(used to create, capture and/or edit high-resolution graphics screens), there is a configuration menu for a prototyped but never released serial/parallel interface board (setting baud rates, parity, stop, flow control). Neatest of all is the SmartKey which is labelled VAX…

      The ADAM has a ROM word processor called SmartWriter.

While disassembling the code for this program, I discovered a remarkable subroutine called right after the powerup routines which bank-switch in this ROM and jump to the first byte of initialization code. Coleco made a 300-baud internal modem for the ADAM (ADAMlink); every time you turn on the computer the modem is initialized, and then the modem port is read: if a valid ROM signature AAh 55h is received, then it assumes that a cartridge game program is being fed in through the modem! The next 2 bytes are the load address, and the next 2 after that the length of the code; it is loaded in, the game operating system ROM switched in, and it jumps to the start of the game! Someone suggested that perhaps Coleco was planning a company BBS whereby someone calling in with the ADAMlink modem could try out game demos by pulling the reset on the computer at the appropriate moment while on-line!

      These may qualify more as programmer detritus than

actual hidden features…the SmartBASIC 1.0 interpreter has an unused message string "Hi Cathy"; the SmartBASIC 2.0 interpreter has it too, but also fills up unused space in the first page of RAM with "Hi Jan" over and over. (It has been suggested that the persistently buggy quality of Coleco software was due to the programmers being more interested in Jan and Cathy than in tasks at hand…) The ADAMlink terminal program (used with the ADAMlink modem) has whole sets of unimplemented menus to select smart terminal emulations like VT52 and VT100, a dialing directory with the numbers for Dow Jones and The Source, and a 1K buffer initialized with nonsensical quotes from some English grammar book.


Product: Apollo AEGIS Reported by: Rick Wagoner (wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

Apollo's AEGIS operating system was developed by several folks who also did a lot of the PRIMOS development for Prime. The single user environment of AEGIS (circa 1986) was called the "Phase Two Boot Shell" and was similar in a lot of respects to single user UNIX. But I digress. The "easter egg" was in the form of a "delete line" command. In Promos this was the "?". If you typed the ? at teh command line on the Apollo you got:

"You must be from Prime!" PLease use the cntrl-x to delete lines.

Also from Apollo: The error code 220009 (tape drive) decoded as: "Tape drive will not fit through 25 inch hatch."


Product: "Xevious" game Reported by: Dan Day (dcd@se.houston.geoquest.slb.com) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

In the old "Xevious" video game, if you moved your ship to the far right hand side of the screen and began firing madly as soon as the game started, it would pause and display the names of the programmers.


Product: "The Smurfs" game Reported by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

Activision (I believe) "The Smurfs" video game.

The object of the round is to reach Smurfette, who awaits you at the top of the screen. Pass all the obstacles but don't make the final jump to Smurfette's platform. Just wait there. Eventually, Smurfette will throw off her clothes in an attempt to entice you onward.

[Alas, the only corroborating documentation I have is in New Jersey…]


Product: Apple II game "Dalton's Disk Disintegrator" Reported by: Jef DePolo (depolo@eniac.seas.upenn.edu) Submitted by: Raymond Chen (raymondc@microsoft.com)

There was an Apple II program called "Dalton's Disk Disintegrator", a favorite among hackers and pirates at the time. At its title screen, if you typed D-A-L-T-O-N, it would play a song.


Source: "Peter the Bugman" (maxis@aol.com)

Various Maxis simulation games:

For SimCity: On any platform, hold down the shift key and type in "fund". This gives you an instant 10,000$, but if you do it too often, you will get earthquakes, regardless of how the disaster settings are set.

=-=-=-=

For SimEarth: On any platfiorm, hold down the shift key and type in joke, then open the Gaia window.

=-=-=-=

For SimAnt: type in any of the following: oops rand erad FUND joke HOLE hole jeff will These all do various things that are easily recognizable.

=-=-=-=

For A-Train: hold down the control and alt keys, then type in "bellybutton".

Once the game is ended, watch very carefully. The ending screen shot is not the same. (Our programmers have a bizzarre sense of humour.) That is a picture of their, well, er …uh…. bellybuttons.


Source: Steven R. Staton (sstaton@micrografx.com)

MVP rasterizer cards from Matrix Instruments/AFGA/Miles:

On the {Matrix Instruments|AGFA Matrix|Miles Division Matrix} MVP and MVP*Star rasterizer boards for the IBM-pc (used to drive the QCR, PCR, Forte, and other film recorders) there is a cookie in the foreground mode of the MVP software. Enter foreground mode and press ALT-<2><5><5> (send the ASCII character 255 via the keypad). The cookie (which is different in MVP 3.5, 4.0, 4.1[grrr…] and 4.2) appears in the STATUS box where normally there is hexadecimal numbers.

I don't remember the exact wording, but under MVP 3.5 it says something like "despite rancid source code, inept management, and poor tools, we proudly present MVP 3.5 with EGA and 24-bit overlays– D Miller S Staton."

[The text is different in later releases of the program.]


Source: Dean Inada (dmi@peregrine.com)

Mattel Intellevision games:

Transcribed verbatim off an old photocopy, we called them "Copyright Kludges" back then. The date style marks this compilation as the work of Chris Hawley [Notation: hold down indicated keys during powerup.]

              Kluge file for Games- Updated 8107.13

ROULETTE: left = 13 right = 123 SKIING: left = 57 right = 57 WORD FUN: press 43210 during word rockets mode ARMOR BATTLE: left = 3 right = 9 HORSE RACING: left = 69 right = 69 BOXING: left = lower two action keys and wheel direction 7 SPACE ARMADA: left = 46 OR clear-enter

                        right = lower two action keys

AUTO RACE: pres 169 on any keypad to get real steering STAR STRIKE: left = 19 OR 37 FRENCH CASSETTE: left = 19 right = 80

                        during introduction (menu #0); then exit to
                        monitor (menu #6)

DEMO CASSETTE: type "dei" (lower case) during space battle


Source: John Hawkinson (jhawk@panix.com)

On a RSTS/E system, type:

$ HELP SPIKE $ HELP ADVANCED SPIKE

Of course, these don't show up in the HELP topics listing…

They give info on Spike, the RSTS/E mascot (a bulldog, if I'm not mistaken).


Source: Zebee Johnstone (zebee@ucs.adelaide.edu.au)

The Data General AOS/VS 16 bit OS responds to XYZZY with "nothing happens".

The new 32 bit AOS/VS II responds with "twice as much happens"


Source: Tim Shoppa (shoppa@erin.caltech.edu)

 Typing "SHOW USERS" at the RT11 prompt (a single-user system) gives
 a response of "NOBODY BUT YOU!".

Source: Denis Fortin (fortin@zap.uucp)

Also in RT-11:

  Typing HELP FOO
  produced NO HELP IS AVAILABLE FOR FOO
  But typing HELP ME
  produced NO HELP IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU

Source: Joe Newcomer and many others:

under TECO, originally under TOPS-10 and subsequently ported to other platforms (including this Easter egg):

Type the command:

  MAKE LOVE

which is supposed to create a new file named LOVE using TECO. The command executes as intended, but only after responding with a message:

  Not war?

Source: Barry Ferris (ferris@netcom.COM)

of course, this wasn't the only TECO egg…type in:

       $ make  war

to get

        not love?

Source: Earle Ake (ake@dayton.saic.com)

VMS Easter Eggs:

$ anal/system

VAX/VMS System analyzer

SDA> show cluster/scs

VAXcluster data structures


  1. – SCS Listening Process Directory —

Entry Address Connection ID Process Name Information ————- ————- ———— ———–

80308800          071D0000        SCS$DIRECTORY   What city, plez?
803087A0          071D0001        MSCP$TAPE       NOT PRESENT HERE
80308740          071D0002        MSCP$DISK       NOT PRESENT HERE

Source: cac%sierra.com@mwunix.mitre.org

The following exists on every VMS I have ever seen:

% mcr sysgen SYSGEN> SHOW TIMEPROMPTWAIT Parameter Name Current Default Min. Max. Unit Dyna ————– ——- ——- ——- ——- —- —- TIMEPROMPTWAIT 65535 -1 0 -1 uFortnight

Also, I no longer have access to a VMS DBMS, but I recall that typing HELP WOMBAT inside the DBMS would give about three pages of interesting facts about Wombats, and that PLOT WOMBAT would draw a wombat on your terminal.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


Product: Hewlett-Packard products


Product: H-P 110 portable "Nomad" Reported by: Ed Schwalenberg (ed@odi.com)

On the HP110 Portable "Nomad" computer, the developer's names are after the ^Z end-of-file character in either CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT, I forget which.

=-=-=-=

Source: Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago (katefans@chinet.chi.il.us)

In a prior article Norman Soley writes:

In a prior article Steve VanDevender writes…
The weirdest thing I found in my HP 150 is that the phrase "My
mind is going…" is burned in one of the ROMs. I have no idea
why it's there or if it would ever appear on the screen. My pet
theory is that it's a diagnostic that appears if some of the ROMs
are missing (a la the HAL dismantling scene in 2001).
More likely someone noticed there were a few unused bytes at the end of the
ROM and slid that in as a joke. There is the well know story of the "resist
the draft" message that's stored in some user inaccesable (usually) part of
someone's LOGO and one or more of the VAX chips has "VAX, for those who care
enough to steal the best" in Russian on an unused part of the mask….
In all cases the companies involved claimed no knowledge of these when
discovered.

Source: Mik Butler (mik@hpopd.pwd.hp.com)

If I remember correctly there was an easter egg in the 150 that would
cause it to respond to XYZZY in the right circumstances.
The 'My mind is going' may well have been the response.

Rodney Brown, Co-Cam Computer Group, ACSNet: rdb@mel.cocam.oz.au

To get an HP150 (or HP2625/HP2628 terminal) to produce the "my mind is going…" message, send or type the sequence <esc>&a?


Source: Steve VanDevender (stevev@grayback.uoregon.edu)

 In article <44880008@hpopd.pwd.hp.com> mik@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Mik
 Butler) writes:
 >
 > To get an HP150 (or HP2625/HP2628 terminal) to produce the "my mind
 > is going..." message, send or type the sequence <esc>&a?

Thank you thank you thank you. I discovered the "My mind is going…" message when I was in larval stage not long after I got my 150 and wrote a memory scanner. Only now, almost eight years later, do I know how to get the message. It indeed works on my HP 150 with Rev B roms.

=-=-=-=-=-=-= —— cut here —– cut here —– =-=-=-=-=-=-= End part 1 of 2

Xref: icaen alt.folklore.computers:47387 bit.listserv.win3-l:23928 comp.os.ms-windows.apps:15852 comp.os.ms-windows.misc:13031 comp.os.msdos.misc:15622 Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,bit.listserv.win3-l,comp.os.ms-windows.apps,comp.os.ms-windows.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc Path: icaen!news.uiowa.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!agate!linus!linus.mitre.org!jcmorris From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) Subject: Ye Olde Secrete Screene Cheete Sheete (long; 2000+ lines) (part 2/2) Message-ID: <jcmorris.742508968@mwunix> Sender: news@linus.mitre.org (News Service) Nntp-Posting-Host: mwunix.mitre.org Organization: The MITRE Corporation Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 20:29:28 GMT Lines: 458

2)

=-=-=-=-=-=-= —– cut here —– cut here —– =-=-=-=-=-=-=

The following is a massive summary of Macintosh Easter Eggs compiled by Bryan Kendig of Princeton, and forwarded to me by Kees Huyser. Please send any comments or updates to this FAQ list directly to Bryan at bskendig@phpenix.Princeton.edu.


                 The Macintosh Secret Trick List
    compiled by Brian Kendig (bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU)
                         Fifth revision.

Please report corrections to me, no matter how insignificant! You may (of course!) distribute information about these tricks freely, but please keep my name on this list if you pass it around whole. New info about tricks will be attributed and very much appreciated.

The information below includes what to do to make a trick happen, then what the trick really is. If you don't want the trick spoiled (you don't want to know what it does until you try it yourself), you can display only the instructions for making it happen (the lines that begin with an equals-sign) with the Unix command

      grep '^=' tricks

where "tricks" is the name of this file.

Here's a not-a-trick that every Tom, Dick, and Harriet out there has been reporting to me: Press Command-Option-Escape to kill the process currently in the foreground. This is useful if your machine is taking way too long to finish something and is ignoring you, or if your machine has crashed – sometimes you can use this trick to regain control of your machine long enough to save your work and restart your Mac. (After you use this trick, you should generally restart as soon as possible.)

A lot of people have been telling me about this, but it's not a trick! It's a documented feature of System 7. However, since lots of people never saw it in the manuals, I might as well have it here too.

= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = = Hardware = = Macintosh Plus = From the debugger, enter "G 40E118". =

This gives you a "Stolen from Apple Computer" message.

= Macintosh SE = Hit the interrupt switch (the button with the broken circle on it, on = the left side of your machine closer to the back) to go into the = built-in debugger, and enter "G 41D89A". =

Four bitmap pictures of the Macintosh development team appear as a
slideshow.  Reboot (hit the button closer to the front, with the
triangle on it) to get out of the endless cycle.

= Macintosh Classic = Hold down Command-Option-x-o right after you turn on or reboot the = machine. =

The Classic starts up from a minimal ROM-disk which contains
System 6.0.3, Finder 6.1x, and AppleShare.  (This version of the
System is not recommended to run the Classic under.)  If you look at
the ROM-disk with a program able to see invisible files (like ResEdit
or MacTools), you'll find folders hidden there bearing the names of
the Classic designers.

= Macintosh IIci = Set the system date to 9/20/89 (the release date of the IIci), and set = your monitor to 8-bit color. Restart while holding Command-Option-c-i. =

You'll see a color picture of the IIci design team.  Click the mouse
to continue.

= Macintosh IIfx = Set the system date to 3/19/90 (the release date of the IIfx), and = restart while holding down Command-Option-f-x. =

You'll see a color picture of the IIfx design team.  Click the mouse
to continue.

= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = = System = ("7.0" means "7.0.0" or "7.0.1".) = = Multifinder 1.0 (distributed with System Software prior to 6.0) = Hold down Command and Option while selecting "About Multifinder" = from the bottom of the Apple menu. =

A scrolling list of credits appears.
(Contributed by Seth Theriault)

= Multifinder 6.0 = Search the STR# resources with ResEdit. =

One STR# resource contains three strings:
  "I want my"
  "I want my"
  "I want my l--k and f--l"
(Anybody know how to get this message to come up without having to
 snoop around in ResEdit?)
(Contributed by Tony Cooper)

= System 6.0.7 or 7.0 = Take a look through the data fork of the System File (with MacSnoop = or MacTools, or open it with MS Word). (It's short.) =

The string "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system
software factory!" is at the end of the data fork.
(Contributed by Kevin Bolduan)

= System 6.0.7J (Kanjitalk) = Set the clock to January 1, 1992, and restart. =

The startup screen says "Happy new year" in Japanese.
(Contributed by Junio Hamano)

= Finder 7.0 = Hold down Option while choosing "About This Macintosh". =

(The menu option changes to "About the Finder".)  The original picture
of the mountains from System 1.0 appears.  If the creation date of the
invisible "Desktop Folder" is May 13, 1991, or later, the names of all
the Finder developers through Mac and Lisa history also scroll by.
Hold down Command-Option while choosing "About" to get a goofy-face
cursor.

= Caches 7.0.1 = Option-click on the version number in the upper right-hand corner. =

The "040" icon will whoosh over, revealing the name of the programmer.

= Caps Lock 7.0.1 (on a PowerBook) = Turn on balloon help, press Caps Lock, and point to the up-arrow icon = in the menu bar. =

The balloon help reads: "This file allows your Macintosh TIM or
Derringer to display an icon..."  (These were the working names of the
PowerBooks; Apple forgot to change the extension before System 7.0.1
was released!)

= Color Control Panel 7.0 = Option-click on the Sample Text a few times. =

The strings "by Dean Yu" "& Vincent Lo" alternate.

= Labels Control Panel 7.0 = Delete all the label names in the Labels control panel, and reboot. =

The labels are now "None," "a", "l", "a", "n", "j", "e", "f".

= Map Control Panel 1.x (released with System 6) and 7.0 = Type MID as the city name, and click Find. Also try: clicking on the = version number, option-clicking on Find, opening the control panel = while you hold down shift and/or option, clicking somewhere in the Map = and dragging off the edge of it, or copying the map from the Scrapbook = and pasting it while the Map control panel is open. =

The stored point MID is actually "Middle of Nowhere", an insignificant
  location in the middle of the South Atlantic.  (This one was added
  in version 7.0.)
Clicking on the "7.0" puts "v7.0, by Mark Davis" into the city name
  field until you release the mouse button.
Option-clicking on Find repeatedly will take you alphabetically to
    every city the Map knows.
Opening the control panel while you hold down the shift key will
  display a magnified map (the resolution is the same, so it's very jagged).
  Opening it with option held down magnifies it more, and shift-option
  magnifies it even more to the point of being really blocky.
Dragging off the edge of the map will scroll around the world.
You can paste a new picture into the control panel; the Scrapbook that
  comes with System 7 includes a particularly good color map.
(Contributed by Takeshi Miyazaki and Doc O'Leary)

= Memory Control Panel 7.0 (on a machine capable of virtual memory) = Turn on virtual memory and hold down Option while clicking on the = pop-up menu used to choose a hard drive for your swapfile. =

This brings up a hierarchical pop-up menu with the names of the
programmers; each name points to a submenu with a few comments.
(Contributed by Povl Hessellund Pedersen)

= Monitors Control Panel 7.0 = Click the version number (7.0) in the control panel window. While you = hold down the mouse button, tap Option several times. =

When you click, a box pops up with the names of the people who wrote
Monitors.  Pressing Option makes the smiley face stick out its tongue.
After tapping Option several times, the names begin to get rearranged
and some first and last names get replaced with "Blue" or "Meanies".

= Puzzle Desk Accessory 7.0 = You can copy the picture of two linked squares from the Scrapbook = and paste it into the Puzzle. =

In fact, you can paste any picture into the Puzzle, and it will be
sized to fit.  You can also copy the picture from the Puzzle and
look at the clipboard to see what it will look like solved.
(Contributed by Povl H. Pedersen)

= Finder 7.0 and MacsBug = Turn on Balloon Help and point to the MacsBug file. =

The balloon reads: "This file provides programmers with information
proving that it really was a hardware problem..."

= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = = Other Software = = Adobe Photoshop = Hold down the Option key and select "About Photoshop". =

A dialog crediting "Knoll Software" as the original designers appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)

= Claris CAD = Hold down the Option key and select "About Claris CAD". =

A system configuration summary appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)

= Disinfectant = Select "About Disinfectant." =

A bitmap photo of John Norstad appears in one half of the dialog,
while in the other half an animated sequence of virus names march out
while the Monty Python theme song plays, until they get stomped by
a huge foot.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)

= FlashWrite II = Hold down Option as you select "About FlashWrite II" under the "star" logo. =

A Mr. Mojo Risin' quotation appears.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)

= HyperCard 2.x = Hold down Option as you select "About Hypercard…". =

You get (in 2.1 only) a dialog describing your system setup, and (in
either 2.0 or 2.1) the chooser name, if you've entered one, appears
in the "HyperCard by" title.  (That is, if you entered "Joe Cool" as
your name in the Chooser (6.0) or Sharing Setup (7.0), the top of the
window will read "HyperCard by Joe Cool".
Also, on a Quadra, you will be told your system is a "Macintosh Macintosh".
(Thanks to Seth Theriault for more info.)

= Installer 3.x (this only seems to work under System 6, or am I wrong?) = After dismissing the initial welcome dialog, type "ski". =

A humorous list of the developers will appear, and you will be able
to choose from five wait-cursors: the hand with the moving fingers
(standard), a spinning globe, the familiar spinning disc, the even
more familiar wristwatch, and dots that move.
(Contributed by John DeRosa)

= Jam Session = Choose "About Jam Session". =

The credits are displayed on the label of a record, and you can hear
it click (as an old record does after it's played to the end).  When
you click the mouse to dismiss the dialog, you hear the scratching
noise of the needle being lifted off the record.
(Contributed by Joe Campbell)

= KiwiEnvelopes! 3.1 = Choose "About KiwiEnvelopes!". =

A letter is deposited into a mail truck which then rolls off the screen.
After it leaves, a marquee shows the names of the development team.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)

= MacDraw Pro = Hold down Option while selecting "About MacDraw Pro". =

The dialog shows your system setup.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)

= MacPaint 2.0 (only the first few copies, before Claris caught it) = Hold down Tab and Space while choosing "About MacPaint". =

A bitmap of a well-known painting of a nude zebra-striped woman atop a
white zebra appears.

= Microsoft Excel 3.0 = Open a new spreadsheet, then go to cell IV16384. (Press Cmd-Right = then Cmd-Down to jump there.) Use the scroll bars to scroll down and = right more until only that cell is showing, then set that cell's width = and height both to 0. All that will remain in your window will be the = little square in the upper-left-hand corner that you normally click on = to select the entire spreadsheet; click on it.

The contents of the window will be replaced by a little Lotus-stomping
then a list of Excel's programmers and beta-testers.  When your normal
Excel window comes back, scroll away to keep the show from repeating.
(Contributed by Evan Torrie)

= Here's another: set the style of any cell to "excel" (by selecting = "Format Styles…" and typing "excel" without the quotes). Then choose = "About Excel…" from the Apple menu and click on the big Excel icon. =

A brief animation ("So good, it hurts.") alternates with the names of
the developers ("Recalc or Die!").
(Contributed by Rob Griffiths)

= Microsoft Word 3.01 and 4.x = Spellcheck the word "childcare". =

The spell-checker will suggest one word: "kidnaper" (sic).
(Contributed by Adam Shostack)

= Microsoft Word 4.0 = Select "About Microsoft Word" and command-click on the Word icon. =

The resulting dialog gives the names of beta-testers.

= Norton Utilities 1.1 = Command-click the little rhomboid just in front of the string = "Version 1.1" in the About box. =

A list of the developers appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)

= QuicKeys 2 = Open the macro definition window, and click on the logo to bring = up a credits window. Wait for about half a minute. =

A bunny walks across the window beating a drum.  After it crosses,
the message "QuicKeys keeps on going!" is displayed.
(Contributed by Kenny Wong)

= ResEdit 2.1 = Turn on Balloon Help and point to the ResEdit file. =

The balloon reads: "... Apple recommends that you use ResEdit only
on expendable copies of your files."
(Contributed by Takeshi Miyazaki.)

= ResEdit 2.x = Hold down Shift, Option, and Command as you choose "About ResEdit." =

You get the chance to enter "pig mode" (oink oink oink).
When you put ResEdit into pig mode, resources will be compacted and
purged each time ResEdit goes through its event loop (several times a
second).  (However, since this makes ResEdit slower, it's not of much
use outside Apple.)
(Contributed by Ian Neath.
(Info about "pig mode" from Chris Webster and Russell Street.)
Mr. Street adds that if you turn on pig mode while running ResEdit
from a floppy disk the disk will "oink" a few times each second (most
easily heard on an old Plus in a quiet room), but when I tried this
my machine crashed.  ;)

= Simple Player (for QuickTime) 1.0 = Hold down Option as you select "About Simple Player…" =

The two movie frames now have greyscaled cats in them.
(Contributed by Scott Ryder)

= SoundEdit = Choose "About SoundEdit". =

A burning fuse bomb "system error" blows up.

= Speed Disk (from Norton Utilities 1.1) = Command-click the little rhomboid just in front of the string = "Version 1.1". =

The large letters that make up the name "SPEED DISK" swap themselves
pair-by-pair until the name eventually unjumbles itself again.
(Contributed by Andy Calder)

= WriteNow 2.2 = Select "About WriteNow", then option-click on the About dialog. =

Little men run out and change all the letters one-by-one.

= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- = = And now, for something completely different! = Masatsugu Nagata has reported a really nifty trick to me that I = don't have the resources to confirm, but I'd be muchly appreciative = of any hacker with time on his hands who'd like to pin this one down. = = The ingredients: = One Macintosh SE/30 = System 7.0 or 7.0.1 = Kerry Clendinning's "Easy Keys 1.5" Control Panel = QUED/M 2.09 (The text editor from Paragon; little brother of NISUS) = = Assign some key combinations in Easy Keys Control Panel. = Launch QUED/M, and press the key combination. = Then, an "address error" bomb alert comes up, but you can click on = "Continue" to keep going – go ahead and click "Continue". = = Everything is normal again until you quit QUED/M, at which time = the screen blanks to all white except for the figure of a Mac and = a "Mac SE/30 Engineering Hall of Fame" list. = The only way out is to press the reset button. = = Perhaps the address error hit the address for the "Hall of Fame" = accidentally. Hence my request: can anyone pinpoint what this = address is to run the credits? = –

* * * End of File * * *

1)
Split posting; part 1 of 2
2)
Split posting; part 2 of 2
/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/archive/programming/easter.egg.txt · Last modified: 2001/01/13 03:11 by 127.0.0.1

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