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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."

37 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...

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

    The Quake dudes on your segment are gonna be pissed!

  5. 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!
  6. 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!
  7. 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!
  8. 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.
  9. 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 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)

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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!
  13. 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!
  14. 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 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
  15. 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.

  16. 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 ?

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. 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.
  20. 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.

  21. 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>

  22. 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... ;-)

  23. 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.
  24. 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
  25. 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' ?

  26. 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