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The Ultimate Reset Button
Gary writes "The gigantic red switch looks more like a mushroom straight out of Super Mario. It can be connected easily using two wires and can be activated in any direction. To get rid of the blue screen of death all you have to do is hit it with something (like, a fist)."
http://www.automationdirect.com/ is one good supplier. This kind of industrial grade hardware is expensive, so eBay might be the best choice. What you want is commonly called a "mushroom head emergency stop pushbutton". If using it for a PC reset switch, you want normally open contacts, whereas most E-stop systems would use normally closed.
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Since the website is already starting to die:4 8f67896ca8f/index.html
http://mirrordot.com/stories/32d28c3271b0bc44f012
Its not what it is, its something else.
The common variety of E-Stops are locking, you want the momentary type, as said by poster, with open contacts.
Google for momentary e-stop.C Y-KEY-ENCLOSURE-BOX-NEW_W0QQitemZ300116926899QQihZ 020QQcategoryZ42898QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVi ewItem
But here is one that would do http://www.automationworld.com/view-3183, you can order momentary, locking, with proper contacts. But I agree, ebay would be best for a cheep one. Here is one on ebay with locking key so toddlers don't reset your system http://cgi.ebay.com/E-STOP-MOELLER-RPSR-S-EMERGEN
*looks at the big "OFF" switch on his power strip.*
I think we already had these for a couple decades, now...
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Use with caution, as it will shut down the internet.
Actually they're dead easy to make. Get a digital potentiometer (variable resistor) and connect it as a current source. Hook your LED up to the current source and there you have it. If you want schematics, try this article.
Real men don't fool around anymore with digital potentiometers and op-amps when it comes down to the nitty-gritty task of controlling an LED.
Now it's far cheaper to use a microcontroller with pulse-width modulation to guide the LED into it luministic destiny. Get an 8-pin AVR (like the Tiny11) or even a 6-pin PIC microprocessor for less than 50 cents US, preferably one that is in a new surface-mount package much smaller than the LED and fits underneath it. Then write the code that gently awakens the LED from its inner darkness. Be guided in your code by the idea that just as the LED is being raised from its inherent chaotic darkness, so too is man raised from his internal chaotic darkness by the direction and focused energy of Jesus, God, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Great Spirit, or Whoever (grammar goblins, note the proper capitalization of the indirect pronoun that refers to the deity).
The point is that now it is cheaper to effect a hardware solution with an ultra-cheap microcontroller than it was in the 20th century to do with cheap 555 timers coupled with resistors and caps or to do with TTL clusters. It does require software skills that weren't needed previously. It's a whole new frame of reference for electronic designers. This trend will continue as very fast, (50 MegaHertz system clocks, fast for microcontrollers), very powerful 32-bit microcontrollers with large internal memory continue to fall in price [the 50MHz/32K FlashROM ARM controller has broken the $5 barrier].
Will we ever use a 32-bit microprocessor to control a single LED? Don't laugh too hard. Using a chip that has more internal resources than the original IBM PC to control a few LEDs is not rare now. If some future 128-bit CPU has the ability to be programmed just by talking to it, and it's cheaper than an LED, then why not?