Techie Diagnosed Hardware Fault By Checking Customer's Coffee
The Register, Friday, April 25th, 2025
y the time Friday morning rolls around, starting the day with a stimulating beverage feels like a fine idea. And so does delivering a freshly brewed installment of On Call, The Register's reader-contributed column in which you share tales of tech support triumph and torture.
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Ryan" who told us of his days doing field service for Wang Laboratories, in the years when it was famous for desktop calculators.
Yes, desktop calculators. Before calculators became little rectangular slabs, they were big, clunky contraptions that sported a small LED or Nixie tube display and an array of keys. The desktop calculator aesthetic was very "supervillain lair." Think "My calculating machines have predicted the precise moment of your demise, Mr Bond," and you'll get the idea. If you'd rather not exercise your imagination, there's an online museum of Wang machines that has some lovely pics here.