[FX.php List] [OFF-TOPIC] A bug discovery in OS X Server and OS X 10.4 installers

[Dale Bengston]

Well, I'm going to say I'm as crazy, or at very least as voodoo- 
cursed as Bob. (See other post in this thread.)

Back in the early 80s when I was a student hourly at the University  
of Wisconsin, at a research center that did work for non-vocal  
disabled people, we had a balky voice synthesizer. Now, the quality  
of voice synthesis in that era was pretty bad. This thing cost about  
$600 and sounded like the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica.

After a couple hours of use, it would start to skip and stutter. I  
called the manufacturer's phone number and got some engineer at the  
small company that made the thing. He told me this story: when the  
synthesizer got warm, due to different rates of expansion, some of  
the components on the circuit board would get loose. All I had to do  
was unplug it, pick it up, hold it upside down, and slam it on the  
table and everything reseat itself.

Naturally, I didn't believe him. I was only 20 years old, but I  
wasn't going to fall for that one. After while, he (mostly) convinced  
me, and I figured I could always claim the "I don't know what  
happened" defense if it broke. So I put down the phone and slammed  
the thing on the table as directed. Then I plugged the synthesizer  
back in, and it worked.

After that, fixing the voice synthesizer became something of a parlor  
trick around the office. The synthesizer would start to cut out and  
break up, and I (or someone I'd freaked out previously with the  
trick) would pick the thing up and slam it on the table. It worked  
every time. I was at that job for three years after that and the  
synthesizer was still going strong when I left. It would probably  
still work if you didn't mind digging up an Apple II and sounding  
like a Cylon.

Dale

On May 22, 2007, at 9:08 PM, Jon Montgomery wrote:

> On 5/22/07 7:23 PM, "John May" <jmaymailing at pointinspace.com> wrote:
>
>> Never tried that specific combination.
>>
>> I do know there was a screwy install issue with OS X server on the  
>> old G4 Xserves where the install disc wouldn't boot if there was  
>> more than 512MB ram installed.  Gotta love that black magic...
>>
>>         - John
>
> My dad was a radio tech for the state police.  Not long ago a  
> retired state trooper told me a story about my dad and this  
> trooper’s radio.  My dad had evidently “fixed” it several times in  
> a week or two.  He would put it back in the car and the next day  
> the trooper would have to come back in and tell him it didn’t  
> work.  Finally dad took the radio out of the car, now mind you this  
> was just before printed circuits took over so this thing had vacuum  
> tubes in it.  He looked at it sitting there for a long time.   
> Picked it up and slammed it down on the work bench.  Then he said,  
> “You have got to get a new radio.  This one is broken.”
>
>     Now Bob, that is NOT my suggestion with your Mac.  That radio  
> didn’t cost over 2 grand, but the reference that John made above to  
> that “black magic” was around in the 60’s as well.
>
> Hope this brings a smile.
>
> Jon Montgomery
> -- 
> Jon Montgomery
> Email           igsmasupport at igsmasouth.org
> Email           vicepresident at onecliq.net
> Email           jwmontgomery at dqud300.perry.k12.il.us
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