Inspiration
The
Amiga computer system was a popular personal computer of the 1980s, originally intended as a videogame machine but later reconceived as a general purpose computer. The development of the Amiga took considerable time, and in the interim the Amiga corporation released a number of joysticks and other peripheral devices for use on common videogame systems, including the Atari VCS (2600).
One of these peripherals was the
Joyboard, a joystick for the feet. The player would stand on the joyboard and rock side to side or front to back to play a game. The device shipped in 1982 bundled with a skiing game,
Mogul Maniac, for the Atari VCS.
In the early days of the development of the Amiga computer operating system, the company's developers are rumored to have become so frustrated with frequent system crashes that they developed a relaxation technique: sitting perfectly still on a joyboard. According to Amiga lore, this is where the
Guru Meditation fatal error messages on the Amiga arose.
I have been fascinated by this idea, and more generally with the often forgotten connections between Silicon Valley and hippie counter-culture. Few remember even Steve Jobs's 1974 trip to India (just before he returned to California to work at Atari as it happens), just one example of the longtime connection between the valley and spiritualism, as well as the incongruence of new age liberalism and high-tech libertarianism in the valley.
Το Jaguar πρέπει να είναι από τις χειρότερες κονσόλες που έχουν βγει ποτέ. Δικαίως πάτωσε.
