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Apple Easter Egg

AnamanFan writes "Many years ago an easter egg was uncovered on the MacOS System 7.1 CD included with the Quadra 660av and 840av machines. A 91mb MOV file shows the Cyclone/Tempest team celebrating with a nice pirate flag in the background. Don't have your old System 7.1 CD from your Quadra? It's now available online, or if you'd like to you're welcome to use the Torrent."

60 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. Nice... by Tuxedo+Jack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But not as good as cracking open a Mac 128K and finding the signatures of the design team in raised lettering on it.

    --

    Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
    1. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here is a picture, from this site

    2. Re:Nice... by lost_tribe_of_fort_w · · Score: 3, Informative

      Some of the early versions of the Mac Plus had this case as well. I guess they were trying to use up the old 128/512 cases. I don't know how rare the plus version is. Hopefully very rare as I have one collecting dust in the closet.

    3. Re:Nice... by tim_mathews · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Check out Folklore. The story Signing Party is about the signatures. The last paragraph talks about how they slowly disappeared throughout the Mac versions.

    4. Re:Nice... by Nerull · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick I have has similar signatures on the inside.

  2. Ohhhh =) by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pirate flag + bit torrent = hidden message?

    Tin foil hat goes ON

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
    1. Re:Ohhhh =) by wootest · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not to mention it being *easter* now.

  3. Slow news day? by DraconPern · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know the PSP launch is a failure when you need year old news to fill the Slashdot front page.

  4. That's one big ass easter egg by wootest · · Score: 3, Interesting

    91MB. I wonder if the team had permission to get it in there or if it "mysteriously appeared" all of a sudden. ;)

    1. Re:That's one big ass easter egg by grahams · · Score: 4, Informative

      No, the MOV was the easter egg. It was a hidden file on a System CD.

    2. Re:That's one big ass easter egg by xanadu-xtroot.com · · Score: 3, Funny
      --
      I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
      I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
  5. seeders! by Moester · · Score: 2, Interesting

    man, with this on slashdot, there will be hundreds of seeds. It is 52 Mb.

  6. omg pirate flag... by omicronish · · Score: 5, Funny

    !! Notify the MPAA!

  7. GANGBANG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    1 chick, 9 guys?

    There are some days I wished these damned machines were never invented.

  8. Don't mean to be a dick... by Lisandro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... because i usually love this stuff, but how exactly does a 91MB video file on an CD counts as "easter egg"? And how came no one noticed it before - sheeze, it cant't be that easy to miss.

    PS, the video is cool, and the recompressed version is most welcome!

    1. Re:Don't mean to be a dick... by Compact+Dick · · Score: 3, Funny
      And how came no one noticed it before - sheeze, it cant't be that easy to miss.
      We're talking Mac users. What were you expecting?
    2. Re:Don't mean to be a dick... by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it WAS noticed before.

      YEARS AGO..

      when 7.1 was fresh.

      you know, maybe someone thought that because such 'hidden' stuff in software is called easter eggs that it would be a proper thing to post during easter. well it's not.

      slashdot: add a "DUST FROM THE ARCHIVES" section to put this kind of stuff under...

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Don't mean to be a dick... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      slashdot: add a "DUST FROM THE ARCHIVES" section to put this kind of stuff under...

      No way, we'll just post it as breaking news.

    4. Re:Don't mean to be a dick... by artifex2004 · · Score: 3, Funny
      slashdot: add a "DUST FROM THE ARCHIVES" section to put this kind of stuff under...


      Shouldn't that be dust bunnies from the archives? For Easter, of course.
    5. Re:Don't mean to be a dick... by dcclark · · Score: 3, Informative

      It was, among other things, hidden in an invisible folder deep inside the Installer disk, where nobody who wasn't looking for it would ever be looking.

      In addition, the news is that it's available online (specifically as a Torrent) now, not that somebody found it for the first time. I remember reading this on the (long defunct) appleeastereggs.com site about 7 years ago.

  9. Slow Speeds by rickst13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it really right to submit a story to slashdot, just because you are getting slow speeds on a download?

  10. Lizard flag in early PPC machines by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My favorite was a real-time rendered flag with a lizard that was shown against the backdrop of the Apple campus. It came on the Powermac 8500 and OS 7.5, IIRC. It was meant to be a fun little demo of the machine's power. The mouse location controlled the angle and strength of the wind and the flag would flutter and move appropriately. If you were aggressive enough with changing the direction of the wind, the flag would break off the pole and flutter to the ground.

    The earliest Mac easter egg that I remember was one that got the dog-cow to say Moof on the Page Setup dialogs circa early system 7 and a hidden break-out game that also dates from the early system 7 era.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:Lizard flag in early PPC machines by otuz · · Score: 2, Informative

      The first I remember works only on the Mac SE.

      1. Push the interrupt button to enter the mini-debugger.
      2. Type "g 41d89a"
      3. Enjoy the slideshow pictures of the Mac SE team.
      4. ???
      5. Profit!

      The easter egg you describe is described here in detail. (It works on any 1st generation PCI-PowerMac)

  11. Champagne in Dixie Cups by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's kind of cool seeing how even during some of the dark days under shitty management, creative people were doing cool things at Apple, and pretty much keeping it alive.

    I do video on the Mac, and I've done it, off and on, since 1992. The AV models were a big step forward in terms of making the technology available at a cheap price. (I still have a Nubus TruVista+ card that I can't bear to part with because it cost so much back in the day. Probably worthless now.)

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  12. *Shudders* by CypherXero · · Score: 5, Funny

    Early 1990's....*shudders*

  13. System 7.1 cd?? by lilricky · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Don't have your old System 7.1 CD from your Quadra? It's now available online, or if you'd like to you're welcome to use the Torrent." Cool, where is the System 7.1 CD then? :)

  14. RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Idiots! Read the submission! It says "Many years ago, the egg was uncovered." Meaning it's NOT NEW. The availability of this video is what is new.

    Dumbshits...

  15. Re:WTF?!? Did MSNBC just buy /.? by Frankie70 · · Score: 2, Funny


    If this Easter Egg was discovered so many years ago, then how come the news is only appearing on Slashdot now?


    You must be new here.

  16. No, that's just good compression by QMO · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think that if you read the story post again you'll get some interesting information.

    You say 91 Mb, the GP says 91 MB, but the story says 91 mb. I am very interested in the compression algorithm that fits any .mov file into less than an 80th of a byte. I would like to fit my entire music collection on my Atari 800, or my TI-82 graphing calculator.

    --
    Exam 4/C again. Maybe I'll do better this time.
  17. Velcro! by Wysz · · Score: 3, Funny

    I love the guy who has the Velcro shoes. So much more convenient than laces, I wonder why they're not popular anymore.

    1. Re:Velcro! by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not popular? But I still have two pairs...

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
    2. Re:Velcro! by Thing+1 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      At first I read this as "Velcro soles" and thought, "Cool! He can walk on carpeted ceilings!"

      Me, I have shoes (Reebok) that have both laces and velcro. Very nice, because you tie the laces, then strap them down with the velcro so they don't come untied.

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
    3. Re:Velcro! by schiefaw · · Score: 2, Funny

      My little sister had velcro straps on her shoes when she was a kid (around 9 years old). She would cry and scream because she couldn't get the straps to line up perfectly. Should have been a warning sign, I guess. Not the shoes for obsessive compulsives.

      --
      Angleyne: You can't bend that girder - it's unbendable! Bender: Well I don't know anything about lifting, so that ju
  18. The link title is a little misleading. by RenaissanceGeek · · Score: 4, Funny
    I was rather excited about the Macintosh System 7.1 CD finally becoming available online, and similarly disappointed that the only bit now available is the easter-egg movie.

    As nice as that is, that's not what the title of the link says.

    Although Macintosh System 6.0.x, System 7.0.1, and System 7.5.3 are both available for download for free from Apple (in "convenient" floppy-disk-sized pieces for those systems that have no CD-drive), System 7.1 remains unavailable (except via eBay, of course) due to, I believe, some liscencing issues with PowerTalk, or something. It's vaguely rediculous that software that is useful only for computers that are basically free/garbage at this point should still be subject to that kind of restriction when the newer 7.5.3 isn't.

    There's a high probability that issues like that in Apple's history is what leads their management to either aquire technologies outright (like NeXT) or develop an equivilant in-house (like Dashboard instead of Confabulator) instead of liscencing them (like Be wanted Apple to do with BeOS.)

    It means that the only force to consult in the future when deciding what happens to a given bit of code is Apple itself. MUCH simpler.

    --
    What is the difference between a small revolutionary change and a large evolutionary change?
    1. Re:The link title is a little misleading. by Queer+Boy · · Score: 2, Informative
      It's vaguely rediculous that software that is useful only for computers that are basically free/garbage at this point should still be subject to that kind of restriction when the newer 7.5.3 isn't.

      7.5.5 runs on the same hardware that 7.1 does and is just as stable. It doesn't use much more memory and doesn't take up much more space. The ability to connect to the internet with an old Mac (which you can only do with 7.1 through hacks) makes the negligible amount of extra resources used worth it.

      What ticks me off is that 7.6 is not available for free from Apple. It's the last version that ran on 030 Macs and is a big improvement over 7.5.5. Well, at least Apple gives away some of their old system software for free. I don't see old versions of OS/2 or Windows 3.1x online.

      --
      Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
  19. POS: format isn't recognized. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    On windows, it isn't recognized by windows media player, media player classic, or even Apple's quicktime media player. It's the suck.

  20. Re:Black or White? by pbjones · · Score: 2, Informative

    it wasnt an easter egg, it appeared on the QT Developer release CD, IIRC QTv1.5

    --
    There was an unknown error in the submission.
  21. Apple II egg by MiKM · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I still like the egg on the old Apple II (I forget which kind) that played back the devteam saying "Apple II".

  22. Re:POS: format isn't recognized. by aristotle-dude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now you know how mac users feel when we can't play WMV 9 files that use some new windows only codec.

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
  23. Original file may ONLY play on Macs... by Billy_D_Goat · · Score: 5, Informative

    I noticed some people complaining about being unable to play the bittorrent original movie file. I suspect this is because of the age of the file. It was probably made using QT 1 or 2 and is in the ancient "Video" compression. Also, the file uses the classic mac resource identifiers and lacks a file extension. Anyone having trouble might try adding .MOV to the end of the Our Gang! file. The file DOES work on Macs though using QT.

  24. Do you want MORE? by Jugalator · · Score: 2, Informative

    www.eeggs.com seems to be a good site for more easter eggs, not only computer related ones.
    In case you're into that sort of thing.

    They even have RSS feeds for daily updates.
    rofl, who subscribes to those? :-p

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  25. Re:WTF?!? Did MSNBC just buy /.? by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 2, Funny

    >> If this Easter Egg was discovered so many years ago, then how come the news is only appearing on Slashdot now?

    Don't worry, It'll get posted twice to make up for the delay...

  26. My only easter egg by fm6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you can find the easter egg in Delphi 7, I'm the guy holding the giant plastic rat.

    1. Re:My only easter egg by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I left Borland a couple years ago, and anything relating to the company is subject to traumatic amnesia. So I can't tell your how to shut off Delphi Direct. Or find the Easter Egg. But both are possible. GIYF.

      You're right, it is suprising that 3 people even know what Delphi is. But then Delphi has always had the pervase, but poorly publicized following in the developer community.

  27. Re:POS: format isn't recognized. by No+Panic · · Score: 3, Informative

    Had to add extensions to the filename to make it play in WinXP.

    Added ".mp4" to the filename, and it plays in WMP, but sound was missing.

    Added ".mov" to the filename, and it plays OK in Quicktime (and sound works). ...

  28. Re:POS: format isn't recognized. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    download the recompressed version, mpeg4, 10mb:

    http://www.pitt.edu/~clh23/our_gang.mov

  29. Bah by nmb3000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    C'mon, Apple has got to have something better than this "easter egg". It's nothing compared to previous Excel eggs.

    Say what you will about Microsoft, but they (did) have some cool people working on Office :)

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
  30. Your sig by Dwonis · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]

    IIRC, ISO 8601 allows a whole bunch of optional syntax that can confuse things. Also, the text of ISO 8601 isn't freely available. Why not campaign for RFC 3339 full-date format dates instead?

  31. Proof that Apple supports Piracy! by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 2, Funny

    After all, why wave around a pirate flag when you do not support piracy?

    Arrrhhhh, pirates of ye world, unite, Apple be hoisting the pirate colors. Party at One Infinte Loop, Captain Steve is buying the rum! Thar be booty fer all!

    --
    Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
  32. The point here... by eltirado · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think the point here is to encourage dialogue about Easter Eggs, not bash Slashdot. Anyone got any cool MacOS X Easter Eggs???

  33. Re:Nice...VOID by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Funny
    But not as good as cracking open a Mac 128K and finding the signatures of the design team in raised lettering on it.

    Voided your warrenty on that box real quick, didn't you.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  34. Math is Hard by not_hylas(+) · · Score: 2, Informative

    David K.Every had the best collection, hands down.

    http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/index.html

    ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/info-mac/info/apple-easter -e ggs-14.hqx

    There is a Apple Easter Eggs 1.5 and I believe a 1.6 version but I can't find it right now.

    A Blue Meanie's Story:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20040212041626/http:/ /w ww.spies.com/~greg/eastereggs.html

    http://web.archive.org/web/20040212093750/http:/ /w ww.spies.com/~greg/a12nonparade.html

    Dig around and append the links in Greg's story on the Wayback Machine and you'll get the whole story.
    He knows where all the bodies are buried. ;-)

    System 7.5's Breakout game was one of the best.

    http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/Breakout.html

    MacsBug has a lot of secret stuff still.
    CanOpener v4.0

    http://www.abbottsystems.com/co.html

    --
    ~hylas
  35. 796 seeders already as of this post. by seanvaandering · · Score: 2, Informative

    Make that 797 when I'm done - I'll let this run for a day or two. ;)

  36. Re:I have three older Apples... by symbolic · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I still have a clone (which I still use regularly), an 840AV, and another model that's sitting behind my desk. I think the 840AV purchase was about the time that Apple started losing favor with me. I know it had some cool features, but for the price (and all the hype we heard from local reps), I was disappointed with the overall performance. I bought the clone after that because it was available at a good price (compared to Apple's prices). So far, that has been my last Apple purchase- afterward, I began acquainting myself with PCs so I could run Linux.

  37. Re:oh come on, be fair by SewersOfRivendell · · Score: 4, Informative
    Sony is also the inventor of the 3.5" floppy. Just thought I'd mention it.

    Hmm... I doubted this statement, but I was wrong:

    In 1980, the 3.5 inch floppy drive and diskette was introduced by Sony.

  38. Re:I have three older Apples... by justforaday · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...afterward, I began acquainting myself with PCs so I could run Linux.

    Rather than running linux on the machines you already had?

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  39. Looks great! (screenshot) by uibi · · Score: 3, Funny
  40. Re:anyone care to translate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    NewAge was the floppy disk controller. Prior to the AV Macs the floppy drive was pretty much bit-banged by the CPU, NewAge was Apple's first hardware floppy controller for thier propritary disk format. (The name of that format I have longe since forgotten.)

    Interesting Factoid: NewAge had terrible noise problems in the PLL section, and there was talk about dropping floppies from the AV machines because newage was unreliable. I eventually found a set of filter components (Not reccomended by the chip manufacturer) which reliably worked - except if you used cheap crappy memory.

    There were several major ASIC efforts in the AV
    models, since each IO device had to opperate without as much CPU babysitting.

    * MUNI - NuBus controller
    * CIVIC - Graphics System (+Video Interface)
    * SEBASTIAN - Graphics Formatter
    * MCA - Memory Controller
    * PSC - IO DMA interface
    * NEWAGE - Floppy Controller
    * VDC - Video-In formatter
    * CURIO - Super IO (Serial, SCSI, Ethernet)
    * CUDA - RTC & ADB
    * ENDEVOR - Graphics PLL

    The Video and sound IO were originally on a separate PCB both for noise isolation and to match the product design of the moment.
    That design changed, and we were able to make the audio work on the main PCB by careful design. It was called Karma becasue the guy who was responsable called it that. Everything had a codename at Apple - I named the 660AV the "Tempest" because we had to have something to call it in the months before marketing came up with "660AV"

  41. Commodore 128 by selfabuse · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My boss was one of the guys who worked on the Commodore 128 - there's a key sequence you can press (I don't recall what it is off the top of my head - I'm sure a quick googling will turn it up) that will bring up all the engineers names, and an anti-war message. I never had a 128, but I found someone on IRC a couple years back that had one right next to him. I googled up the key sequence, and relayed it back to him, and he read back everything it said to me. It was pretty neat that I work in a pretty small (under 20 employees) company, and my bosses name pops up on a C128.

  42. year old? by commodoresloat · · Score: 2

    This bit of news is from System *7.1*. Way more than a year ago....