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Panicking In Morse Code

An anonymous reader writes "When an i386 running Linux panics, a function in the kernel called 'panic_blink' causes the system's LEDs to blink. Andrew Rodland recently posted a creative patch to turn that steady blink into a useful message in morse code!"

218 comments

  1. What an excellent use of antiquated technology! by tcd004 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Reminds me of what the internet was like back in 1968.

    Note: this is a parody.
    tcd004

    1. Re:What an excellent use of antiquated technology! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remove 20 years and you're set.

  2. Wow thats sooooo useful. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you know you have too much time on your hands when.....

  3. Won't I be shocked by prestomation · · Score: 1

    When my system says "Someone set up us the bomb!" in morse code when my harddrive failes! ;)

    1. Re:Won't I be shocked by Rgb465 · · Score: 1

      Or, better yet, "You are on the way to destruction"...

    2. Re:Won't I be shocked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, perhaps the computer will have something FUNNY to say.

  4. Re:SOS by mwolff · · Score: 1

    Maybe one day the blinky lights could be put into pixels and then a type of visual pop up error message. On second thought morse code is much more fun!

  5. Re:Why not make it stable, like WinXP? by Reece400 · · Score: 1

    my win xp crashes daily :S, it's own updates rendered it ususable once, and forced me to re-install w/o them! Reece,

  6. Re:Why not make it stable, like WinXP? by Gyorg_Lavode · · Score: 1

    Subtle trolling is much more effective.

    --
    I do security
  7. Save Our Ship! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My dad (who was in the Coast Guard) used to joke about SOS meaning "Save Our Ship!" so I guess this would be "Save Operating System!" or "Save Our System!"

    1. Re:Save Our Ship! by cyberlotnet · · Score: 1

      You know why your dad wore short pants?

      So when his ship sank he could walk to shore!!

    2. Re:Save Our Ship! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, he did helicopter rescues.

    3. Re:Save Our Ship! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suppose the Coast Guard is better than the rampant homosexuality and group masturbation on Navy ships out at see. You know why they're called seamen? Because they spend most of their time cleaning it up!

    4. Re:Save Our Ship! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its Save Our Souls.

      Thanks

  8. and that message is... by gyratedotorg · · Score: 2, Funny

    and that message is...

    ...---...

    (sos) =)

    --
    Gyrate Dot Org - "Where high-tech meets low-life"
    1. Re:and that message is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no its

      ---......

      (oss) =)

    2. Re:and that message is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No its

      8====D

      (homocock)

    3. Re:and that message is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you forgot the bird

    4. Re:and that message is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No he didn't, it's up his ass.

  9. Joy... by larien · · Score: 2

    10 comments and the site's down. Did anyone grab a copy before we killed the site?

    1. Re:Joy... by Duckz · · Score: 4, Informative

      I managed to grab a copy!
      --
      Todd

    2. Re:Joy... by Salsaman · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, I managed to get to the site, but I got a 404 in morse code...

    3. Re:Joy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, KernelTrap is getting a double whammy from Slashdot right now:

      Panicking In Morse Code
      New Features for 2.5 kernel (And this one has several links to the site.)

  10. Bloat! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did someone say bloat? Well, I guess this isn't too extreme coming from the same people who put a webserver in the kernel.

    1. Re:Bloat! by flatus · · Score: 1

      I do not want just a web server, I want a nice scripting language too. The way that I see it, if it is my box, I do not need local security.

  11. Hah! by Rgb465 · · Score: 1

    The storys only been up a few minutes, and its already been slashdotted..

    1. Re:Hah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It loads just fine for me. From the page (at the bottom): Google archive of above thread.

  12. For Windows machines.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone ought to code a patch for Windows machines so that when they crash, the LEDs blink:

    daw ditdawdit dawditdawdaw ditdawditdit ditdit dawdit ditditdaw dawditditdaw

    (Try Linux)

  13. Apple already did this... by mightymik2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    on the SE or SE30 (SE i think), when there is a hard drive problem, the drive light blinks SOS...the 'O' is a little drawn out, but it's readable.

  14. How do you say by cyberlotnet · · Score: 1

    Server /.'ed in morse code

    1. Re:How do you say by freaker_TuC · · Score: 1

      o o o - - - o o o

      --
      --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
  15. Police Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sending out an SOS...
    Sending out an SOS...

  16. /.'ed by skydude_20 · · Score: 1

    Down already...
    Quickly! Someone translate the blinking lights on the box and post the story for us!!!

    --
    Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
  17. This reminds me... by Teknogeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...of Wolfenstein 3D.

    If you translated the beeping in various levels of the third episode, it was a message in Morse Code telling you to defeat Hitler!

    --
    I mod down anyone who uses M$ in their posts. I like to live on the edge.
  18. A good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Back in my day, in 1991, my old dell 486 workstation could beep out error codes in the case of a catastrophic failure of something in the video system. Though of course morse code conveys more information than beep codes.

    1. Re:A good idea by Rgb465 · · Score: 1

      All PCs do this. Its called th POST - Power On Self Test. If there is an error, and the BIOS cant initialize the video system, it beeps. Dfferent beeps mean different things, some for video, some for RAM, and other errors.

    2. Re:A good idea by notanatheist · · Score: 1

      Post codes have not gone anywhere. Some motherboards even have "talking BIOS" which is kind of freaky. Of course POST codes don't work once you're in the OS. It's up to the OS to tell you you have a problem then. Thus morse code is perfect for a box acting as a firewall or small server with not monitor attached. Eh?

    3. Re:A good idea by flonker · · Score: 1

      We had a server that would start playing some kind of song immediately on power up. Couldn't figure out why. Boss thought it was a virus. Eventually figured out it was designed to do that when it overheated.

      Then there's the "wait fifteen minutes, and then you hear 11 beeps, and that tells you it's a memory problem, but only if you leave the computer on for 15 minutes, and stay in the same room." problem.

    4. Re:A good idea by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 1

      My Dell has a set of 4 LEDs on the back of the case that do the same thing... they light up in various configurations indicating trouble codes.

      --

      Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

  19. slashdotting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you think his box is blinking now?

    . . . - - - . . .

    1. Re:slashdotting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The morse code for slashdoting effect is this

      (_o_)

      Guess what it is, fag!

  20. results from coding by Wobbly+Bob · · Score: 1
    From the article:
    Actually, it was pretty simple. It was also my first module ever. I had a lot of fun writing all of this stuff, but people keep indicating that maybe some of it could actually be useful. If that's the case, so much the better.
    Reminds me of a quote I read not too long ago. I don't remember the source. It might have even been Slashdot. "Coding is like sex. Occasionally something good results, but that's not why we do it."
    1. Re:results from coding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the time people don't want sex to lead to useful results except when they are doing it specifically for that purpose...

      On the other hand, code...well, maybe it is more fun to create something that nobody uses; at least it won't become a maintenance nightmare that takes over your whole life.

      Maybe it's an even better analogy than it seems at first glance. And even better applied to coding than physics (the original).

    2. Re:results from coding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very few slashdot readers have experience with both.

  21. Re:SOS by notanatheist · · Score: 1

    Please install Windows on a 386? C:\Windows C:\Windows\Run C:\PC\Crawl!!

  22. Bah! That's nothing! by Donut · · Score: 1, Funny

    Want to impress ME?

    Use the LED's on your laptop to give yourself the output of your decrypting of your grandfather's 45 year old messages about the location of secret Nazi/Japanese gold caches in the Philipines, while you are being Van-Eck phreaked in a jail cell.

    Extra bonus: Doing all this while next door to a priest who is intimidating you from "getting the job done".

    -Donut

  23. Cool idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this another attempt of making Linux more user friendly on the desktop?

  24. Uhm? by NWT · · Score: 1

    ... Linux panics
    WHAT? Oh bloody hell, Linux actually panics??? Someone shoot me ...

    --
    Life sucks.
    1. Re:Uhm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The easiest way to make Linux panic is typing "kill 1" as root.

    2. Re:Uhm? by Isle · · Score: 1

      The coder who did this, wrote a kernel-module with the single function: To panic the kernel.

  25. Patch for windowsxp? by FuzzzyLogik · · Score: 1

    Personally I've run into 1 kernel panic in the 3 years i've been running linux. and it was my fault. Now if someone could create a patch for xp, i'd be much more likely to see this morse code stuff =)

    Logik

  26. Heartbeat LED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better thing to do would to have a heartbeat LED which continuously blinks under normal operation (I've seen these on HP-UX boxen). If the kernel panics or locks up, the blinking stops so you know something bad happened and have no choice but to hit the reset button (most handy for monitorless servers, I guess).

    1. Re:Heartbeat LED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better yet, you should have a fire alarm that keeps going off as long as everything is OK.

    2. Re:Heartbeat LED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would be a good idea, the useless fire alarm goes off at least once a month in the 24 floor appartment building I live in. If there actually is a fire, I'll probably get trapped and die in my appartment thinking its just another false alarm. (a better idea is if they had a "no really, there's a fire!" alarm in addition to the fire alarm).

    3. Re:Heartbeat LED by schmink182 · · Score: 1

      The parent was (probably) referring to an invention in The Simpsons made by Homer. It was called the "Everything's Okay Alarm" and was very loud so long as everything was okay.

  27. I can just imagine by Alien54 · · Score: 5, Funny
    The variety of panic messages beyond the usual meaningful information

    I can't do that dave

    I'm melting ....

    beam me up, scotty

    feed me

    I wonder if there is a morse code to voice coverter device out there? that would be a neat module to have to plug in as a peripheral

    of course, if the code goes fast enough, you can gain the ability to recognise whole words as a sort of warble.

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    1. Re:I can just imagine by mstyne · · Score: 2

      I'm sure something like that could be done with Festival, a free open source TTS app... sounds like fun! Then again, if your kernel is borked... :-D

      --
      mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
    2. Re:I can just imagine by GrenDel+Fuego · · Score: 1

      why convert to morse code just to change to speach?

    3. Re:I can just imagine by Alien54 · · Score: 2
      why convert to morse code just to change to speach?

      The comedy of having the speech from the peripheral speaking out the appropriate message of doom, translated from the morse code output from the kernal panic

      Of course, this would be more appropriate in other operating systems, but you get the idea

      --
      "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    4. Re:I can just imagine by dattaway · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, this would be a good idea. The keyboard's LED, if it is red, might be close enough to the infrared spectrum to be noticed by the irda ports many notebooks have. Well, patch the keyboard panic patch with the tcp stack, write a decoder that will receive the slow tcp serial stream, and cross your fingers that portion of the kernel is not b0rked, and you can be sending packets over the keyboard link.

      Well, it wouldn't be a fast link. But the possibilies could include telneting... oh I'll stop there...

    5. Re:I can just imagine by isorox · · Score: 1

      But the possibilies could include telneting...

      Flaw in your plan. Telnet usually requires bi directional data transfer, what keyboards have that capability via LED?

    6. Re:I can just imagine by DarkHelmet · · Score: 2
      feed me

      You keep forgetting that a lot of these panicks happen because of updated software. That's why I personally want my kernel to say:

      Who poisoned the freshmeat kernel patch section?

      Now if I can get a sound clip of Tom Hanks saying that, I'm set.

      --
      /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
    7. Re:I can just imagine by saintlupus · · Score: 1

      Now if I can get a sound clip of Tom Hanks saying that, I'm set.

      I always wanted a graphic of Peter Norton, accompanied by "This computer is fu-fu-fu-fucked!" a la Max Headroom.

      --saint

  28. Feynman said it first by octothorpe · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're paraphrasing Richard Feyman:

    Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's
    not why we do it. --Richard Feynman.

  29. Standard for diaganostics would be better by Rob.Mathers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Although this is a neat and creative idea, I think that a better way to diagnose a sick computer would be a standard for a set of diagnostic LEDs or even a small LCD panel as part of the next motherboard standard.
    Some manufacturers of motherboards and whole systems already do this, but it's far from standard, and is typically only useful for POST errors. A full standard would allow O/Ses, as well as the BIOS to access the output device (be it LEDs or an LCD) and display a standard code for whatever the error is, which the user could then look up in the manual, or on the web.

    --

    My other sig is funny!
    1. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 1

      Yep, it's on the back of my Dell Dimension.

      --

      Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

    2. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by psocccer · · Score: 2

      This is a great idea, and would be fairly cheap to add to computers I'd imagine. I don't know about other machines, but the AS/400 has a little display on the front that can post error codes during an IPL (basically a boot) and also has a status counter because it takes so freakin long to get going on some of those boxes. And even if it only worked for POST that wouldn't be bad either... I mean really, trying to decide if the beep is 4 short 1 long 2 short or 2 short 1 long 4 short isn't exactly easy!

    3. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Well PC BIOS's ouput to a certain port a number indicating where in the boot process the BIOS is before initiallizing the display adapter.

      If your PC has an ISA slot you can get a card which displays the diagnostic progress code on a little 2 digit led display.

    4. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by Technician · · Score: 2

      It is an optical diagnostic port. You just don't know it yet. If you don't know Morse code, never fear. Hook up a phototransistor to the DTR line on a RS232 port of a laptop or PC and run any readily avaliable Morse reader freeware/shareware. You now have a non-contact diagnostics scanner to display the code. You may want to enlist the aid of a hardware type to build the RS232 optical pickup. It is a minimal hardware and software solution to not knowing Morse code. This is fully compatible with all the existing hardware and does not require new hardware.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
    5. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by kcbrown · · Score: 2
      A full standard would allow O/Ses, as well as the BIOS to access the output device (be it LEDs or an LCD) and display a standard code for whatever the error is, which the user could then look up in the manual, or on the web.

      Hmm...imagine the abuses this could be subject to if it became standard. Banner ads in your browser would fight each other to display a message on the LCD (or LED, or whatever) output device...

      Good thing that wouldn't be a problem in Linux, only in Windows...

      --
      Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
    6. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by duffbeer703 · · Score: 2

      IBM RS/6000 AIX servers have a feature like this.

      They actually define codes for every hardware initialization technique and server OS startup routines.

      If some setting is mucked up in the network startup script, the LED has a code for that. If your SCSI bus is screwed, ther's a code for that too.

      The only problem is the machines take 15 minutes to boot and the codes vary between models, so you need to leave a manual with the LCD codes in your computer room!

      --
      Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
    7. Re:Standard for diaganostics would be better by Blue23 · · Score: 2

      I administrate a bunch of IBM's AIX boxes and they have this. A nice little LED that handles POST sequence and error conditions.

      Oh yeah, and you can log on and put up your own numbers, to find it physically in crowded data centers. 8)

      =Blue(23)

      --
      LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
  30. ok, ok, I have an *important* question here... by mother_superius · · Score: 0

    Can I hack it and say "4ll y0uR k3rn3l 4r3 b3l0ng t0 u5"?

  31. Re:SOS by SwissCheese · · Score: 1

    Except that those of us who don't have monitors attached to view the "pop up error message" can actually find a legitamite use for this.

  32. Yes, it is going to work: by red_gnom · · Score: 1
    So, instead of one loooong signal it will send:

    ... --- ...

    The Morse Code Alphabet

  33. Doesn't seem /.ed to me here's the text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Linux: Panicking In Morse Code Submitted by Jeremy on Saturday, July 20, 2002 - 08:12

    Digging through the source code of a recent kernel, in the file 'linux/drivers/char/pc_keyb.c', above the definition for the function 'panic_blink', one reads the following comment: /* Tell the user who may be running in X and not see the console that we have
    panic'ed. This is to distingush panics from "real" lockups.
    Could in theory send the panic message as morse, but that is left as an
    exercise for the reader. */

    Andrew Rodland stumbled across this comment, and as he explains, "not being the kind to step down from a challenge (unless it's just really hard), I decided to write morse code output code." His patch against Linux kernel version 2.4.19-rc1-ac1 (plus preempt) actually modifies the kernel to report a panic in morse code! Andrew also submitted a small sample module for generating test panics.
    From: Andrew Rodland
    To: linux-kernel AT vger.kernel.org
    Subject: [PATCH -ac] Panicking in morse code
    Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 01:13:00 -0400

    No, it's not 1 April.

    I was researching panic_blink() for someone who needed a little help,
    when I noticed the comment above the function definition, not being the
    kind to step down from a challenge (unless it's just really hard), I
    decided to write morse code output code.

    The option panicblink= has been hijacked to be a simple bitfield:
    bit 1 : blink LEDs
    bit 2 : sound the PC speaker.

    the blinking option depends only on pc_keyb.c. the pcspeaker option
    depends on kb_mksound() actually doing something. At the moment, both of
    these mean i386. The call to panic_blink() in panic() is still guarded
    by an i386 #ifdef, anyway, for the moment. The default is to blink only,
    because I figured the beeps would be too annoying. Opinions?

    It recognizes letters, and digits, and treats everything else as a
    space. The timings are tunable by #defines. It repeats the message
    indefinitely. And it should only bloat the kernel by a few hundred
    bytes, although if someone wants to wrap this in its own config option,
    well, that's good too.

    Anyway, here's the patch. It's against linux-2.4.19-rc1-ac1+preempt, but
    I suspect it applies against all recent -ac. If 2.5 has this, it will
    hopefully apply with some fuzz against that, too. I don't have a tree.

  34. Here is what it says... by kenthorvath · · Score: 5, Funny
    Three dits!

    Four dits!

    Two dits!

    Dah!

    Windows! Windows! Rah Rah Rah!

    1. Re:Here is what it says... by CharlieG · · Score: 2

      BAD BOY

      --
      -- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
  35. morse code translation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    dit = .

    dah = -

    ....=h, ...=s, ..=i, -=t

  36. Morse code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
    Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.

  37. We really needed that... by SavingPrivateNawak · · Score: 1

    ...to bring Linux on the Desktop

    Really

    1. Re:We really needed that... by mabinogi · · Score: 1

      Actually, it IS related to desktop usage.

      Since the code in question is mainly there so that you can tell the difference between a kernel panic, and an actual lockup if you're running X.

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
  38. More useful by eyepeepackets · · Score: 2

    Perhaps a more useful hack would have been to have the blinky lights signal SOS when a server is being slashdotted. They could have checked it out when submitting this story.

    Here's some more ideas:

    1. Blinky lights go crazy when portsentry reports block yet another attempt at port 80 (best learn how to replace worn out blinky lights first);

    2. Blinky lights make pretty patterns depending on up time of machine (Oops, now I'm flamebait since Windows users will never see pretty blinky lights);

    3. Blinky lights go wild whenever a human female is within 10 feet of machine (unlike the machine's owner who may or may not notice, depending on the task at hand -- oy, did I really say that?);

    I love blinky lights and thank the gods every day that I don't have adverse reactions to them. Now if I can just find a female who doesn't cause adverse reactions, I'm doing good!

    --
    Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
    1. Re:More useful by Sir+Tristam · · Score: 1
      Now if I can just find a female who doesn't cause adverse reactions, I'm doing good!
      That's not necessarily an adverse reaction. A little swelling is normal.

      Ohhh.... Did I say that?

  39. Winamp plugin by prof187 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I donwloaded a winamp plugin that would flash the LEDs with the oscilliscope(sp). Anyway, I thought it was pretty neat untill I tried being productive with it turned on. Turns out that it actually just switches the caps/num lock on and off. So in the middle of my text, i'd Get TExt LiKE THIs. It was neat, but annoying if I planned on typing.

    --

    My other sig is an import.
    1. Re:Winamp plugin by netsharc · · Score: 1

      I miss those blinking lights, my new keyboard is wireless and has no lights at all, probably to conserve battery power, and the only way to see the status of the keys is through a Windows program..

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    2. Re:Winamp plugin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use Linux (Unix) and you can set you can set the leds without changing the flags corresponding to the keys.

      $ man setleds
      --
      -L Do not touch the VT flags, but only change the
      leds. From this moment on, the leds will no longer
      reflect the VT flags

  40. This IS Slashdot, right? by jcsehak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just checking. I can't believe no one's mentioned the part in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon where Randy "prints" out the "message" (trying to avoid a spoiler) on his laptop's LED.

    Here's an LED controller program inspired by that bit in the book.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by MousePotato · · Score: 1

      That is a damn clever app. Really glad you pointed out the link. Thanks.

      Now, a little OT;
      I really liked that book a lot and thought about the cleverness of some of the things Stephenson thought out. Those little bits really conrtibuted to the story in a lot of ways. Shaftoe was a great character too, the sections where the timeline was set back in WWII ended up turning me onto historical fictions for the first time as well.

    2. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 1

      I remember when I started reading Cryptonomicon I was horrified to see that it took place in part during WWII. I hate war movies, and couldn't imagine putting the effort forward to actually read a book as large this one is on that subject. But the modern day stuff kept me going. Then I found something strange happening I was actually longing for the book to return to the WWII setting. While I was still enjoying the modern stuff, it wasn't anything new to me, but I was learning all new stuff about the history of crypto that I had taken for granted with todays super fast number crunching.

      I wish I had something on topic to say about the kernel patch, but I don't. One more thought for about the book, trying to avoid spoilers too. Wouldn't the keyboard controller put off EM radiation?

    3. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by cjpez · · Score: 2
      And, by the way, it should be made entirely clear that every human being on the planet should go and read Cryptonomicon. Seriously. If you don't know English, learn it, and then read that book. It's fantastic.

      Just in case anyone here hasn't read it yet and is looking for something to do.

    4. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by j-turkey · · Score: 2
      Wouldn't the keyboard controller put off EM radiation?

      Speaking of which...does Van Ick (or Van Eck, I don't remember) phreaking really work/exist? I'd love to see a Slashdot feature on that.

      -Turkey
      --

      -Turkey

    5. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, though I do not believe it works nearly so well. In the 80s, many spook agencies produced phreak-resitant computers, a very simple task, as a result of their paranoia. The program that the CIA ran was known as TEMPEST.

    6. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by enneff · · Score: 2
      Why don't you try reading the thread, moron. Someone beat you to it, and with a lot more style - moron moderators didn't get it and modded it down.

      (yet another reason for reading at -1)

    7. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      If you don't know English, learn it, and then read that book.

      Reading the books is definitely a recommended method for people who want to learn the language! I was faced with the same sort of thing with... er... um... *blush* Jurassic Park.

    8. Re:This IS Slashdot, right? by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

      Actually someone id mention it here:
      http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl? sid=364 29&cid=3923389

  41. Re:SOS by Uberminky · · Score: 2

    Ummmmmmmmmm........ isn't that what serial is for?

    --

    The streets shall flow with the blood of the Guberminky.

  42. I got through... here's google's copy by vidnet · · Score: 1
    Here's a link from the site with the patch and everything.

    Google will also find you morse code tutorials :)

  43. morse code translator by Troll+on+ice · · Score: 0

    http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/morse/index.html for those that are morse code challenged..

    --
    Karma: Bad (mostly affected by moderation done to your comments)...Now i know why.
  44. Compaq beep of death by peterdaly · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I didn't know better I'd say that's what Compaq's, or was it old ALRs (remember them?) did when hardware wasn't right.

    A string of varying beeps. This was years ago, don't know if any recent hardware still does it.

    Tech support: Hold the phone close to the system board so I can hear it.

    That was funny.

    -Pete

    1. Re:Compaq beep of death by einhverfr · · Score: 3, Informative

      Most BIOS's still do that when they can't start-- you can find BIOS error codes online for most computers, though the beep codes differ between models.

      Nowadays, though, hardware is cheap enough that most people just start swapping out hardware when their computer does something other than the standard short beep on startup.

      Now if we could patch the BIOS's to give errors in Morse code...

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    2. Re:Compaq beep of death by LordoftheFrings · · Score: 1

      That has happened a lot to me. With only one computer I had to figure out what the beeps meant, to fix the computer, to go to the website, to find out what the beeps meant. Boy is that annoying.

    3. Re:Compaq beep of death by iCEBaLM · · Score: 2

      On my motherboard, ASUS A7V333, which has an integrated sound chipset, it will actually voice speak POST errors either through the sound or PC Speaker. Kindof freaky the first time I heard "Processor Temperature Critical".

      -- iCEBaLM

    4. Re:Compaq beep of death by Monkeyman334 · · Score: 3, Funny

      My favorite musical warning was at this ISP I used to work at. We had an old machine that we didn't really do anything with except test out peoples dial-up accounts. One day my coworker was on the phone and the machine next to him starts playing Fur Elise. He panicked and told the customer to hold while he flipped off the computer because the music was a warning that the fan had failed. I was laughing so much. What made it great was when we found microsoft knowledge base articles on it.

    5. Re:Compaq beep of death by maggard · · Score: 1
      Apple Macs do something like this too.

      The various Mac models play a distinctive chord when they start up and a missing note indicates what isn't working. A tech with a good ear can name the model and identify the problem part from listening to the startup blindfolded.

      --
      I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
    6. Re:Compaq beep of death by sharkey · · Score: 2

      old ALRs (remember them?)

      Aahhh...I have one sitting in the corner at my $ORK_PLACE. It is made out of a strange material called "metal", if you can believe that.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    7. Re:Compaq beep of death by ajaxlemon · · Score: 1

      I remember when I used to work as a PC-technican a few years ago, we once got this new cool motherboard which came in a relly flashy box with a big skull on it (although, I can't remember it's name).

      When there was something wrong with the mb - like there was no memory in it - it actually played a little sample through the PC-speaker screaming in an evil disorted voice "INSERT RAM! INSERT RAM! INSERT RAM! INSERT RAM!...."

    8. Re:Compaq beep of death by jsse · · Score: 2

      Tech Support: Hold the phone close to the system board so I can hear it.

      It's quite amazing, but not a joke. The beep sound on startup actually tells you what's wrong with the system. If you've picked up any (decent) PC DIY book there should have one section telling you what the beeps mean.

      E.g. One long beep followed by endless short beep is referring to display card problem. I forgot the rest, though.

  45. Morse? by loucura! · · Score: 1

    dadadit didadit dit didah dah dadaditditdadah dadahdidit dit didahdit dadadah dadidadit dadadah dadah dadah dit dadit dah dididit didah dahdit dadidit didit dah didadadadadit dididit didah didadidit didadit dit didah dadidit dadidadah dididit didadidit didah dididit didididit dadidit dadadah dah dad dit dadidit didadidadidah

    [translation:

    great, zero comments and it's already slashdotted. ]

    Well, apparently morse code is lame...(stupid lameness filter)

    --
    Black and grey are both shades of white.
    1. Re:Morse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, apparently morse code is lame...(stupid lameness filter)

      No, it was your post that was lame.

    2. Re:Morse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Well, apparently morse code is lame...(stupid lameness filter)

      I resent this!

      Matthew Morse

      Friends don't let friends Slashdot.

  46. Undoubtedly... by mstyne · · Score: 4, Funny

    The kerneltrap.org server's led's are furiously flashing:

    [imagine 'slashdotted' in morse here]

    Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
    Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.

    Morse != Junk! Damn you lameness filter!!

    --
    mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
    1. Re:Undoubtedly... by isorox · · Score: 2

      [imagine 'slashdotted' in morse here]

      Why imagine when you can

      dit dit dit, dit daw dit dit, dit daw, dit dit dit, dit dit dit dit, daw dit dit, daw daw daw,
      daw, daw, dit, daw dit dit, daw dit dit dit daw,

  47. Amiga had this in the 80s :D by ZaneMcAuley · · Score: 1

    I remember the Amiga had this along with the "Guru meditation" numbers :)

    *weeps* the memories :'(

    --
    ----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
  48. Re:Why not make it stable, like WinXP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just have shitty hardware, or for some sad, sad reason; can't figure out how to set it up properly.

    Go back to your pathetic alternative operating systems. With the exception of Mac OS X and BeOS, that is. I love those operating systems and would never troll them, only their stupid users who cry the blues when they can't administrate them.

    BeFurious, BeAnnoyed,
    ~ BeTroll.

  49. Here's your Code, Mr Morse by Kaz+Riprock · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is a good page for the morse code and common abbreviations used by HAM (amateur radio) operators. You could always have your computer die with QSB? (are my signals fading?)...

    --
    Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
  50. All it will say is... by Kredal · · Score: 1

    .- .... .... .... ....

    (Think Kevin from Home Alone panicing.)

    called lame for using lots of caps, so here's a whole sentance without caps. bleh.

    also called lame for excessive junk characters. double bleh.

    also warned because it took less than 20 seconds to post. how many different slashdot errors can one get in a single 2 line post? yeesh.

    --
    Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
    1. Re:All it will say is... by lukew · · Score: 0

      ...-----
      fds
      asd .... test

  51. (Limited) mirror by Reece400 · · Score: 1

    well, i'm not sure how long it'll last, but i thought since it seemed to only work on and off, i made a mirror on a free hosted site, (i'm cheap, i know,) but better than nothin :),

    Http://endlessjourney.netfirms.com

    Reece,

    PS. this is a great idea, all PC's should be able to do morse code :)

  52. *sigh* by ebbomega · · Score: 4, Funny

    All your funny are belong to a year and a half ago!
    Someone set up us the dead horse!
    You have no chance to be funny make your time!

    --
    Karma: Non-Heinous
    1. Re:*sigh* by LordNimon · · Score: 1

      Now that is funny!

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    2. Re:*sigh* by LegendLength · · Score: 1

      Bravo sir!

  53. Re:Why not make it stable, like WinXP? by Reece400 · · Score: 1

    To be honest, i don't have top of the line hardware, but it's far from shit,, and as far as M$ is concerned, they really don't want us to set windows up past the point of what colours it is,,,

  54. That's uber geekish by xchino · · Score: 1

    I love it! Now I'm gonna have to find out how to use all of my LED's for other purposes. Anyone have any ideas on how to use my CD-ROM LED to show ethernet utilizaion?

    --
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
  55. Lame site! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    WTF kind of lame site is that you linked to?

    [shim.gif] (about 20 of those, and then...)
    [notathome_r01_c01.gif] [notathome_r01_c06.gif] [1][notathome_r01_c14.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r02_c14.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r03_c14.gif] [notathome_r03_c15.gif] [notathome_r03_c17.gif] [shim.gif]
    [2][notathome_r04_c01.gif] [notathome_r04_c03.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r05_c03.gif] [notathome_r05_c04.gif] [notathome_r05_c05.gif]
    [notathome_r05_c07.gif] [notathome_r05_c08.gif] [notathome_r05_c09.gif]
    [notathome_r05_c10.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r06_c04.gif] [notathome_r06_c07.gif] [notathome_r06_c09.gif]
    [notathome_r06_c11.gif] [notathome_r06_c12.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r07_c15.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r08_c11.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r09_c14.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r10_c01.gif] [notathome_r10_c14.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r11_c01.gif] [3][notathome_r11_c02.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r12_c02.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r13_c02.gif] [4][notathome_r13_c05.gif] [notathome_r13_c13.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r14_c13.gif] [5][notathome_r14_c16.gif] [notathome_r14_c18.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r15_c16.gif] [shim.gif]
    [notathome_r16_c05.gif] [shim.gif]

    A real class act there, genius!

    1. Re:Lame site! by mkv · · Score: 0, Troll

      Hmm, maybe you could just try and live in this day instead of banging away on your good old vt-100? I mean, webpages _do_ look much nicer on a graphical display most of the time.

      --
      The secret to a successful /. career: Blame Microsoft
  56. I would rather have a POST code type system by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This does seem somewhat bloated. The article claims it only adds a few hundred bytes, but isn't more specific. The encoding of the letters and numbers in Morse seems wasteful, but it can't be done by five bits in one byte the way Alan Cox suggested, since not all Morse characters are 5 symbols long. There would be space in a byte to store all of this information though if the remaining bits were used to store the number of encoded bits. But the real bloat comes in coding all of the potential panics anywhere they might occur. Overall I think I would prefer a system that simply passed a numeric panic number, much like the BIOS power on self test system beeps to inform a user of what failed. More limited, but reasonable for it's size. Or, if you think like Bill Gates and bloat isn't a promise but rather a blessing, then a nice text to speech system would let the computer say why it panicked.

    As to the question of flashing the LED because Morse on the speaker might be too annoying, I say go for the speaker. Those who do know Morse know it by sound, not by individual dots and dashes, and seeing it on an LED is a very different thing than listening to it. If the system has panicked I'm already annoyed, beeping isn't going to be a problem. Just the opposite, if I'm nearby but not looking at the computer I want the beeping to get my attention to the problem.

    And here's the really stupid question: What is this blinking system LED he's talking about???? I have a power LED on my PC, but it's not software controlled. Some PC's used to have a "turbo" LED, but that's been phased out. I sure hope he's not using the hard disk LED. Is he using a Keyboard LED or am I missing something really obvious here?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Informative

      num lock, cap lock, scroll lock

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1

      ...but it can't be done by five bits in one byte the way Alan Cox suggested, since not all Morse characters are 5 symbols long. Yes it can--the remaining 3 bits from the byte can hold a number from 0 to 7, which can easily hold the number of dots/dashes in the character. In the five bits, a 0 is a dot and a 1 is a dash. (In the examples, the high 5 bits are the morse and the low 3 are the count.) So 01000010 = .- , 10000100 = -... , etc...

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    3. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by Some+Dumbass... · · Score: 2

      But the real bloat comes in coding all of the potential panics anywhere they might occur.

      Perhaps they should just translate some already-existing characters into morse code. Isn't there usually a text error message associated with the kernel panic? If not that, how about the name of the function which caused the panic?

    4. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by pongo000 · · Score: 2

      Is he using a Keyboard LED or am I missing something really obvious here?
      Digging through the source code of a recent kernel, in the file 'linux/drivers/char/pc_keyb.c', above the definition for the function 'panic_blink', one reads the following comment:
      I would guess both.
    5. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by nvainio · · Score: 1
      But the real bloat comes in coding all of the potential panics anywhere they might occur.

      That has been done already, long time ago.

      nikke@hattivatti:/usr/src/linux/kernel$ grep -i "panic(" *.c
      exit.c: panic("Aiee, killing interrupt handler!");
      exit.c: panic("Attempted to kill the idle task!");
      exit.c: panic("Attempted to kill init!");
      fork.c: panic("Cannot create signal action SLAB cache");
      fork.c: panic("Cannot create files SLAB cache");
      fork.c: panic("Cannot create fs_struct SLAB cache");
      fork.c: panic("vma_init: Cannot alloc vm_area_struct SLAB cache");
      fork.c: panic("vma_init: Cannot alloc mm_struct SLAB cache");

      As to the question of flashing the LED because Morse on the speaker might be too annoying, I say go for the speaker.

      It can be configured to beep instead of flashing the lights.

    6. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by SurfsUp · · Score: 2

      The encoding of the letters and numbers in Morse seems wasteful, but it can't be done by five bits in one byte the way Alan Cox suggested, since not all Morse characters are 5 symbols long. There would be space in a byte to store all of this information though if the remaining bits were used to store the number of encoded bits.

      Maybe Alan didn't come up with the optimal scheme this time, but you are way wrong about what's possible. In fact, a variable length string of up to 7 bits can be stored unambiguously in a single byte. See my post, which explains how the code works. Not my idea by the way, but once somebody points it out to you, it's obvious.

      --
      Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
    7. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by arodland · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's exactly what it does. It simply transmits the message that was passed to panic(), after snprintf-expansion.

      As for the parent message, it has two modes of operation, currently, keyboard-LEDs and/or pc-speaker, but the latest version (v3) is potentially compatible with any sort of LED or beeper, if someone writes the code. The beeper, in fact, uses the same beep function as the VC's, which was already set up to be multi-arch-compatible in just that way.

      In other words, yes, I _am_ trying to make this reasonably useful. :)

    8. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by frovingslosh · · Score: 2
      a variable length string of up to 7 bits can be stored unambiguously in a single byte.

      Very nice. Should be clean to impliment too. Far superior to the 3 bit/5 bit approach. Thanks for posting the technique.

      --
      I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    9. Re:I would rather have a POST code type system by krogoth · · Score: 2

      Coding all the potential panics? I doubt it. I haven't looked at the system, but the intelligent way to do it would be to translate kernel panic messages one character at a time.

      --

      They that quote Benjamin Franklin on liberty and safety deserve neither.
  57. dahdididadit didadidadidah = /. by Pingo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As an old army telgraphist and hamradio operator I would prefer morse to be sent via the PC speaker instead of some LED's. A human can attain much higher reception speed by using his eara as opposed to using his eys.

    Since I myself is capable of morse ear reception much faster than normal people are able to speak, I would really like to have a morse interface to my Linux boxes.

    Imagine also to get rid of the keyboard and use a simple morse key as input device. Ahhh nirvana at last. //Pingo

    --
    --- Linux or FreeBSD, it's like blondes or brunettes. I like both. ---
  58. Mirror here by bodin · · Score: 2

    I've mirrored the comment page and the patch
    here for your pleasure.

    I remember doing this on a embedded FORTH-system in the 80-ies. The only way to communicate with the board when the RS232 was gone was a little piezo-beeper.

  59. morse code discrimination by Space+Coyote · · Score: 2

    A quick trip to Google found me the CGI Morse Code Translator, which translates "server slashdotted" to:

    (Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
    Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.)

    slashdot sucks :)

    dot dot dah dot dot dah dot dah dot dah dot dah dot dah dot dot

    --
    ___
    Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
  60. That's what a serial port is for! by SHEENmaster · · Score: 1

    My server has a dumb terminal connected to one of its serial ports. It is a single-line model with an integrated keyboard. I set the cron daemon to send a message to it, with abbreviations that tell me if anything is wrong. The kernel could also do such a thing.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  61. Re:You have gone too far ... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 2

    As opposed to Windows, where you get error messages like "An invalid page fault has occurred in module KERNEL.DLL at: " and then a page and a half of hex. By which time, your system and anything you were working on is completely buggered.

  62. Or, for Linux 2.4, "Same Old Shit". by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since it crashes with startling regularity...

  63. This was an x86 server feature by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least on a bunch of the HP Netserver models we've used - LX Pro, LH3, LH4, etc. They seemed to have dropped it on the smaller 2U and 1U models like the 1000 and 2000 due to lack of space or something.

    It's too bad there's not a standardized motherboard resource (built-in PCI device, etc)for LCD displays like this; OS and app vendors would then be able to utilize it out of the box.

    The idiotic thing is the displays on our LH3s and LH4s didn't show much and were useless, even with the "interactive" buttons that let you cruise around like on a printer. If they could display system load, temperature, yadda yadda they would be be much more useful.

    Of course we know the logical conclusion to LCD displays on the front of computers -- someobody will have to have a full-blown 6" color LCD display on the front of the machine...

    1. Re:This was an x86 server feature by _Knots · · Score: 1

      You mean like on SGI's mainframes... they show processor load in neat little bar-graphs (x is processor #, y is load).

      --
      Anarchy$ dd if=/dev/random of=~/.signature bs=120 count=1
    2. Re:This was an x86 server feature by MoreBeer · · Score: 1

      You're right... The LH3/LH4/LX8000 series LCD displays are completely useless. The older Compaq Proliant (3000, 6000 series) would show the CPU utilization, mem util, etc... As an influential HP shop, I asked them for these enhancements for years. For god's sake, just let me show the server's host name!

      Alas, there may be some justice in this world since the Proliants will be the dominating HP server model.

    3. Re:This was an x86 server feature by jlanthripp · · Score: 1
      Of course we know the logical conclusion to LCD displays on the front of computers -- someobody will have to have a full-blown 6" color LCD display on the front of the machine...

      How about a touch screen LCD on the front? It could show when there's a memory fault (even down to which bank has a bad bit), CPU temps, and other useful stuff.

      Oh, wait, ALR already did that with the 6x6 boxes...

      --
      "Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
  64. I haven't seen that since I used Mozilla ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't seem to get those messages unless I install some GPL bullshit like Mozilla.

  65. A cool and excellent hack! by farrellj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thanx to the people to worked on it...it is silliness like this that make Linux well worth the effort to learn, understand and play with!

    ttyl
    Farrell

    --
    CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
  66. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  67. Yes, it can send to the speaker, too! by Etcetera · · Score: 2


    If you follow the link, you'll see that he implimented it for the PC speaker as well. (You can set this as an option.) Of course, that depends on the speaker driver being in a decent state during the panic.

  68. Follow Sun Cobalt model... by Etcetera · · Score: 2


    One of the cool things about Cobalt RaQ servers is the LCD on the front panel. There's a simple driver control program that can be used to spit out the text (or bit-graphics, apparently).

    We have about 120 of these in our data center and we tech occasionally play practical jokes on or leave messages for one another on them. =)

    1. Re:Follow Sun Cobalt model... by LinuxHam · · Score: 3, Informative

      Someone gave me a RaQ4 because his house power was too flaky and the box kept rebooting.

      Well after bringing it home and reloading it from the "network gold disk" I started using it. After a short while, the box became very slow to respond. The load had gone up to 33 (yes, the O'Reilly Performance Tuning book says the load shouldn't go over 2.0 x the CPU count -- this went up to 33 on idle). It was the damn LCD control app. Once I chmodded it to -x, the load hasn't gone over 0.02 in over a year. Of course the LCD is useless now, but its better than having the whole server useless.

      I brought it up to my friend (who was managing about 800 of the bastards at an ISP) and he replied, "oh, no wonder the damn things are so freaking slow".

      So, lately I've been reading up on the System Installation Suite so that I can setup my own tftp server-based install of Debian. If you also anticipate Sun dropping support for these bad boys, you may want to look into it too. It would be nice to have the box feel like a normal one and who knows, maybe the lcdproc isn't such a resource hog now. Maybe the market will be flooded with them once they're abandoned, and SISuite will breathe new life into them.

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
  69. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  70. backdraft by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Hey, I'm getting a message in morse code. Get my pencil, Let's see:

    e r r o r - i n - m o r s e - c o d e - g e n e r z k b g h i l e r l b v c t q z

    Doh!"

  71. More practical solutions exist... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're sitting in front of the computer and can't see the panic message, it is usually because you are running XFree86 the kernel doesn't know enough about the state of the video card to display a message.

    There are other ways of addressing this problem. Of course they aren't as cool in terms of hack-value.

  72. We need Sad Mac "chimes of death"... by Etcetera · · Score: 3, Informative


    One of the (many) cool things that differentiate Macs from PC's is the way the report POST failures.

    Depending on if the video driver was sane or not yet, you'd get an infamous "San Mac" display, followed by a few codes in hex describing what was wrong. If not, you'd get POST-coded beeps.

    What was really cool were the "chimes of death". Each Mac model family had a specific sound that played when the POST test failed. These ranged from the opening to the Twilight Zone theme, to a drum crash, to the sound of glass breaking, to a full-on car crash. (You get get some of them here, but I KNOW there's a more comprehensive list with samples out there somewhere.) :/

    Ahh, memories...

    1. Re:We need Sad Mac "chimes of death"... by Fortyseven · · Score: 1

      Yes, those really did need to be in .mov format. Honest.

    2. Re:We need Sad Mac "chimes of death"... by k2r · · Score: 1

      > What was really cool were the "chimes of death".

      Since I have been a Mac user for many years now I can tell you that morse-code is way better for your nerves - you don't want anything else.

      I had the sad-mac sound only once so far because of a broken SIMM - you press the button, expect the "major"-sound and are welcomed by the sad-mac sound.

      Feels like an electrical shock in the morning.

      k2r

  73. EssentialServer(tm) does that already. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The product is a Linux-based network storage appliance. The health of the system is constantly monitored by a daemon. If something, except the monitoring process itself, goes wrong, the speaker plays 'SOS' in Morse code. An text alert is also displayed on the LCD in front panel. To end users, of course, it's no difference than playing plain beeps. It's just a little fun in work. For those who might be curious, please check EssentialServer.com

  74. Engine error codes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most cars before '96 have some way to read engine error codes without a special tool. On Neons I think you cycle the ignition key and count the number of times the check engine light flashes to get the code. Subarus had jumpers in the wiring harness that you switched to get the lights to flash. In '96 all engines had to have OBD-II compliant engine computers with a standardized plug to connect a diagnostic device. So now the only way to get codes is with adapter cables and your Palm.

  75. Ay, you younguns... by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 2

    No, always have a stop bit. The highest on bit is the stop bit, and not played. This allows up to 7 bits of useful bits.

  76. Cool! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's actually a good idea to use leds to tell the sysadmin what's wrong. Most (web)servers don't have a monitor attached. If you got a problem with a server, it's easier to check the leds than to attach a monitor.

    OK, I understand that 99,9% of us don't know morse, but at least it shows SOMETHING. And if you have a kernel panic (once every 3 year), attaching a monitor won't help anyway.

  77. PDP-11 Console LEDs by 80N · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Back in days before PCs the PDP-11 had a row of 16 or so LEDs that showed the state of the processor. When the Operating System was running its idle loop, the creative people from DEC had programmed it so that a repeating pattern was displayed on the LEDs.

    Each Operating System displayed a different pattern, so sometimes you could walk up to a computer and immediately know what OS was running without touching it. This was a very useful skill for impressing the gullable.

    RSTS - displayed a pattern that cycled from left to right.

    DSM - displayed a pattern that went from the sides to the center.

    RSX - I can't remember what this one did, can anyone else recall?

  78. Re:Why not make it stable, like WinXP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's "administer", not "administrate", you fucking idiot. All BeOS users are morons.

  79. Real hacker spirit by nvainio · · Score: 1
    This is a great example of real hacker spirit: do it because its fun, useful or not. I just wish Linus accepts this patch. ;-)

    Finally a reason to learn morse code.

  80. It's nice and creative .. but I prefer the random by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    If the server crashes and you happen to glance at it.. you wont be looking at it long enough to see the change in LED pattern.

    With fast blinking lights .. you instantly know that your server is having a seizure.

    That said it's a nice patch .. creative etc. but I dont think it's good for general corporate environments.

  81. We had this and removed it by PieterMuller · · Score: 1
    As to the question of flashing the LED because Morse on the speaker might be too annoying, I say go for the speaker.
    I had a morse code panic procedure in the Native Oberon kernel a couple of years ago, but removed it again because few people realized it was actually sending useful information, and not just beeping randomly. In only one case someone mailed me the trap info from the morse output. He was a radio ham and immediately recognized the code.

    One time at Stellenbosch University more than 100 PCs in big student lab trapped simultaneously due to a TCP/IP stack problem. It's incredible what a racket that can generate...

    -- Pieter
    --
    ETH Oberon: More than the sum of its modules. http://www.oberon.ethz.ch/
  82. Re:dahdididadit didadidadidah = /. by arodland · · Score: 1

    The patch has options for either or both. The speaker mode is disabled by default due to potential disruptiveness. :)

  83. Heck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I want is an shell interface to my paddles. That way I wouldn't have to touch the keyboard.

  84. Loop a wav of a guy explaining the error in latin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >"When an i386 running Linux panics, a function >in " ...

    I bet very few people have ever seen that happen! In daily use of Linux for an employer for over five years, with thousands of different computers, I've only seen that happen on two different computers.

    Who the hell knows morse code anyway? Whoever they are, they can probably juggle too.

    I'm not dissing juggling but if you think you can discern a morse code message, while your balls are on fire, I think you'd have about as much chance as juggling with the jewels in flames.

  85. IBM RS/6000 by atcurtis · · Score: 1


    IBM RS/6000 boxes have a 16x2 character LCD panel on the processor box...

    Unfortunately, they only provide an API to display a 12/16bit hex string (3/4 characters) on it.

    What a waste!

    --
    -- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
    -- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
  86. Who would understand it by stevew · · Score: 2

    I find this idea interesting - especially since only a few of the kernel hackers actually KNOW
    morse code. AC and BP have ham licenses. Don't know about the rest of the hackers..

    --
    Have you compiled your kernel today??
  87. Seen it before. by shippo · · Score: 1

    There's a hardware company called "nCipher" who make hardware based encryption devices. These have a single LED on the back of the card. To indicate any error conditions, the error code is flashed via Morse on this LED.

  88. "...these foolish children" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now we can set the memory overheat panic message to "Who will take responsibility now, for these foolish children?"

  89. dit-dit-dit-dot-dot-dot-dit-dit-dit dept? by giantsfan89 · · Score: 1

    Well, when heard audibly, it should be more like:
    di-di-dit-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit

    --
    Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
  90. heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neal Stephenson had a character in his book _Cryptonomicon_ do the same thing, except that the computer was (I believe) a pc and the morse was a visual transcription of a document that the character wanted to protect from Van Eck phreaking.

  91. There is a patent on this by thogard · · Score: 2

    A company in Lynchburg Va has a patent on this. Most likly they don't even know it but their patent on a one wire control system describes a computer sending (and recieving) morse code as well as sending out warnings via morse code. The guy who "invented" it said he didn't even understand what the patent application said and he already had about twenty patents. The patent was supposed to be for using a single wire control system in places where you can't drill holes to run wires but turns out to be a patent on morse code. They guy whos name is on the patent said there was piror art that he knew of involving mechanical devices so its not a major issue but like so many other ideas, in theory you can't sell this one without a license.

    1. Re:There is a patent on this by scharkalvin · · Score: 1

      If the patent office is looney enough to issue a patent on Morse Code there are some people in Newington Conn. they better talk to!

  92. I did this years ago by scharkalvin · · Score: 1

    About 17 years ago when I was working for Gould computer systems I was working on an embedded communications controller for their supermini computers. I was writing the self test routines for the boot rom and the error handler routines in the main firmware. There were only two led's on the board and I was asked to somehow indicate failure modes on those led's. So I ended up blinking the error codes in MORSE on the leds! The blink rate was slow enough so you didn't need to know morse, just compare the blink patterns with those printed in the manual. But the hams working in the company figured it out!

  93. My Idea Long Ago by evilviper · · Score: 2

    Many years I had suggested using Morse Code instead of BIOS-beep error codes.

    At the time, there were many different BIOSes out there, with their own different beep-code values. It seemed that morse code was already the most wide-spread binary communication system in use by humans.

    Now, there's really only two BIOS manufactures you'll see out there, and there's an increasing trend of having more advnaced BIOSes (non-Intel systems) which output error messages in different ways, (on-screen, serial cable, etc) which limits the usefullness of that idea today.

    So... Why not do the same thing with Linux? Output to the screen, serial port, or parallel ports (print it out!). If nothing else, it would allow automation of information gathering, rather than requiring someone be right there, to translate the dots and dashes to messages.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    1. Re:My Idea Long Ago by egreB · · Score: 1

      It seemed that morse code was already the most wide-spread binary communication system in use by humans.
      Actually, morse code is not binary.. There is at least three stages - dot, dash and pause. There have to be to different length of pauses as well, to indicate end of letter and end of word.

    2. Re:My Idea Long Ago by evilviper · · Score: 2

      S.O.S In (binary) morse code. ... - - - ...

      111 000 101010 000 111

      Three short beep. Pause. Three Long beeps. Pause. Three Sort beeps.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    3. Re:My Idea Long Ago by egreB · · Score: 1

      Well, by of course! (Almost) everything in the world is representable with binary code! In the same way as you implemented a binary way of viewing morse code, I can implement a binary way of viewing characters (ASCII, for example). That was not my point - the language (or whatever it is called) of morse is not binary, in the same way as the alphabet isn't binary.

  94. radio on ships by Fuzzums · · Score: 1

    Two years ago there was an item on the television here in the Netherlands adout the last man that knew and used morse for radio contact.

    This could me a good initiative for a whole new generation to learn morse.

    What a way to keep the history alive!

    --
    Privacy is terrorism.
    1. Re:radio on ships by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      yeah, since linux kernel panics so often.

      +1 funny or -1 troll depending

  95. The sound of Morse code by bruceFinding · · Score: 1

    People who use Morse code definately know it by the sound - letters and words are recognized as units, much in the same way that people recognize whole words when they read.

    Recently I overheard someone's pager, and heard the sounds "dididit dahdah dididit" which is "SMS" in Morse code. I don't know what kind of pager it was, but evidently the person had received an SMS (Short Message Service) text message, and the pager identified it with Morse.

    1. Re:The sound of Morse code by John+Ineson · · Score: 1

      > Recently I overheard someone's pager, and heard the sounds
      > "dididit dahdah dididit" which is "SMS" in Morse code.

      That's not a pager, it's one of the longer SMS alerts found on Nokia phones. And damn annoying it is too.

    2. Re:The sound of Morse code by WoofLu · · Score: 1

      There is a longer one, which also sounds like morse code, although I am not trained enough to recognise it.

    3. Re:The sound of Morse code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a longer one, which also sounds like morse code, although I am not trained enough to recognise it.
      I believe it says "Connecting people".

  96. OT: Cellphones do Morse! by LinuxHam · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Way OT.. just wanted to say that I wonder how many people are aware that when their cellphones receive a text message and beep loudly with "dit-dit-dit, dah-dah, dit-dit-dit" their cellphones are actually sending "SMS" in morse code -- SMS, "SMS", get it? :)

    I commute in the masses making their way to and through NYC everyday, and I must hear that four times a day on the train.

    --
    Intelligent Life on Earth
    1. Re:OT: Cellphones do Morse! by fizbin · · Score: 2

      That's one of the four (well, five if you count silence) options that nokia phones have for message recieved tones. (On the 5165, it's the tone called "special")

      The others are "single beep" (easy to guess what that sounds like), "long & loud" (which spells out "connecting people" in morse code - Nokia's slogan) and "standard" (which sounds like "ooo" in morse - nine long beeps in groups of three).

  97. B6700 ( Re:PDP-11 Console LEDs ) by AJWM · · Score: 2

    Oh, well, if we're going to descend to ancient hardware blinkenlights stories... (which model PDP-11, BTW?)

    The Burroughs B6700 (and similar models) was a 48-bit word (96-bit double) stack oriented mainframe. The main panel had an array of 12 by 16 lights showing the bits in the top two words (double words) in the current stack. At idle, those would light up with the Burroughs "B" logo.

    Of course the challenge was to come up with code that would load those registers with some interesting pattern and keep it there long enough for the operators to notice.

    --
    -- Alastair
  98. mod parent up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    enough said

  99. Hurrah. by Mike1024 · · Score: 1

    "When an i386 running Linux panics, a function in the kernel called 'panic_blink' causes the system's LEDs to blink. Andrew Rodland recently posted a creative patch to turn that steady blink into a useful message in morse code!"

    It's the miracle of open source. If only Bill Gates opened the Windows source, Windows too could have morse code LEDs.

    Go Linux!

    Michael

    --
    "Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
  100. Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Okay, so this is a stupid story. It doesn't
    belong anywhere, except as a sidenote, and still
    it gets almost 200 comments.

    I guess this says something about your average
    slashdotter.

    I mean, why the fuck should you care about a
    stupid patch that's only kewl and 3l33t and does
    nothing useful at all ?

    Morons...

  101. Morse code speaker driver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A Morse Code speaker driver is implemented as example code in "Linux Assembly Language Programming" by Bob Neveln (2000)

  102. What i wouldn't give by AnalogBoy · · Score: 2

    For some hardware functions like that. A nice LCD screen, like IBM UNIX boxes have.. so that when your computer hangs for apparently no reason (like mine) you at least have a clue as to why (unlike mine). Just a nice little hex display or something.. *sigh*

    1. Re:What i wouldn't give by arodland · · Score: 1

      That would be sweet.
      Might I mention that you can do this with a serial-controlled LCD and serial-console, though? :)

    2. Re:What i wouldn't give by AnalogBoy · · Score: 2

      Yeah, but we're making the assumption that i
      1) use a Unix on my PC, which i don't.. but lets not get Religolitical here.
      2) Can even get past BIOS before my computer freezes. Which i can't. It sucks. When it freezes, it can freeze well into the OS Loading stage, or it can freeze in BIOS. No rhyme or reason. Im thinking theres an electrical fault somewhere..

  103. reminds me of this book. by seanyboy · · Score: 0

    Of course, all we need now is to be captured by gangsters and told to decrypt the directions to the hidden gold.

    --
    Training monkeys for world domination since 1439
  104. Re:dahdididadit didadidadidah = /. by nani+popoki · · Score: 1

    I use the morse code message route frequently while debugging some multi-threaded code (to the annoyance of coworkers). Since I'm blessed with a good sense of pitch, I'll often encode information in the frequency as well as the text.

    It has a couple of advantages -- you don't need to arrange to get a window open in a process that wouldn't normally use one and the extra time delay caused by sending the message can be instructive if you've accidentally coded some kind of synchronism bug. Besides, it's just plain fun -- and isn't that the whole point of writing code anyway?

  105. Re:Winamp plugin ITUNES plugin by paradesign · · Score: 2

    theres one from mac hack that would make your dock icons bounce up and down in the dock with the music. Unfortunately it rapes the event que, making it difficult to even move the mouse to shut it off. useless but cool.

    --
    I want 2D games back.
  106. What about morsing on one of the LEDs? by XTaran · · Score: 1

    Why not enable the morsing also on one of the LEDs? So instead of just blinking, the LED could morse the panic message optically, too. :-)

    --
    -- There is no place like $HOME.
  107. dididit dididah dadidadit dahdidah by newestbob · · Score: 0

    dada dahdidahdah / dahdidit didit dadidadit dadidah! NO CODE == NO HAM

  108. NO CODE == NO HAM by newestbob · · Score: 0
    NO CODE == NO HAM

    I'm a REAL EXTRA who took his test at the FCC. All you young whipper-snappers can suck my dick!

  109. Re:You have gone too far ... by maddogmiller · · Score: 1

    AMEN

  110. The only thing better than blinking morse code... by maddogmiller · · Score: 1

    Morse code when Linux Panics? Wait!!! Why don't you dorks have it blink in encrypted morse code!

    Thanks for the laugh El-Stupido!