Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!nott-cs!pyr1.cs.ucl.ac.uk!william
From: william@pyr1.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: computer follies
Message-ID: <37600006@pyr1.cs.ucl.ac.uk>
Date: 26 Sep 88 18:01:00 GMT
References: <5856@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Lines: 29
Nf-ID: #R:ihlpf.ATT.COM:-585600:pyr1.cs.ucl.ac.uk:37600006:000:1493
Nf-From: pyr1.cs.ucl.ac.uk!william    Sep 26 18:01:00 1988


I once typed "rm *.old" to get rid of some old editor backup files,
and came out as "rm * old".  It sat there for a few moments, and then
said "old: file does not exist".  Damn.

I used Televideo 910 terminals as an undergrad, and when you logged off,
the system cleared your screen. Once, I typed LOGOFF and then realised
I needed the data currently on the screen, so I hit CTRL-S hard just
as the first carriage returns came through to scroll the screen.  And
the terminal just stopped - no logoff message, nothing - and nothing
that I did made any difference.  It was definitely the terminal that
went, as I tried plugging different terminals into the same socket,
and power-off didn't help.  I couldn't believe this, so I replicated the
situation and killed another terminal.  

Later on, I mentioned this to a friend who didn't believe it either, so
he promptly killed one and demoed it to someone else.  Within an hour,
half of the college terminals were extinct which was amazingly popular
as it was the middle of the project season, and about a week later
the dead terminals were taken away and were replaced after a further week.

			... Bill

	
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Bill Witts, CS Dept.     *    Nel Mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
UCL, London, Errrp       *    mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
william@cs.ucl.ac.uk     *    che la diritta via era smarrita.
************************************************************************