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Jingle Bells Played With Graphics Card, Santa Wonders Why

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the send-that-man-a-guitar-pick dept.

As if the entire office full of guitar-controlled lights wasn't enough to make any holiday complete, some enterprising geek has taken it upon himself to give you a rendition of Jingle Bells played on his graphics card heat sink. He probably wont debut at Carnegie Hall, but I'll give him points for effort.

103 comments

  1. Finally.. by wallyhall · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally a use for that old GeForce 4 MX! Some people have far too much spare time...

    --
    I think therefore I am... a Linux geek.
    1. Re:Finally.. by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      More than someone. What board and lonely guy saw this and said "I gotta post this to slashdot!!!"

    2. Re:Finally.. by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 1

      You mean bored?

      I thought it was pretty cool. NI = National Instruments. I've used their software and hardware for years.

    3. Re:Finally.. by palegray.net · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's Christmas Eve. How many bored and lonely guys are posting to Slashdot?

      What's worse is the fact that my wife is next door at the neighbors', I have a brand new bottle of whiskey downstairs, and I'm posting to Slashdot. Wow.

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    4. Re:Finally.. by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 4, Funny

      It could be worse - your wife could be next door, you could be drinking heavily, *and* posting to Slashdot.

    5. Re:Finally.. by palegray.net · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'll get right on that.

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    6. Re:Finally.. by russ1337 · · Score: 1

      I'm watching the kid and enjoying a glass of wine & reading the "n, funny" posts on Slashdot.

      Could be worse. We could've been born that Starwars kid, or Sting.

    7. Re:Finally.. by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think Sting has it pretty good - he is rich beyond belief, has a pretty wife, and is into Tantric sex with her. My life should be so bad... ;-)

    8. Re:Finally.. by cavebison · · Score: 1

      The only reason I can think you'd be drinking heavily at such a time, is you've seen the Robot Chicken Half-Assed Christmas Special.

    9. Re:Finally.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think you mean Native Instruments, buddy.

  2. Dumbest video ever by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry, I was expecting someone to have found a way of controlling the video card fan to belt out jingle bells, or some strange hum in the graphics system. This... Now this is stupid. I mean what next - someone doing the same thing with glasses of beer, or bells, or ...
    Give me my 30 seconds back

    --
    I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
    1. Re:Dumbest video ever by wallyhall · · Score: 1, Funny

      Perhaps some Guitar Hero controlled Christmas tree lights? Got to be the coolest cubical ever!

      --
      I think therefore I am... a Linux geek.
    2. Re:Dumbest video ever by FireNWater · · Score: 1

      Mentos & Diet Coke?

    3. Re:Dumbest video ever by MrNonchalant · · Score: 1

      Wait. So you have all of YouTube, all of College Break, and all of America's Funniest Home videos to work with, and this is the dumbest video ever?

    4. Re:Dumbest video ever by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How about an industrial motor?

      I heard a story while I was working at a drive system design/assembly firm about a fellow who, back in the early days of digital drive systems, took a tape recorder, hooked its output up to an analog input on the drive, and used the signal of his voice on the tape to modulate the torque command to the motor, thus resulting in the motor vibrating out the sound of his voice.

      Of course, the better stories I heard while I was there involved runaway motors tumbling across the shop floor (they're supposed to be bolted to the floor) or rotors breaking off through the motor housing and lodging in the shop roof. Fortunately, a greater understanding of digital drive systems and better safety practices made the union grievance the only scary thing on the shop floor while I was there.

    5. Re:Dumbest video ever by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't even sound like it's in tune.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    6. Re:Dumbest video ever by Matthew+Bafford · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How about an industrial motor?


      Or an F1 motor? For example, Renault:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eoe8hEzdZ8
    7. Re:Dumbest video ever by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      mmm, in that video it sounds like they aborted part way through the tune, I think I remember hearing a more complete version on top gear.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    8. Re:Dumbest video ever by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here you go then: Tempest For Eliza.

      You can use your (CRT) monitor to generate tones that can be received on an AM radio. It shouldn't be a stretch to make it play Jingle Bells.

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    9. Re:Dumbest video ever by smurgy · · Score: 0

      I remember getting Apple IIe floppies to play tunes. This wasn't hardware hacking, and it wasn't even well played.

    10. Re:Dumbest video ever by ters+a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!* · · Score: 2, Funny

      drink-get mix ; drink-get smash ;exit

    11. Re:Dumbest video ever by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      I was expecting the same thing.

      If it's any consolation, look at this:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8W2AxXfbvM

    12. Re:Dumbest video ever by revengebomber · · Score: 1

      I heard a story while I was working at a drive system design/assembly firm about a fellow who, back in the early days of digital drive systems, took a tape recorder, hooked its output up to an analog input on the drive, and used the signal of his voice on the tape to modulate the torque command to the motor, thus resulting in the motor vibrating out the sound of his voice. You mean like the HDSS?
      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    13. Re:Dumbest video ever by fbjon · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I was expecting someone to have found a way of controlling the video card fan to belt out jingle bells Don't go giving people any ideas now. Next thing you know, a virus starts to spread that plays jingle bells by switching the monitor resolution really fast.
      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    14. Re:Dumbest video ever by nobaloney · · Score: 1

      Back in the early days of the first TRS-80, my company Practical Applications, now out of business for many many years, issued a music program for the Radio Shack TRS-80. It relied on the non-shielding employed (or should that be the shielding not employed on that early personal computer, and we offered both a musical keyboard and also some available music.

      The sound came from the speaker of any nearby AM-band radio.

  3. I want my 36 seconds back. by recoiledsnake · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, I was expecting something along the lines of a program that used the hum or whistle of the fan and speeded up or slowed down the fan to get the jingles. This isn't even funny.

    --
    This space for rent.
    1. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by Hollinger · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Here's a formula one car playing "When the Saints Go Marching In," complete with blue notes from the exhaust ports.

      --
      Michael C. Hollinger
    2. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by Kris_J · · Score: 1

      And here's a scanjet playing something classical. Sorry for being peasant and not knowing the tune.

    3. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It's Für Elise by Beethoven.

    4. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by NormalVisual · · Score: 1

      At work we can make music using a Q-switched laser on aluminum plate. I need to see if I can get a video of that to put up on YouTube. :-)

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    5. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by noidentity · · Score: 1

      Hell, I was expecting it to play music by modulating power usage of the chip via what kind of instructions are executed, causing changes in the switching power supply noise.

    6. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is Für Elise by Beethoven.

    7. Re:I want my 36 seconds back. by cthulhu11 · · Score: 1

      Back in the early 80's I had a text-graphic (popularly but misleadingly known as "ASCII graphics") program for the IBM PC that played Silent Night. When the song was done, the grandfather clock's pendulum kept swinging, etc., and the clock's ticking was effected by toggling the cassette interface. Since almost no "compatibles" had cassette interfaces, I used this as an example of how they weren't 100% compatible.

  4. well, maybe the rhythm of Jingle Bells... by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 4, Informative

    I didn't hear a lot of the notes from Jingle Bells in there.

    1. Re:well, maybe the rhythm of Jingle Bells... by sentientbeing · · Score: 5, Funny

      They were all there - just in the wrong order.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    2. Re:well, maybe the rhythm of Jingle Bells... by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      A few of the notes were there. It definitely sounded like a lot of them were missing, though.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  5. I appreciate the effort ... by eck011219 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... but that "Merry Christmas" at the end has a decidedly ominous vibe to it. Maybe a little more time out socializing and less time plucking at one's graphics card ...

    Seriously, though, yet another interesting holiday re-use of equipment. My sarcastic comments aside, Merry Christmas back to him.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  6. floppy drive motor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    There are programs that make the Commodore 1541 floppy frive stepper motor play tunes.

    1. Re:floppy drive motor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Here is an example video from YouTube:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnMgmlKi_o

    2. Re:floppy drive motor by bdjacobson · · Score: 1

      Check out Treewave; this guy uses a Commodore 64 and printer head moving back and forth to make his music.

      Sleep.mp3

      There's another song available free; also at treewave.com

  7. You insensitive clod.. by sw155kn1f3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I have a passive cooler on my card.. No jingle bells for me? :(

    --
    - Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
    - Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
    1. Re:You insensitive clod.. by MadnessASAP · · Score: 0

      You get Jingle Bells, it'll jsut be a few octave lower as you pluck away on those large heat sinks of yours. Maybe you can even make a xylophone out of the heat pipes.

      --
      I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
    2. Re:You insensitive clod.. by jo42 · · Score: 1

      No fans on any video cards around here - we like our Peace & Quiet.

  8. Santa Wonders Why by FrostedWheat · · Score: 3, Funny

    He's not the only one.

  9. Seriously... by skeftomai · · Score: 1

    ...ScuttleMonkey. You can do better than that. This is not news for nerds, and it does not matter.

  10. 'Software-only' solution by quazee · · Score: 1

    You know, some older motherboards have these 'singing' coils - if you write a simple loop that changes the power draw of the CPU roughly 500-2000 times per second, you can make audible sound.
    I bet you can play Jingle Bells this way without having to take anything apart :)

    --
    throw new SuccessException("Sig read successfully");
  11. Grammar check!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    As if the entire office full of guitar-controlled lights wasn't enough to make any holiday complete . . .

    As if the entire office full of guitar-controlled lights weren't enough to make any holiday complete . . .

    1. Re:Grammar check!! by i.of.the.storm · · Score: 2

      No, wasn't is referring to office not lights. Office is the subject, full of guitar-controlled lights is a modifying phrase. If you're going to be pedantic, at least do it right...

      --
      All your base are belong to Wii.
    2. Re:Grammar check!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, "weren't" is correct. It's the so-called "subjunctive" form of verbs we use in counterfactuals, as in, "If I were a rich man."

    3. Re:Grammar check!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You only use "were" there because the pronouns "I" and "you" are treated as plural.

      For instance, you would say "If Doug was a rich man".

    4. Re:Grammar check!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You all need to get lives. Real ones, not the kind you blow up.

    5. Re:Grammar check!! by i.of.the.storm · · Score: 1

      Err, WTF who mods grammar nazism up? Granted I was being a counter-grammar-nazi but still... and I'm pretty sure you don't moderate things underrated unless they are actually downmodded. But oh well, what do I care free karma for me?

      --
      All your base are belong to Wii.
  12. Re:And Slashdot turns into Digg. by iknownuttin · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    TOP 10 TV BOOBS

    Yes, please!

    --
    I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
  13. Guitar Hero Lights by cobryson · · Score: 2, Informative

    So then how 'bout the Slashdot users mod up the Engadget Guitar Hero controlled Christmas light article so it makes the front page? The YouTube link is here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkyrcW24USI In my opinion the work and ingenuity in this are a little lesser than 32 synchronized channels of Guitar Hero goodness. Disclaimer: My brother and I are the architects of the Guitar Hero (Frets on Fire) light display, so yes, I am self-promoting a bit. Thanks for your help!

    1. Re:Guitar Hero Lights by symbolic · · Score: 1

      That was pretty clever. It has "geek" written all over it, and for those that deserve the title, it is one to be held with honor.

    2. Re:Guitar Hero Lights by caferace · · Score: 1

      More critically, you deserve credit for convincing your management that that is actually work. Bravissimo! ;)

  14. It is, by iknownuttin · · Score: 1
    This is not news for nerds, and it does not matter.

    I don't know. That guy sure looked nerdy to me and he did a really nerdy, maybe even dorky thing.

    --
    I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
    1. Re:It is, by tristian_was_here · · Score: 1

      Do you think that could be his way of picking up chicks? Playing Jingle Bells using his GFX card heatsink.

  15. So what is it? by neokushan · · Score: 2, Informative

    Festive spirit, or incredibly slow news day?
    You decide!

    --
    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
    1. Re:So what is it? by mikesd81 · · Score: 1

      I think a little of both...

      --
      That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
    2. Re:So what is it? by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 1

      Really.

      *blank stare*

      --
      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
  16. Not really "enterprising" by n8Mills · · Score: 0

    I think the word "enterprising" where it comes to geeks is overused... as is the word "geek". The most "enterprising" thing about this "geek" is that he went to the trouble to record his "music".

  17. I would have given 10 points... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...if he'd managed to get the fan to play...

  18. Re:And Slashdot turns into Digg. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know, I could go for Top 10 TV Boobs... it'd be far more interesting than this video.

  19. Damn by Rip+Dick · · Score: 2, Funny

    If this guy ever did manage to get laid, making this video must have made him a virgin all over again.

  20. What we expected (kinda) : Scanner music by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1tatiU2ha0

    Vivaldi spring, happy easter everyone ;-)

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  21. Andy Warhol got it wrong . . . by Trongy · · Score: 1

    15 minutes is too long.

  22. Tribute song by davidwr · · Score: 1

    Graphics Card, Graphics Card,
    Strum that heat-sink loud.
    More fun than an FPS
    Under MS WinXP!

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  23. Now for something less lame... by jay-be-em · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wow, I was expecting some sort of ingenuity, not some dude plucking on a video card fan.

    This is much more impressive: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0rA-zhTJuFU

    --
    "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
    1. Re:Now for something less lame... by the_humeister · · Score: 1

      Just tried it. It doesn't work.

    2. Re:Now for something less lame... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Mark Erickson, is that you?

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    3. Re:Now for something less lame... by Zak3056 · · Score: 1

      Wow. Someone really must have been in the Christmas spirit to mod that post "informative." Here's a hint: 1.5VDC != 115VAC.

      --
      What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
    4. Re:Now for something less lame... by DTemp · · Score: 1

      I hope you seriously didn't just try that... 120VAC and 1.5VDC are different... NO that TV could not be powered by it.

    5. Re:Now for something less lame... by sepelester · · Score: 1

      rofl

    6. Re:Now for something less lame... by Poromenos1 · · Score: 1

      That's not more impressive. It might even be stupider than TFA.

      --
      Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
    7. Re:Now for something less lame... by mikiN · · Score: 1

      That depends. When A,C,V are all unequal to zero, and A = 0.013043478D, 1.5VDC == 115VAC .

      --
      The Hacker's Guide To The Kernel: Don't panic()!
  24. Re:At the end, other video linked was better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYA0o99dS5A

    You know, at the end of the vid, how youtube shows you some other vid frames you can load a new vid. Saw this one, funny commercial. I suppose I won't name it to spoil it. But ROTFLMAO... Much better than jingle bells on a graphics card...

  25. Boy, that's lame by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Playing a tune on a graphics card heat sink...

    This is how real engineers do it.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=mfWj1JZEntI

    --
    Deleted
    1. Re:Boy, that's lame by neminem · · Score: 1

      Mod this one up, please.

  26. I Think It's Cool by CarbonRing · · Score: 1

    To all the dorks who misread the post and expected something different: get over it. It says played on a heat sink not played with the fan.

    I think it's pretty creative and well done for a 37-second YouTube video.

  27. OMG this must be the worst /. post ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there a /. post that is worse than this one?

  28. Not what I expected. by dosun88888 · · Score: 1

    I figured he wrote some routines that somehow generated motion in the card due to the field changing relative to the magnet in the fan or something (thereby generating sound).

    I don't think that I should have expected that, but I did.

  29. What's Next??? by Hanging+By+A+Thread · · Score: 0

    Ray tracing with a sound card?

  30. Oh Yeah? by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    My harddrive started making clacking sounds, so I tuned it to make xmas songs and its far better th%.~`,. ; `

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  31. Re:Madonna is way better. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is amateur. Madonna is the best! No one else is as good! FWIW, I wasn't aware that Madonna was even able to play the heatsink. Though I hear she does a mean rendition of "Let It Snow" using the screeching of a 1982 dot matrix printer.
  32. Parent is spam-obscured link by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    N/T

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  33. I want those seconds back too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A girl pretends to suck cock but in fact sucks ramen. Great, truly.

  34. sound card and am radio by grumling · · Score: 1

    http://www.erikyyy.de/tempest/ is using a video card to make music.

    --
    "Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
  35. Dude. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm next door, with your wife. We figured you might be posting to Slashdot, just thought we would check.

    1. Re:Dude. by palegray.net · · Score: 1

      If that's not some funny shit, I don't know what is. Somebody please mod parent up. I'm ass-deep in that bottle of whiskey now, typing at about 20 words per minute trying hard not to make a typo. My wife has informed me that she would like some lovin', and I'm off to bed shortly. Goodnight, all, and Merry Christmas!

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    2. Re:Dude. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your wife already had some luvin'. Twice. She's just covering her tracks.

  36. Keep your day job by T1girl · · Score: 1

    Honestly, this makes the http://www.links2love.com/christmas-dogs-cats-jingle-bells-songs.htm dogs barking Jingle Bells and cats meowing We Wish You a Merry Christmas sound like The Hallelujah Chorus.

    1. Re:Keep your day job by GastonTheTruck · · Score: 1

      At least it's not dogs and cats living together.

  37. unique by sepelester · · Score: 1

    Unique only in that this could possibly be the worst, most unsatisfying non-news i've ever seen on /. Title says it all. Hilarity ensues. In Soviet Russia, accordion plays geek. Yoda not present in memory tech of the week is. WTF is wrong with you people?

  38. Why it is on slashdot??? by boltik · · Score: 1

    I paly on heatsinks too. I can play Beatles, Metallica, Nightwish, e.t.c. . And i found that you get the best tune of CPU heatsink. It just that i always run out of free time on my hands on B#...

  39. If this get's the frontpage... by closer2it · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I can't see why this Jingle Bells version doesn't. Because it's a graphic card? Well, mine it's an electronic instrument also, to record the song I also used a piece of technology.

    By the way, it's played badly by the guy! Sorry, at least you could practice it a little more.

    I'm not trying to be negative or anything, but... I record something that I believe that as some musical value and never gets this recognition.

    Well, life isn't fair, right? :)

  40. Re: Jingle Bells Played With Graphics Card by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 1

    meh.

    --
    Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  41. Dragon 32 by Fleetie · · Score: 1

    Back in 1982 or 1983, when I had a Dragon 32, which output its video and audio via a UHF modulator to a TV, I noticed that various on-screen black-and-white (especially) patterns would cause buzz to come through on the TV audio channel (through which the Dragon's deliberate sound output also appeared). Some reader of a Dragon-oriented magazine also noticed this, and submitted a program to draw such patterns to the screen as to cause a "tune" to be heard via the mechanism of this "buzzing" interference between video content and what came out of the TV speaker. It sounded shit. But it kinda "worked".

    --
    "Absorbing your worst..."
  42. Swoooooosh! by jay-be-em · · Score: 1

    And you might be even dumber than both.

    --
    "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair