Australia, general:
In 2004, I spotted the Guru on a monitor displaying train arrival times on platform 2 at Central Station, Brisbane, confirming my suspicions. The machine reset (seemingly after a timeout, it was extremely quick) and was up again in /seconds/. Someone much later mentioned providing parts to keep them running and using PCMCIA cards instead of the super-fallible disk drives.
In the late 90s, Tabcorp (the Victorian totalizator) replaced their system of a central server with many outlying Amigas (generally 500s) for displaying odds and sending data on behalf of their betting entry machines, with a new system where all outliers were newer PCs. In an attempt to complete the roll-out for the Spring Carnival (and, particularly, the Melbourne Cup), they had a few drawbacks. An outlying PC crashed and took the whole system with it, radio news reports on the day of a one hour plus delay and at least three million dollars in (probable) lost revenue. When the Amiga outliers went down, you just used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and the system was back up locally in under a minute, and never passed up the tree.
In the mid-nineties, I did some work experience for a computer service agent. Their main corporate client was Victorian Keno operator TabCorp (again) where they installed and serviced all Keno terminals and display systems in their section of Rural Victoria. Expectedly, these systems were the same combination as the tote machines, but were not replaced until much later (I cannot even guarantee they have been, but I am suspicious). The boss new I had a liking for Amigas, and pointed out a few hints over days before showing me the A500 sitting in a cupboard under a Keno entry machine. Keno in other states used the same system.
If you ever sat in front of a slot machine when the reels were replaced with a screen, you were likely sitting in front of an Amiga.
We can thank David Pleasance (former head of Commodore UK) for his long stay in Australia plugging the machines left, right and centre.
There are many other stories, Channel 7 weather, many jingles for ads (using B&P or JAM) for example, but I think I've typed enough for this morning.
jaminJay
"Now, to type more for some other purpose until the food van arrives!"
