guru meditation

operating system, exception The Amiga equivalent of

Unix's panic (sometimes just called a "guru" or "guru

event"). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the

form "GURU MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY" may appear,

indicating what the problem was. An Amiga guru can figure

things out from the numbers.

In the earliest days of the Amiga, there was a device called a

"Joyboard" which was basically a plastic board built onto a

joystick-like device; it was sold with a skiing game cartridge

for the Atari game machine. It is said that whenever the

prototype OS crashed, the system programmer responsible would

concentrate on a solution while sitting cross-legged, balanced

on a Joyboard, resembling a meditating guru. Sadly, the joke

was removed in AmigaOS 2.04.

The Jargon File claimed that a guru event had to be

followed by a Vulcan nerve pinch but, according to a

correspondent, a mouse click was enough to start a reboot.

(2002-06-25)