From: Tim Bradshaw
Subject: Re: obscure old Lisp machine question...
Date: 
Message-ID: <nkj3damuyvo.fsf@tfeb.org>
Peter Wallace <ยทยทยท@mesanet.com> writes:

> house. Managed to get Koto Interlisp loaded on it but it seems to have a
> mouse/cursor problem, horizontal motion is fine, but vertical motion of
> the cursor is screwy, it moves about 1/2 an inch then suddenly jumps
> about 2 inches and repeats this as you move the mouse up and down. I
> have tried other mice, other keyboards, swapped all 1186 cards,
> re-installed koto, koto microcode and systools but to no avail. This
> leads me to believe that it is a software problem of some kind but dont
> really know.
> 

You have run into the classic Dmachine problem: your machine has
become occupied by a malevolent spirit.  Replacing hardware or
software will not fix this - you need an exorcist. You'll be lucky to
find anyone still practicing I'm afraid.  Candles, incense and
hundreds of hooded monks chanting may help - I presume you are using
the first two anyway as they're generally required to boot the
machine.  It is possible that you have a cursed sysout I suppose - I
remember people saying that this was a common problem with Koto.  I
think I have a Medley sysout which has been blessed relatively
recently, but I'm not sure if it would be safe to transfer it to you
by any means without running s serious risk of contamination by evil
spirits.  In any case I threw my 1/4" tape drive away I think.

--tim