Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Panicking In Morse Code

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the dit-dit-dit-dot-dot-dot-dit-dit-dit dept.

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!"

8 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

  2. 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.
  3. 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 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. 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 |
  5. 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...

  6. 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?

  7. 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