On Thu, 1 Aug 2002 23:52:24 -0700, "Aaron Howald" <ahowald@w-link.net> wrote:
>> The primary reason that the red HVTs fail is because an "all-powerful"
>> (at least in *his* mind) Atari exec was smoking in the manufacturing
>> plant, against the rules and advice of the managers. Anyway, he threw
>> his butt in the trash, started a paper fire, which ended up setting off
>> the sprinkler system, getting water all over the supplies. The bonehead
>> exec then insisted that they continue manufacturing the units, in spite
>> of the damage. The theory is that the moisture from the sprinklers
>> leads to the decay of the shellac coating on the internal wirings,
>> eventually leading to it shorting out. It is not known exactly how many
>> HVTs were affected by this exec's brilliance, but it is at least
>> hundreds, if not thousands...
>
>Is this story really true? Confirmed true? It sounds like a hellish fairy tale...
I think it's unlikely true. It has all the makings of an urban legend.
#1 The "Bonehead". Every urban legend usually has one of these, they're either
stupid and arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid beyond belief. But always stupid.
And almost always without a name. In the Atari Amplifone faq:
http://www.gamearchive.com/video/manufacturer/atari/vector/monitors/amplifone/amplifone_faq_1_2.pdf
the unnamed executive "Mr. P.O." is smoking a cigarette, not a cigar. (The cigar
is a good touch, more of a boss hog sort of image). In the FAQ's version he
fires a tech on the way in who asks him not to smoke. Good touch and definitely
urban legend stuff. (Ok, it's 1982 someone says "there's no smoking in here" and
you say "Oh yeah! Your fired!". Can you say legal action? "Uh well your honor,
you see, um.. he asked me not the smoke, uh yes I know the signs said No
Smoking, but I didn't like the way he said it. So I um.., well, uh your honor,
um.. I fired his ass! You understand, right? I mean, you're a judge right? You
wouldn't take that shit would you? Would you?")
#2 The "outrages chain of events". A cigar thrown into a trash can starts a
fire that gets so out of control the sprinkler systems goes off, at which point
the "visiting" executive (that started the fire) has the decision making
authority to outrank everyone at the plant and insist, against all plant
engineers, policy, and plant managers to continue producing product that has
been damaged beyond repair.
It was probably the trash can labeled: "Kerosene, Oily Rags and Gunpowder only!
DO NOT THROW IN BURNING CIGARS!" Of course the "bonehead" couldn't resist
tossing his cigar into *that* trash can! And just like those hollywood movies,
the camera zooms in on the cigar laying on some typing paper. *POOF* the entire
paper explodes into flames, then the flimsy silk curtains are blown by the magic
indoor wind, float over the trash can, they *burst* into flames, and no one
notices anything until the windows explode from the massive heat! (And of course
the sprinkler system comes on.)
"Uh sir I smell something like burning kerosene, oily rags and gunpowder."
"Oh yeah! WELL I SMELL YOUR ASS BEING FIRED! HA! HA! Now get out of my way!"
#3 The shaky unverifiable confirmation. No one (except for maybe the original
author) remembers this story. See Jed's memory of the chain of events at:
<http://jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm#High Voltage Power>
He didn't hear of the story until a few years ago, long after leaving Atari,
when he read about it on the net.
#4 The punch line: "And that's what brought an end to XY games!"
The problem didn't make itself known for a few years, and by that time
(according to Jed) the operators had made most of their money on the machines.
Only collectors suffer. In the meantime about the only other XY games Atari was
working on was TomCat.
While the operators really didn't like the repair needed on X/Y games, I, Robot
showed what can be done with polygons, which is the next logical step from 2
dimensional vectors. The whole point of vectors was to allow the programmer to
simply display endpoints and let the hardware fill in the gaps. This can be done
with polygons, with more dramatic results. It was simply time for Vectors to
go...
It's a nice story but it "reeks" of urban legend...
-Zonn
(Sorry about the long post but one of my pet peeves are urban legends. I'm on a
one person mission to quash them all. ...and anything that sounds like an urban
legend that gets in my way!)
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Received on Fri Aug 2 11:23:29 2002
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