If any of you have ever used an Amiga, then the image above will send rage through you. You've probably encountered it more than you'd like to admit and even though it didn't quite work that time, there's something you probably forgot to do– and you tried and tried again. It became a passion; a labor of skilled love that you endured until it accomplished the task. You were then exhausted but satisfied.

For those of you that don't know, this image is comparable to the Windows blue-screen-of-death. Basically, it's caused by faulty software that ultimately brings the machine down. In earlier versions, it didn't say “Software Failure” instead relying on “Guru Meditation” alone to convey it's message. Your choice was to either reboot (most did) or to attach a debugger and figure out why it failed (I never did this).

This screen capture was grabbed from the UAE (Unix Amiga Emulator) for the Mac (excuse the German) in which, yes, it even crashes in emulation. Please, hold your applause until the end.

The reason I've posted this is because I've pulled my Amiga from the basement and have been copying my old floppies to images and ultimately storing them on CD-ROM as I fear the oxide on the discs will cause them to be unreadable (some already aren't readable now).