Strong Bad's Computers Surpassing Their Assumed Capabilities

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 06:14, 20 August 2015

The Compy displaying a full-color photo

Despite Strong Bad's preference for older computers, his computers are nevertheless somehow capable of performing tasks that their real-life counterparts are not.

Appearances

• Almost all Strong Bad Emails — The program that Strong Bad used to check his emails before he got the Compé is called "strongbad_email.exe" ("strongbad's_email" on the Tandy 400), even though filenames on DOS computers can only be up to eight characters long. Also, in the Tandy's case, the filename contains an apostrophe, which is not allowed in DOS filenames.

Tandy 400

• homestar hair —
  • The Tandy 400 displays a Hairstyle Runner.
  • The file used to run Temple of Apshai is the long name "temple_of_apshai".
  • Temple of Apshai is in colour.
• credit card — Strong Bad somehow uses a mouse on the Tandy 400.
• sugarbob — The Tandy 400 plays Mac OS X-style sounds and displays full-colour fonts.
• sisters — The Tandy 400 plays the Windows 9x "ding" sound.
• retirement — The Tandy highlights spelling and grammar errors in yellow.

Compy 386

• website — The Compy 386 plays several animated GIFs and displays two full-quality photos.
• marzipan — The Message Thyme pop-ups are in Windows style.
• huttah! — take-a-break.exe's long filename.
• interview and pizzazz — The Compy 386 displays a Gothic font.
• autobiography —
  • The spell-checking program is known as the long name "spellchecka.exe".
  • The Compy 386 plays the Windows 9x "ding" sound.
  • The printing program is known as the long name "print_of_it.exe".
• big white face —
  • The file used to open the picture of The Poopsmith is called "mr.smith", even though periods are not allowed in DOS filenames. The extension of the file was the only exception to this rule, and it was limited to three characters.
  • The Compy 386 has a Macintosh-style GUI, which cannot possibly be installed on a DOS computer.
  • The file used to run the Macintosh GUI is called "b/w", even though slashes are not allowed in DOS filenames.
• mascot — The file used to play the Crazy Go Nuts University fight song is known as the long name "fightsong".
• privileges — The file containing a list of Medallion Gold Plus Club Member privileges is known as the long name "medalliongoldplus.txt".
• date — The file used to run the Extra Real Dating Sim XR is known as the long name "hsramerdsxr.exe".
• couch patch - Strong Bad tries out several bogus commands, all of which are too long, and several of which have different faults:
  • "print out million dollar bill.exe"
  • "no for real, print me out a million dollar bill, man.exe" (Contains commas, which are disallowed in DOS filenames)
  • "um, this time really print me out a million dollars bill.nofoolin'" (Contains a comma. Also, the extension is not only too long [DOS filename extensions can only be up to 3 characters long], but contains an apostrophe)
  • "make homestar's head explode.exe" (Too long and contains an apostrophe)
  • "print out million dollar bill, please.exe" (This one actually works despite its length and the fact that it contains a comma)
• lunch special — The Compy once again plays the "ding" sound, and also displays a Microsoft Paint drawing.
• virus —
  • The file used to run the virus scanner is known as the long name "Edgarware.exe".
  • The Compy gets many more viruses than could possibly fit on a computer of its kind.
  • The Compy yet again plays the "ding" sound.

Lappy 486

• death metal — The Lappy 486 is used to video chat with Larry Palaroncini on webcam.
• technology — The file used to run the screen saver is known as the long name "screen_savior.exe".
• retirement — Three text files saved on the Lappy are named "clncknmsfrmyslf.txt", "cldshplog.txt", and "ltr2bkrythrftstr.txt".
• the movies — The file used to run Karate Car is known as the long name "karatecar.exe".
• SBCG4AP Advertisement — A 3D video game is started with the long name "strongbad3Dtotal.wad".
• being mean — The files used to open up additional emails from a certain email address are known as the long names "other_gems.exe" and "more_other_gems.exe".

Other Computers

• other days — The program used to check Eastern European emails on the Block is known as the long name "polish_email.exe".
• from work — The Corpy NT6 displays a full-quality spreadsheet program.

Variations

• flashback — The Compy 386 shows the email from some kinda robot in Tandy 400 style.

See Also

• Stylized Text on Strong Bad's Computers
• Angled Pixels