The Ultimate Reset Button 184
Gary writes "The gigantic red switch looks more like a mushroom straight out of Super Mario. It can be connected easily using two wires and can be activated in any direction. To get rid of the blue screen of death all you have to do is hit it with something (like, a fist)."
Just amazing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't wait to see what innovative tinkerer's project comes next on Slashdot. Maybe an LED with brightness control?
Computer controlled LED (Score:5, Informative)
Now it's far cheaper to use a microcontroller with pulse-width modulation to guide the LED into it luministic destiny. Get an 8-pin AVR (like the Tiny11) or even a 6-pin PIC microprocessor for less than 50 cents US, preferably one that is in a new surface-mount package much smaller than the LED and fits underneath it. Then write the code that gently awakens the LED from its inner darkness. Be guided in your code by the idea that just as the LED is being raised from its inherent chaotic darkness, so too is man raised from his internal chaotic darkness by the direction and focused energy of Jesus, God, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Great Spirit, or Whoever (grammar goblins, note the proper capitalization of the indirect pronoun that refers to the deity).
The point is that now it is cheaper to effect a hardware solution with an ultra-cheap microcontroller than it was in the 20th century to do with cheap 555 timers coupled with resistors and caps or to do with TTL clusters. It does require software skills that weren't needed previously. It's a whole new frame of reference for electronic designers. This trend will continue as very fast, (50 MegaHertz system clocks, fast for microcontrollers), very powerful 32-bit microcontrollers with large internal memory continue to fall in price [the 50MHz/32K FlashROM ARM controller has broken the $5 barrier].
Will we ever use a 32-bit microprocessor to control a single LED? Don't laugh too hard. Using a chip that has more internal resources than the original IBM PC to control a few LEDs is not rare now. If some future 128-bit CPU has the ability to be programmed just by talking to it, and it's cheaper than an LED, then why not?
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Re:Just amazing (Score:5, Funny)
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Is there a way to send a signal to a port that tells the computer to shutdown or suspend?
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I have one acronym for you(the GP)....PWM! Easy as hell to do in any language on the parallel port.
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Re:Just amazing (Score:4, Funny)
[...snip...]
SQL/DB Error -- []
Error executing error template.
ROFL, even the error generator causes errors.
Options. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Options. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Options. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Options. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Options. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Options. (Score:5, Funny)
Just because they're in the freezer doesn't mean they're not still your parents.
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Re:Options. (Score:4, Funny)
Then, set the monitor to start a timer once it registers a high enough average acceleration. Set the time for, say, 10 seconds. If you manage to sustain the average acceleration for a long enough time, the monitor will reset the computer for you.
It's not enough to hit something. It's not enough to hit something hard enough. It's only enough to hit something hard enough, repeatedly, for a period of time. Only then will you have worked out your rage. =)
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Lando: Haveing problems with your droid?
Han: No... No problems.
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Link? (Score:2)
Can anyone provide a link to where one can be bought? The blog and linked source blog provide no info, not even a name to Google.
Re:Link? (Score:5, Informative)
In addition (Score:5, Informative)
Some links (Score:3, Informative)
But here is one that would do http://www.automationworld.com/view-3183 [automationworld.com], you can order momentary, locking, with proper contacts. But I agree, ebay would be best for a cheep one. Here is one on ebay with locking key so toddlers don't reset your system http://cgi.ebay.com/E-STOP-MOELLER-RPSR-S-EMERGENC Y-KEY-ENCLOSURE-BOX-NEW_W0QQitemZ300116926899QQihZ 020QQcategoryZ42898QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVi ewItem [ebay.com]
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RadioHack (Score:2)
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Yet another excuse... (Score:4, Funny)
Page was
Re:Yet another excuse... (Score:5, Insightful)
Unix guys prefer... (Score:5, Funny)
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As to the amount of fun: I remember reading back in the old days of foot-powered sewing machines, a woman who positioned herself just so could be masturbating just from the movements of her leg. So yes, your idea with the pedal *could* be fun for geek girls.
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Already down (Score:2)
Re:Already down (Score:5, Funny)
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For even more fun, label it "Any" and give it to someone who thinks they know more about computers than you do.
the ultimate? (Score:5, Funny)
Reset button indeed. More like LITTLE BLUE LINK OF DEATH.
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As always, Mirrordot (Score:5, Informative)
http://mirrordot.com/stories/32d28c3271b0bc44f012
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WHACK-A-MOLE (Score:5, Funny)
Funny but stupid (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Funny but stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ok ok! I joke!
Or you could find out how to automatically reboot on blue screen of death [wintipz.com].
Kernel Memory Space Analyser (Score:2)
Can sometimes put you onto the component that caused the BSOD. (It looks at the dump, that must be turned on.)
Other times it's not much use.
If you have regular bluescreens you should look into it.
In any case you'll need the reset button. But perhaps not so much in the future.
Hey!! I have one of these! (Score:4, Informative)
I think we already had these for a couple decades, now...
Two wires? (Score:2)
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I don't know much about emergency stop buttons, but maybe this one is multiple pole and has two for normally closed and the other two close when the button is pushed? For example the NC would complete a circuit for normal operation and the other two would activate an alarm? Otherwise, "I got nothing".
Guard (Score:3, Interesting)
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Oops (Score:2, Funny)
Online version (Score:3, Informative)
How often do you hit reset? (Score:2)
It might be fun to bind it to "skip track" and hit it hard whenever that song you meant to delete ages ago comes up.
Griffin Powermate (Score:2)
For such things, might I recommend a Griffin Powermate [griffintechnology.com]? Excellent device.
Cheers,
Ian
Not power. (Score:2)
On the last laptop I had Linux on, I played with the lid-close event. That was a bit more useful...
Good news everyone! (Score:2)
"OMG LOOK SOMEONE HAVE HACKED TEH RESETBUTTON!11ONE!", wow, the crazy ideas, connecting a reset button between two wires! What else might they come up with?
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Too bad I don't have mod points right now.
Seriously, hooking an emergency push button to "reset" is newsworthy now? I already thought of that... When I was 16 years old. And even then it only managed to occupy my thoughts no more than 10 seconds before I dismissed the idea as stupid and unfunny.
More impressive (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd be a bit worried about being arrested as a terrorist, if I had one of those in a office, though...
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Fellow Worker: Hey dude, your computer froze up on me
You: Okay, just reset it
FW: How? (Expecting the location of the reset button)
You: Do you see the box on your right? Flip the top switch
FW: Okay...
You: Now flip the bottom one
FW: Okay...you sure this is the reset?
You: Yep, now insert the key on the desk next to it into the keyhole on the left and turn it t
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The ultimate GDO (Score:3, Interesting)
Wire this sucker up in your garage instead and you have a very cool looking and very useful garage door opener. I might even replace my door bell with one. Although it would look painfully stupid outside my front door it might give the javahoas and dish network goons second thoughts about pressing my ESO.
Also if your going to bother making a computer reset switch like this I'd damn well make it useful. Instead of taking 5 minutes to wire it to the reset pins on your motherboard...
There should be a watchdog driver to go with it, if it stops sending keep-alives to the switch it should have an option to press itself. It could also light up in different colors or patterns to indicate various error conditions...
Low/No mem, something spinning the cpu, Disk I/O queue full, watchdog failure, drive timeout, network down..etc.
There should be an "enterprise" edition of the same switch only it would be ethernet based using SNMP traps and host MIBs to monitor servers and devices and then issueing reset signals to a managed RPB when pressed.
Is anyone interested in a cell phone that looks like a mineature DHD? The first 100 people who hack the neilson database in order to dramatically improve SG1's ratings get a complimentry DHD phone with lighted chevrons and big red glowing button in the center in their choice of unlocked GSM/UMTS or CDMA models.
This is lame... better would be... (Score:2)
Now THAT would be cool. Imagine having an industrial grade alarm go off as you open the molly guard, red WARNING: RESET ACTIVATION lights coming on, and the final silence as you push the button...
Heh. I'm such a geek.
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Because you imagined something you saw in a movie?
I remember when ..... (Score:2)
Even better how about a clapit switch. Then everyone can applaud blue screens of death while MS use the applause are a positive sign of acceptance.
VMware buttons (Score:2)
One problem... (Score:2)
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Are you the type that posts "insensitive clod" comments on lawn and garden BBs because you live in a high-rise?
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what most basement dwellers here really need... (Score:3, Funny)
not in my house (Score:2, Funny)
Better one (Score:2)
looks like something out of a game show (Score:2)
Normal for anything with real power. (Score:2)
We, and everybody else in the DARPA Grand Challenge, had big red EMERGENCY STOP buttons all over the vehicle. Everybody with robots of non-trivial size uses those things.
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I am not surprised. Years ago my Dad got thrown out of a small boat he was driving and got to spend the next 10 minutes treading water while it did loops around him. We fixed the problem with a reed switch and a magnet on a string. Similar idea but more fail safe because if it gets away from you then it stops automatically.
Slow news day... (Score:2)
If you think that you need this thing . . . (Score:2)
It's been 7 years, dudes. (Score:2)
Wow... a big red button I might use once in the next year. They should have sold this 8 years ago.
More interesting (Score:2)
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That's pretty cool, but (Score:3, Funny)
A Button (Score:2)
Captain obvious was there and had this to say about it: "It's a slow news day."
reset? should be power off! (Score:2)
maybe rig it up to kill your ethernet so you can conveniently loose connection when getting your butt stomped in a C&C3 match!
What BSOD? (Score:2)
You have to wonder what these people do with their computers.
Our SOHO system includes a Win98 laptop, NT4 server, XP laptop, XP desktop, and a linux NAS. The Win95 machine was retired about a year ago.
According to my logs, the last crash on any machine was in 2001, and I traced that to a broken network card. Before that was in 1998 when, silly me, I installed some Corel software on the NT machine. A big red reset switch? Gimme a break.
Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know about you, but a notable portion of my day is spent responding to users' woes with "Did you try rebooting?" If users learn to reboot their own computers, that would cut the need for us admins in half. This button thingie will lead to mass unemployment. It's evil! Kill it! Kill it!