Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Send A Message To An LED Sign

Posted by timothy on from the well-that's-brave dept.

An anonymous reader submits "I just got a Pro Lite LED sign today. After a few minutes splicing and wiring up a DB9 to RJ11 connection, and a little fun with python, I've got a script that lets me take input from the web and display it on the sign. Eventually it will have other, more useful, purposes, but I figured I'd let you guys play with it as it is. There's also a log of past messages."

56 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. Imagine... by mdrejhon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just think of the possibilities with the Times Square billboard! :D

    1. Re:Imagine... by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Funny
      A beowulf cluster of these things!!
      No, seriously!! We could...uhh....
      *runs*
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

      With a beowulf cluster of LED signs, it's unlikely to be pitch black. Thus it can be taken seriously as an anti-grue measure.

      --
      Evan "Or a Vin Disel counter-measure"

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  2. Hah by lancomandr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Before the story went public....I input to the sign "You're about to get RAPED by slashdot!" Now the story is public. No more website.

    --

    "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

  3. That's a good idea by HiQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe you can use the smoke that's coming from your computer right now as a screen for looking at the Venus transit. You won't be using that for a while I guess.

    1. Re:That's a good idea by joshuaobrien · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe you can use the smoke that's coming from your computer right now as a screen for looking at the Venus transit.

      Or to implement a Native American wireless communication protocol...

    2. Re:That's a good idea by ari_j · · Score: 2, Funny

      Indian. I'm as native here as they are, stop being PC. If you don't know which group of Indians I'm talking about, just ask me "Dots or feathers?"

      This will probably get modded down as a troll, and it doesn't need to be said. I'm just trying out a new whiskey and being cantankerous about my views on political correctness and how it's ruining the world. :)

  4. Darn.. by Insurgent2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Quake dudes on your segment are gonna be pissed!

  5. i just want to post one message on the sign by shaark78 · · Score: 1, Funny

    slashdotted

  6. its loading for me by packeteer · · Score: 2, Funny

    well at least it loaded the background color... btw its blue... i think thats as far as anyone will get

    --
    unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
    1. Re:its loading for me by psoriac · · Score: 4, Funny

      Seeing as how it's (was?) an IIS server, a blue background is rather appropriate.

      Was the text white, by any chance?

      --
      I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
  7. connection speed..? by Polkyb · · Score: 5, Funny
    After a few minutes splicing and wiring up a DB9 to RJ11 connection

    Have you thought of trying ethernet...? I hear it's a bit quicker than a serial connection and may help prevent the /. effect...

    ;-)

    --
    I've never shoed a horse, but I once told a donkey to piss off!
  8. Fortunate by NemesisStar · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're lucky goatse is no more. What would your mother say if she decided to see what internet site was so important for you to enshrine on a LED board?

  9. Excuse me, but ... by krumms · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've got a script that lets me take input from the web and display it on the sign. Eventually it will have other, more useful, purposes, but I figured I'd let you guys play with it as it is.

    Are you FUCKING INSANE?

    1. Re:Excuse me, but ... by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, that's the equivalent to a kick me sign on his back.

      Actually, closer to the sign Bruce Willis wore briefly in Harlem in Die Hard 3...

      --

      Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
  10. Re:The sign of a slashdotting by Einer2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's a pity. I wanted to add a "First Post" scrolling LED message...

    --
    Microsoft delenda est!
  11. Anyone on the Web can write on your sign? by shanen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Either you're a VERY brave man or this thing is locked in a closet somewhere. If it's visible from the street, you're in a heap of trouble, boy.

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  12. What goes around ... by torpor · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... comes around.

    In the early days of the web, back when men were men and browsers were something nobody really wanted to write, there was a webcam ... before there were webcams ... at Netscape ... before there were dot-com crashes ... that was powered by a CGI script ... before there was web application services (tm IBM^M^M^MMicrosoft^M^M^M^M^M^M^M^M^MSCO) ... that was pointed (the webcam, stay with me) ... at an ...

    LED sign. To which you could send your own messages, laugh while your coffee and TSP reports get cold, and marvel at the 'wonders of that modern Internet thingie'.

    Now any punk with a screwdriver and half a tab key can hack their own 15 minutes of signage ... I'm just ... not ... inspired by it all any more.

    So I'm not even gonna visit the link.

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    1. Re:What goes around ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      IBM^M^M^MMicrosoft^M^M^M^M^M^M^M^M^MSCO

      Umm... ^M is Carriage Return. Did you mean ^H?

    2. Re:What goes around ... by jolshefsky · · Score: 3, Funny
      ... laugh while your coffee and TSP reports get cold ...
      Do you really mean Tandy Service Plans? I think you mean TPS--and while I'm here, I noticed you didn't put a cover sheet on yours. Did you get the memo? ...
      --
      --- Jason Olshefsky

      Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)

  13. Original /.ing error code by frs_rbl · · Score: 5, Funny
    Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\sendmessage.py", line 13, in ? tty=SerialPort("COM1", 1000, 9600) File "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\SerialPort_win.py", line 117, in __init__ raise SerialPortException('Unable to open port') SerialPort_win.SerialPortException: Unable to open port Exception exceptions.AttributeError: in > ignored
    I suppose he's busy debugging now
    --
    This is not my opinion. Actually, it's not even an opinion. And I'm nowhere to be seen near it
    1. Re:Original /.ing error code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Perhaps that's the result of him frantically cutting the serial cable with a butter knife.

  14. Famous last words by GammaTau · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot hits you. You die. --More--

    1. Re:Famous last words by Borg453b · · Score: 5, Funny

      Earlier that day:

      You apply LED to internet connection.
      You begind praying to Slashdot for attention.
      You finish your prayer. You feel that slashdot is displeased.
      The LED is cursed. You cannot disconnect it from the internet.
      The voice of slashdot booms: "Thou hast angered me."

      --

      - Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
    2. Re:Famous last words by suicideartist · · Score: 3, Funny

      i'm pretty sure the slashdot effect is more like turning undead for high level clerics, anything under a certain level just explodes once it gets within range.

  15. Re:AYB... by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your server has no chance to survive make your time. Ha ha ha ha ha...

    --

    Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
  16. Re:w0w (if it were still the 80's) by Goalie_Ca · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe that explains him hosting this on slashdot. Ya know, scipt kiddies just aren't the same these days. Back in my day, we knew not to do something this stupid!

    --

    ----
    Go canucks, habs, and sens!
  17. Could be worse by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least he didn't code it into his spiffy new Nokia phone and has to wave his arm for the next 8 hours to display our messages.

    --

    Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
  18. Who, in the BLUE HELL, are you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is a FREE UNIVERSE, buddy. If you don't like it, eat shit and DIE. I'll submit on 2600 baud if I so fucking like.

    1. Re:Who, in the BLUE HELL, are you? by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Funny
      This is a FREE UNIVERSE, buddy. If you don't like it, eat shit and DIE. I'll submit on 2600 baud if I so fucking like.

      2600 baud huh? You must've done a little too much LDS during the late 80's to remember having a 2600 baud modem.

    2. Re:Who, in the BLUE HELL, are you? by Idarubicin · · Score: 3, Funny
      2600 baud huh? You must've done a little too much LDS during the late 80's to remember having a 2600 baud modem.

      2600? That's nothing.

      I can turn mine up to eleven.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
    3. Re:Who, in the BLUE HELL, are you? by p_tweak · · Score: 2, Funny

      You must've done a little too much LDS during the late 80's to remember having a 2600 baud modem.
      Yeah, those Mormons will really screw a guy up.

  19. I hope he doesnt have kids..... by Jeff+Benjamin · · Score: 3, Funny

    It was only a matter of time before some clever slashdotter figured out how to make the leds light up to look like the goatse man.

  20. Mirror anyone? by craigmarshall · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't ANYONE have a mirror?!

    1. Re:Mirror anyone? by ocelotbob · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mirror Available Here

      --

      Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses

    2. Re:Mirror anyone? by oPless · · Score: 5, Funny



      What, and have the messages come out backwards ?

  21. Here's a useful purpose... by MonkeyBot · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always wanted to get an LED sign for the back of my car. Yours fixes the problem that I had with actually buying one. Now, I could just edit the Unix "fortune" program to quip random, witty, profane statements to drivers that piss me off rather than having to type the whole statement in. Thanks.

  22. A safe way to run IIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    this guy has figured it out....the only safe way to run IIS is to make sure your bandwidth is so flooded that a hacker couldn't stay connected long enough to do anything.

  23. Maybe he's got religion... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    And this is the digital equivalent of a hair shirt.

    Or maybe he was looking to compile a list of all the lastest euphemisms for gentials, excrement, related fuctions, and common miss- or alternative spellings. In which case, he's brilliant. Mission Accomplished.

  24. Re:The sign of a slashdotting by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lets see.

    Half the worlds geeks visiting simultaneously a website having its bandwidth narrowed to a 9.6k serial pipe with the repeated message "j00 b33n ownz3d by goatse LOL". Let me think...

    hmm...

    This is why we cant have nice things. :(

    --
    Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  25. Cannon Fodder by ari_j · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is just begging for it. It's not even a challenge - at 1:30 AM Pacific time it doesn't even stand a chance. Why not host it on an 8086 running Elks or Minix off of a 360KB floppy while you're at it? And power it by a couple of potatoes, too.

  26. do you hear that sound? by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Funny

    that's the sound of little innocent leds whimpering under a slashdotting

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  27. Re:Here's the site by kiwirob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Last seen on the LED screen before it went down...

    <blink>Free Porn Here</blink>
    <blink>Penis Enlargement Pills Here</blink>
    <blink>Reduce Debt with free $10,000 Credit Card Now</blink>

  28. story poster will have fun on 56K by Barbarian · · Score: 4, Funny
    Cablelynx, his provider, is going to shitcan him:
    f. Service Restrictions. You agree to use your Service for legal purposes only. Any illegal use shall be cause for immediate termination of Service. You agree that your use of the Service shall be for personal use within the confines of one household or business. You shall not share Service, or use Service to host a server site for FTP, telnet, e-mail hosting, web hosting; or use Service in conjunction with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) or VPN tunneling protocol; or sublet, resell, assign, or provide access to any third party on any basis under the terms of this Agreement. Violations of any of these terms shall be cause for immediate termination of Service and may be grounds for Company's refusal to provide future Service to you. You agree that you will not web host or utilize continuous streaming video or audio for periods of more than four hours with at least one hour of inactivity between uses. You understand that the Internet is a public place and you are responsible for your actions or the actions of those that access the Internet through your Service. It shall be your responsibility to provide, at your own cost, any necessary firewall, or Internet security software to prevent unauthorized access of your computer via the Internet.

    He's probably killed off service for others in his neighborhood too:

    (from tcptraceroute>

    13 89-228.vbrg-a5.cablelynx.com (24.204.89.228) [closed] 1713.840 ms * 2018.488 ms

    1. Re:story poster will have fun on 56K by __aahlyu4518 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You agree that you will not web host or utilize continuous streaming video or audio for periods of more than four hours with at least one hour of inactivity between uses.

      So he hosted a website for 4 seconds... he will be fine... ;-)

  29. All your led... by Iblis · · Score: 2, Funny

    are belong to us!

    --
    "Free" as in "free 'undred quid".
  30. One of the funnier submissions. by dj245 · · Score: 4, Funny
    I guess the submission widget is closed due to slashdot. With all the cursing and trolling people did with the sign though, the good ones sort of got lost. My favorite:

    Trapped in Pro Lite LED Sign factory. Please send help!

    classic. I don't really thing it will be very interesting unless the sign is posted in a public place, with a strict swear filter. Maybe some moderation oversight. Put it in a pub; loads of fun. The true entertainment potential of this thing is vastly underestimated.

    Then again, when you're drunk, anythings funny. Except those "in Soviet Russia" jokes.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  31. Famous last words: by mrbarkeeper · · Score: 2, Funny

    "You have no chance to survive make your time!"

  32. Re:The sign of a slashdotting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That's a pity. I wanted to add a "First Post" scrolling LED message...

    What about the scrolling text "You failed it?"

  33. Slashdot overload by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What about:

    PL-M2014R DRIVER FAILURE. Contact vendor.

    . :) sure to get any one worried

  34. Re:w0w (if it were still the 80's) by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Back in the day you'd probably get DDoS'ed by your mom picking up the phone downstairs.

    --
    i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
  35. Co-incidence? by MtlDty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps its just a coincidence, but the ticker board in Times Square is now scrolling: 'Error 404 Page not found' ?

  36. Filter? by MBAFK · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was at a festival this weekend where they had the sms txt screen going on. If they did filter it I didn't notice it - there were some racial ones that raised a few eye brows.

    "Mat blows goats Andy/Nuk has proof"

    60,000 people laugh.

  37. One guy... one computer... one led sign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Slashdotted, who didn't see that coming?

  38. Yes.. by monkey_jam · · Score: 2, Funny

    here is a mirror version

  39. Re:No such thing... by plover · · Score: 3, Funny
    Thanks, Cliff!

    I can just hear him now: "Uhh, the ancient Sumerians used to connect their teletypes together with DB-25P terminated cables wired in a null modem fashion. They found that if they crossed DTR to DCD and RTS to CTS that they could emulate the behavior of DCE modem equipment without actually having a modem present. Can I get another beer here?"

    --
    John
  40. Oh, great! by piecewise · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we're even slashdotting LED signs! Outrageous!

    --
    The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!