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Morse Code Migrating To The Net

Rosco P. Coltrane writes "With Morse code slowly disappearing off the air, there seems to be a growing number of people who carry out conversations in Morse over the internet. Several Windows and Linux clients using VoIP or special protocols, such as EchoLink, EchoLinux, MorseMail, CW Communicator or CWirc exist for Morse lovers worldwide to pound brass and make contact with one another. Could the next must-have computer input device be a morse key ?"

35 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. morse code encapsulate by Lawrence_Bird · · Score: 2, Funny

    crypto! now that will throw them for a loop!

  2. I can see it now by Sad+Loser · · Score: 4, Funny


    Dear Mr Morse
    Unfortunately your patent application for a serial binary code device (RFC 1) has not been accepted, as a company called SCO claim prior art.

    --
    Humorous signatures are over-rated.
  3. Genious! by aerojad · · Score: 3, Funny

    So computer geeks have finally found a way to make the internet appeal to the older generations!

    --

    SecondPageMedia - Wha
  4. Pound brass? by ryants · · Score: 4, Funny
    ... lovers worldwide to pound brass...
    Can't wait until my wife comes home.
    --

    Ryan T. Sammartino
    "Ancora imparo"

  5. That is just plain silly by nickgrieve · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am at a loss for words. Why? Sure, I can see the "fun" in it. But, its like towing your car with a horse.

    Just f'n IM the dude man.

    1. Re:That is just plain silly by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 5, Funny

      But, its like towing your car with a horse.

      Not really-
      With todays advanced micro electronics it's possible to create a matrix of keys each one programmed to output the morse equivalent of an alpha-numeric character. This way the sender only has to press one key one time to send a character... In fact the system could be set up so that the receiving computer automatically decodes the morse and displays it on the screen as plain text.

      See, morse is for Everybody!

      PS I wouldn't bother patenting that though.

  6. I'll be the first troll to do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    Well, here it is:

    ...---...

  7. Sure! by El · · Score: 4, Funny

    The next big thing: horse hitch accessories on the front of cars!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  8. Effect of Morse chat on today's youth? by Corporate+Drone · · Score: 5, Funny
    and if you thought that on-line chatting was going to adversely effect the vocabulary, spelling, and grammar of today's youth, just wait and see what typing in Morse will do to them!

    --
    mmm... yeah... You see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out...
    1. Re:Effect of Morse chat on today's youth? by alyandon · · Score: 4, Funny

      No doubt. Ham's shorthand puts modern day teenager IM message shorthand to shame. :)

    2. Re:Effect of Morse chat on today's youth? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      no.... STOP! Err, stop it. :-)

      (hint: think telegrams and Morse chacter set if you just don't get the joke)

    3. Re:Effect of Morse chat on today's youth? by nolife · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't know about that, there shorthand is also encrypted but with a one time pad from a different generation. I was capturing my daughters IM for a while and also using VNC in view only mode. It was not very effective as I could only make out a few of the words. I had to ask her what everything meant (she knows I monitor it). "POS" does not mean piece of shit. It now means "parent over shoulder, don't say anything right now that will get me in trouble".
      I asked her if she knew of any wArEz or if she could get me a 0day and I got a blank stare. What the hell are all these people saying to each other all day then?

      --
      Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
    4. Re:Effect of Morse chat on today's youth? by Nightpaw · · Score: 2, Funny

      What the hell are all these people saying to each other all day then?

      "I like some boy", "Some boy likes me", "Some girl is a bitch/slut/uggo", etc.

  9. Morse over IP... by crass751 · · Score: 3, Funny

    .. MoIP?

    Has a ring to it.

  10. Not if you have half a clue by Angst+Badger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Could the next must-have computer input device be a morse key?

    Something wrong with any randomly selected key on the keyboard?

    Of course, the real danger is that net.poseurs will use ASCII-to-Morse translators with programmable semi-random delays to simulate mad Morse skillz.

    Hey, I hear cuneiform is dying out. Will the next must-have computer input device be a slab of wet mud?

    --
    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
    1. Re:Not if you have half a clue by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 5, Funny

      Will the next must-have computer input device be a slab of wet mud?

      Look, these anti-Macintosh trolls need to stop.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  11. Apple's Mouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wouldn't a morse key describe the Apple's mouse?

  12. Sco Jokes (TM) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So SCO walked into a bar, and ...

    Nah, I think it still works. :)

    1. Re:Sco Jokes (TM) by gantrep · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...and IBM ducked?

  13. Learn or go insane? by zipwow · · Score: 4, Funny

    Entering morse code sounds like it would be worse than trying to type on my cellphone.

    I guess that's why it's not my hobby.

    -Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  14. The Next Big Thing by volpe · · Score: 4, Funny

    VRML smoke signals

  15. IP over Morse by mph · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now somebody just has to implement IP over Morse, and we come full circle. I expect the RFC to come out sometime in April.

  16. dash dot dash dash dot dot dash by jeffkjo1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did anyone know that slashdot has a filter to prevent me from posting in morse code??!?! The irony is striking.

  17. Emerging Technologies: Wireless by krystal_blade · · Score: 3, Funny

    Praise be to our "step backwards" regime, for today, in 2008, a brand new technology has been revealed to us, the people of the world.

    It has been discovered that by using a sheet, or other covering, disruptions can be made in the smoke that comes from burning uncured/wet materials. These distruptions, when agreed upon in a certain format, can be used to communicate messages great distances.

    The Berkely campus was set ablaze today by techno geeks attempting to create the first "smokey net". MIT students held a joyful party claiming "It's the first method created that you HAVE to let the smoke out to use!"

    Of course, being an emerging retro technologie, it is not without it's limitations. Currently there is no capability for P2P or Secure networks, shy of committing genocide on a grand scale.

    SCO International Dominion Corporation, in response to this announcement, stated "That's actually OUR wireless communications system, and we want royalties. As our evidence will certainly show, we introduced the genetic make up of trees, and it was US, not prometheus, who gave fire to the masses. Of course, we will not disclose this evidence at the time. But it's mine... gimme!

    krystal_blade

    --
    It will be easy to motivate our fellow man; there is hardly anything people treasure more than not being annihilated.
  18. Re:NO! by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 2, Funny

    OK, I think speak for a lot of us when I say... what the fsck are you talking abt?

  19. If Morse-code became popular online by phorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dotdadotdotdot...etcetc

    E-N-L-A-R-G-E
    Y-O-U-R
    P-E-hey!!!

    You know somebody's gonna try it...

  20. -. (N) --- (O) by giminy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would have written a big long reply in morse code, but slashdot's lameness filter prevents morse code replies. So it should be obvious that morse code on the web will never take off.

    --
    The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
  21. What I wanna see ... by jc42 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... is the Morse-Code column (after the oct, dec and hex columns) in the UniCode docs. We need Morse encodings for at least utf-16.

    --
    Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  22. And the point is... by CycleMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    In an era of ADSL, I have just one question about Morse on PCs:
    .-- .... -.-- ..--..

  23. A Response: by cygnus · · Score: 4, Funny
    Could the next must-have computer input device be a morse key ?

    dash dot
    dash dash dash.

    --
    Just raise the taxes on crack.
  24. Re:As a diehard fan... by cookiepus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Many a night has been spent in front of a glowing dim console, applying a feather touch to an old worn dial to a hear a faint signal, a single voice coming from a hemisphere away

    Sex on Acid rules!

  25. Sending out an SOS by yintercept · · Score: 3, Funny

    Personally, I prefer to send my SOS to the World in a hundred billion bottles.

    Of course the coast guard is mad at me 'cause my hundred billion bottles tend to wash up on the shore.

    Every idea has its Sting.

  26. Re:Great use for morse code by Nf1nk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or feel really good... quick text me war and peace

    --
    I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
  27. Re:Great use for morse code by jdreed1024 · · Score: 2, Funny
    I want this feature, but I want it to vibrate, not beep. Then I can get my SMS messages in meetings, in the theater, etc. Add in a morse response button, and I could respond w/o pulling out the phone, too.

    'course, all that fiddling in my pocket might look bad...

    Depends what kind of theater you're in, doesn't it?

    --
    There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
  28. Ah, but the real test is... by Julian+Morrison · · Score: 3, Funny

    The apprentice types morse, referring to a guide for each letter.

    The journeyman types morse fluently from memory.

    The master codes perl in morse.