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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / General => Topic started by: Waran on February 03, 2007, 03:51:54 PM
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I just stumbled upon this wonderful old computer term 'Blinkenlights' I never heard of before. And here (http://jamesthornton.com/fun/blinkenlights.html) is the explanation I found for it:
blinkenlights /blink'*n-li:tz/ n.
[common] Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, esp. a dinosaur. Now that dinosaurs are rare, this term usually refers to status lights on a modem, network hub, or the like.
This term derives from the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic sign in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the computer rooms in the English-speaking world. One version ran in its entirety as follows:
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
This silliness dates back at least as far as 1959 at Stanford University and had already gone international by the early 1960s, when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which actually do end with the word `blinkenlights'.
In an amusing example of turnabout-is-fair-play, German hackers have developed their own versions of the blinkenlights poster in fractured English, one of which is reproduced here:
ATTENTION
This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment. Fingergrabbing and pressing the cnoeppkes from the computers is allowed for die experts only! So all the "lefthanders" stay away and do not disturben the brainstorming von here working intelligencies. Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked anderswhere! Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished the blinkenlights.
Maybe, this is a text for your screen saver, if you want to warn other people of the danger of messing with your computer while you are away. :-P
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Thanks!
I have been looking for that quote for a long time. I saw it once before at somebody's PC in South Africa but never saw it again. I remember blinkenlichten though.
Now I can make a proper quote for the people at work :-)
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Blinkenlichten - excellent.
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Aww, I thought this was gonna be a thread about some very big blinkenlights (http://www.blinkenlights.de/)
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And I thought a "blinkenlight" was German for indicator signal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_signal#Turn_signals) on a car! ;-)
- Ali
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Spent a lot of time watching the blinking lights on a DEC 11/34 while the 9-track ... s l o w l y ... advanced to ... Start ... loading the program. The boot switch had protective bars around it. Quite frequently the 9-track could not read the file start on the tape, indicated by rewinding and advancing over the same spot of tape. At which point you pushed the abort button, cleaned the tape read head, toggled the boot switch again ... and waited ...
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Aww, I thought this was gonna be a thread about some very big blinkenlights (http://www.blinkenlights.de/)
This is probably the world biggest monitor. Just perfect to play classic games like Pong, Pac Man or Space Invaders. :-P
(http://www.blinkenlights.de/images/pong/play_pong.blm.gif)
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Blinkenlights!
My mind is nourished like the banks of the Nile with this word.
"Achtung! Das ist teh blinkenlights! Sheisterhausen!" should become the new phrase for in-game encounters with proximity mines.
(http://premium1.uploadit.org/MaxOutrider/ShipImages/Proximity-Mine-A.jpg)
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'Achtung! Shambeh Bambeh!'