Updated: December 31, 2010
Normally, I'm the guy who reads about all those cool Easter Eggs hidden in software, whether it's a crazy combo of keyboard sequences that launchers a flight simulator or perhaps a planted image of Crocodile Dundee behind the Sydney Opera House in Google Earth or something. But I did discover one of my own, methinks.
Perhaps you've already seen this all over the place, so I apologize for any redundancy or wasted time. Plus the screenshot has been hidden away in my proverbial bottom drawer for some time now. Anyhow, here it is.
Work Week 52, GRUB menu change
Between Christmas (Gregorian calendar) and New Year Eve, the GRUB menu automatically changes. Instead of the plain, green or blue background, you get a festivity-themed menu, with little animated penguins walking left and right Mario style.
It's quite cute and funny. In fact, it's extremely easy to miss, especially if you have the menu hidden, use a very short timeout or boot infrequently. Plus, you may actually be doing some of the holiday things instead of starting at your computer monitor like I do.
It's been around for several years actually, since openSUSE 10.1, if I'm not mistaken. Truth to be told, I don't know if this feature is retained in openSUSE 11.3, but the distro still uses the legacy version of the bootloader, so it could be. Oh, I could change the system date, but that would spoil the fun.
Conclusion
I have to admit I don't have any grand conclusion. Just a brief stress-relief article. For a few more hidden jokes, and with festivities approaching fast, perhaps you might want to take a look at the Google easter eggs.
Well, I guess that would be all. Happy New Year!
Cheers.