guru meditation

2 definitions found

guru meditation - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  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)
  

guru meditation - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  guru meditation
   n.
  
     Amiga equivalent of panic in Unix (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.
     Sometimes a guru event must be followed by a Vulcan nerve pinch.
  
     This term is (no surprise) an in-joke from the earliest days of the
     Amiga. An earlier product of the Amiga corporation 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 calm down by concentrating on
     a solution while sitting cross-legged on a Joyboard trying to keep
  the
     board in balance. This position resembled that of a meditating guru.
     Sadly, the joke was removed fairly early on (but there's a well-known
     patch to restore it in more recent versions).