• more randomer than you (unregistered) in reply to Engineer, not programmer
    Engineer:
    Eventually, the PC unit will move backward(as a thrust support, and if it is not used additional friction increaser - rubber) leading to not enough push on the button point. Bite me

    The solution to this problem is simple. They just need to get an identical computer, back to back with this existing one, and opening its own cd door against something providing equal resistance. To be honest, I'm amazed the double-computer-cd-ejection-method isn't commonplace in todays society.

    As for TRWTF.. clearly the fact that they let the locksmith come and install this new device, then leave without having tested any employees cards is pretty damn WTF

  • Knights with a keen interest in PC #2 (unregistered) in reply to Jetts
    Knight with a keen interest in PCs #1:
    Knight with a keen interest in PCs #2:
    Jetts:
    Engineer:
    Eventually, the PC unit will move backward(as a thrust support, and if it is not used additional friction increaser - rubber) leading to not enough push on the button point. Bite me

    I can think of 2 situations of the top of my head where that wouldn't happen. If the static friction was high enough to just hold it in place and overcome the resistance of the button, or if it were high enough that it would tip onto it's back corner instead of sliding backwards (looking at the geometry, that doesn't look too likely though.)

    In other news, I can never understand the bored looks on my non-engineer friends faces when we gears start talking like this. It's so fascinating!

    It could be pushed by an African PC

    Oh, yeah an African PC, maybe; but not a European PC, that's my point

    But then of course African PCs are non-ssh-accessible

  • Paul Ferris (unregistered)

    eject rules!

    And what you did was secure too!

    -=FeriCyde=-

  • (cs) in reply to Dekker3D
    Dekker3D:
    id:
    halcyon1234:
    jim steichen:
    It's a cup holder! No, it's a door opener! Ha, you're both right, the PC-OMatic is both a cup holder and a door opener. The PC-OMatic has a 1001 other uses as well!

    It has only 9 uses?

    nah it has only 10 uses.

    binary 1001 is 9. + cup holder is 10. + door opener is 11. can't you geeks count?

    I thought binary didn't have a 9. It's all zeros and ones, isn't it?

  • (cs) in reply to bogi

    Look again. There's a black cable coming out of it (power) and below that a gray cable (ethernet).

  • (cs) in reply to Engineer, not programmer
    Engineer:
    Eventually, the PC unit will move backward(as a thrust support, and if it is not used additional friction increaser - rubber) leading to not enough push on the button point. Bite me

    Have you ever tried to resist a CD tray opening? They aren't exactly strong. It doesn't need to be, it's slowly moving a small plastic tray. Powerful motors would cost more money. It probably has just enough strength to push the button, and after a moment will realize "Hey, I can't open all the way. Let's close." It is exceedingly unlikely it would have enough strength to overcome static friction of a 25(?) pound computer tower and move it at all.

  • (cs) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    You must really hate the old gal. Did you really stick it to her by setting up the Ubuntu with a wireless card? What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    I have. With the default install of Ubuntu and zero tweaking, wireless works flawlessly on my laptop.

    Maybe you should get a computer with vaguely common hardware.

  • (cs) in reply to Knights with a keen interest in PC #2

    The CD tray unlocking mechanism seems a bit more secure than keycards, if you ask me. The former can be protected with strong cryptographic algorithms instead of random cards floating around.

    Here are some relevant scholarly articles:

    http://www.xkcd.com/251/ http://www.xkcd.com/424/

  • aaa (unregistered)

    nice work :) but i heard about russian admin a years ago, which have an unstable server, he tried to get a watchdog card, but he culdn't get one. so he picked up a computer with a cd-rom, instaled it against a server so the openig door of cdrom touch the reset button. :) it is probably an urban legend :)

  • dork doggler (unregistered) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    har har har

    fun-ny

  • (cs)

    Emmanuel put down his cup of coffee, went upstairs to his computer

    I don't understand the sequence of his actions. Shirley, you'd have to eject first before you can put your coffee cup in the holder.

  • mitschke (unregistered) in reply to Bob
    Bob:
    TRWTF is that he didn't run: ~$ sudo eject /dev/scd0
    He didn't run sudo, because is was root already! Take a closer look:

    He ran ~# eject /dev/scd0

  • mitschke (unregistered) in reply to mitschke

    And there is no WTF working as root on this special machine, besides installing sudo might have been an overkill for the purpose.

  • Andrew (unregistered)

    LOL awsome - the lazy guys way to opening the door

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to Heron
    Heron:
    Dirk Diggler:
    You must really hate the old gal. Did you really stick it to her by setting up the Ubuntu with a wireless card? What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    I have. With the default install of Ubuntu and zero tweaking, wireless works flawlessly on my laptop.

    Maybe you should get a computer with vaguely common hardware.

    Yep. After all, that worked awesome for all those guys now with ATI graphics cards.

  • Emmanuel Florac (unregistered) in reply to h
    h:
    Not nerd enough. They should have used a cronjob.
    I actually set up a cron job to open the door at 8:30. However Richard arrived a little sooner and called me instead of waiting 20 minutes in front of the locked door :)
  • Emmanuel Florac (unregistered) in reply to more randomer than you

    But it worked perfectly for 6 months, then stopped working for some unknown reason one day. Well it still works today :)

  • Zeal_ (unregistered)

    I mean, like, totally, this story makes no friggin sense. See, why would he put down his cup of coffee, and go upstairs. Why didn't he take the coffe upstairs too? Duh.

  • get a new payout (unregistered) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    mauve:
    I wish I had unused Shuttles lying around the office.

    That said, I gave my old Shuttle to my grandmother, preinstalled with Ubuntu.

    You must really hate the old gal. Did you really stick it to her by setting up the Ubuntu with a wireless card? What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    hahaha, you douche.

    wait, wut. you must be right. i am manually walking all my packets to the router due to my ubuntu not being able to use wireless.

    rollseyes

  • Ibex (unregistered) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    mauve:
    I wish I had unused Shuttles lying around the office.

    That said, I gave my old Shuttle to my grandmother, preinstalled with Ubuntu.

    You must really hate the old gal. Did you really stick it to her by setting up the Ubuntu with a wireless card? What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    tbcpp:
    I must be "no one" then...

    Ohhhh....you were trying to be a troll, sorry...

    Kermos:
    Shit, I guess I must be my imagination then that I have two out of my 3 Ubuntu Systems using wireless daily.
    Chris:
    I guess I should mention that to my buddy that just installed Kubuntu. I guess it was his imagination that the wireless Just Works(TM).
    Heron:
    I have. With the default install of Ubuntu and zero tweaking, wireless works flawlessly on my laptop.

    Maybe you should get a computer with vaguely common hardware.

    I mostly agree but I recently switched wireless cards and it doesn't work properly for Ubuntu (it's become a known issue with the drivers). My previous card worked Out of the Box, though. And every wired/graphics card I've ever used worked perfectly. Linux has great driver support in general considering how little driver support manufacturers usually give us.

    By the way, what wireless card brands do y'all recommend? :)

  • Vernicious Qnid (unregistered)

    All the talk about Emmanuel living with Alex....well of course he does! Emmanuel LEWIS lived With Alex KARRAS...am I the only old fart here old enough to have had the misfortune of watching "Webster" on TV?

  • DrSolar (unregistered) in reply to Ibex
    Ibex:
    By the way, what wireless card brands do y'all recommend? :)

    Anything with a Ralink chipset has seen me well on Ubuntu, I've bought a couple of Edimax cards for < £10 and never had worse issues than those I got with Windows (there's a lot of wireless congestion round our way).

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    And to the guy saying that you could do this with Windows: sure it might work, but do you really want to risk the machine having crashed by the time your coworkers get in and desperately need the door open?

    Ummm, Chris? I see you're unregistered; you're probably new here and just don't know any better then.

    /. posts that senselessly bash Windows/Linux/OS X aren't welcome here, since we have a higher standard of posts and users here. If you want to post the typical "Windoze sux! M$ sux!" type of claptrap, don't waste our time here. Just go back where you came from.

    Just FYI? I have a Windows XP system that runs non-stop (serving an on-line point of sale system for real-time, live adjudication of pharmacy claims) 24/7 that has been up without rebooting or crashing for a solid year now. We'll probably reboot it over New Year's, but only because we have an update to the claims software and will need to stop processing claims temporarily to install that update anyway.

  • Booboo (unregistered) in reply to Heron
    Heron:
    Dirk Diggler:
    You must really hate the old gal. Did you really stick it to her by setting up the Ubuntu with a wireless card? What am I saying, no one's ever gotten Ubuntu to work with wireless.

    I have. With the default install of Ubuntu and zero tweaking, wireless works flawlessly on my laptop.

    You were still left with a laptop running Linux, as unfortunately was his poor grandmother. Giving someone Linux on a PC you set up for them is like me giving my non-Christian friend a Bible for Christmas.

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to KenW
    KenW:
    Ummm, Chris? I see you're unregistered; you're probably new here and just don't know any better then.

    /. posts that senselessly bash Windows/Linux/OS X aren't welcome here, since we have a higher standard of posts and users here. If you want to post the typical "Windoze sux! M$ sux!" type of claptrap, don't waste our time here. Just go back where you came from.

    Just FYI? I have a Windows XP system that runs non-stop (serving an on-line point of sale system for real-time, live adjudication of pharmacy claims) 24/7 that has been up without rebooting or crashing for a solid year now. We'll probably reboot it over New Year's, but only because we have an update to the claims software and will need to stop processing claims temporarily to install that update anyway.

    Ummm, KenW? I see you're registered; you're probably old round here and should know better.

    /. posts that senselessly bash other users aren't welcome here, since we have a higher standard of posts and users here. If you want to post the typical "you suck" type of claptrap, don't waste our time here. Just go back where you came from.

    Just FYI? We hate you Ken, we hate every vitriolic word that drops out of your mouth and we all just want you to die. Please do that at your earliest convenience.

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to KenW
    KenW:
    Chris:
    And to the guy saying that you could do this with Windows: sure it might work, but do you really want to risk the machine having crashed by the time your coworkers get in and desperately need the door open?

    Ummm, Chris? I see you're unregistered; you're probably new here and just don't know any better then.

    /. posts that senselessly bash Windows/Linux/OS X aren't welcome here, since we have a higher standard of posts and users here. If you want to post the typical "Windoze sux! M$ sux!" type of claptrap, don't waste our time here. Just go back where you came from.

    Just FYI? I have a Windows XP system that runs non-stop (serving an on-line point of sale system for real-time, live adjudication of pharmacy claims) 24/7 that has been up without rebooting or crashing for a solid year now. We'll probably reboot it over New Year's, but only because we have an update to the claims software and will need to stop processing claims temporarily to install that update anyway.

    Uh-huh. I'm sure you do.
  • Comrade General (unregistered)

    In Soviet Russia, CD tray opens you?

    captcha: minim (e)

  • wingcommander (unregistered) in reply to Bill Gates personal chef

    Julianne is a girl. julienne is a cooking term.

    Use google if you're not sure what either of these looks like.

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    We hate you Ken, we hate every vitriolic word that drops out of your mouth and we all just want you to die. Please do that at your earliest convenience.
    Now, Chris, don't be too hard on KenW. He suffers from Coprolalia. He can't stop himself.

    Just try to do a phrase substitution: Whenever KenW says "script kiddie", what he really means is, "I like you". When he refers to SlashDot, he really means "I agree with what you said."

    Try to realize that poor KenW is stuck inside his physical prison, trying to communicate effectively and having his attempts derailed and converted into vitriol by his illness. He has a lot of good things to say, but he can't get them to come out right. Sort of like Stephen Hawking.

  • iToad (unregistered) in reply to Craig Landrum
    Craig Landrum:
    The drive tray (A) opens....

    ...nudging coffeepot (B), ...sloshing hot coffee on a cat's tail (C), ...who yowls and races off the desk, tipping over dusty Kernighan and Richie C book (D), ...hitting enter key on computer (E), ...which fires USB missle array (F), ...activating trigger on trebuchet (G), ...which fires mummified chocolate cupcake, hitting door release switch (H).

    Rube Goldberg, we miss you.

    His descendents are still with us. They write Enterprise software.

  • Montoya (unregistered) in reply to Your Name
    Your Name:
    Was Linux more practical for this application? Certainly. Could Windows have been used (without crashing and on older hardware)? Definitely.

    Just because you have a built-in bias toward one operating system and against another does not mean the second operating system is inadequate for the job.

    I can't resist mentioning that Windows Vista is out of the question. Every night, it automatically updates and then goes into forced restart. If a Vista box had been used, and this setting wasn't disabled, everything would have been ruined :(

  • Suil (unregistered) in reply to iToad

    In LISP, I assume?

  • GrandmasterB (unregistered) in reply to Montoya
    I can't resist mentioning that Windows Vista is out of the question. Every night, it automatically updates and then goes into forced restart. If a Vista box had been used, and this setting wasn't disabled, everything would have been ruined :(

    Um, not unless the reboot physically moved the machine. Most computers can connect to a network by themselves. Its true. I wouldnt lie.

    But honestly, what serious techie or programmer leaves automatic updates on in ANY operating system? Every one I know leaves them off so they can see whats being put onto their machine, especially the *nix admins!

  • (cs) in reply to cromulent
    cromulent:
    Ghastly, isn't it? All the doors on this spaceship have been programmed to have a cheery and sunny disposition.

    "Here I am, brain the size of a planet..." ... And all you want to do is open a damned door? WTF?????

  • belef (unregistered)

    The really thing is: To find this fine-tuning box on top below this 'remote door opener'! To find such an exact fitting box is in every organizaton a miracle...

    belef

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    Try installing Window 2000 with less than 256MB of RAM and let me know how well Remote Desktop works.
    Since you asked so nicely, I am happy to oblige :^)

    When I started my current job I didn't have a dedicated development / test server, so I brought in an old box that a former (non-techy) colleague gave me when he bought a new computer. It's an aging "Patriot" SFF desktop: Celeron 400, 32MB RAM ~ 4GB hard drive. I upgraded the RAM to 128MB (all the SDR I had lying around at the time), and installed Win 2K Server. I then connected to it from my Main work PC via Remote Desktop, and installed a variety of additional drivers, .NET environments, PZ Wizard 2008, and SQL Server 2000. There was occasionally a very slight slow down in response, but nothing significant; certainly the connection was usable for all day-to-day tasks.

    So, having actually tried running Remote Desktop on Win 2K Server with 128MB RAM, I can confirm that it works just fine (and yes, I can eject the CD tray remotely, if I really want to!).

  • (cs) in reply to Chris
    Chris:
    Just FYI? We hate you Ken
    Code Dependent:
    poor KenW

    Hey, no fair. You guys didn't tell me that my fan club was meeting!

    Seriously, children. Your mommies are looking for you; it's time to do your homework.

    And, just FYI: The day that the opinions of me expressed by losers like you two will never arrive, but you can hold your breath until it does. Go on... I dare you. (And we know little boys can't turn down a dare, don't we?)

    Ummm, and Chris? When you actually learn something about computers (you know, if and when you ever grow up and join the adults), you'll realize how little you know now and what an ass you are now posting such nonsense in public. Maybe... if and when you ever grow up.

  • (cs) in reply to KenW
    KenW:
    The day that the opinions of me expressed by losers like you two will never arrive
    See? Told you he had trouble expressing his thoughts.
  • Alex (unregistered)

    What is it about software engineering that encourages such petty sniping and ridiculous superiority complexes?

  • dookieface (unregistered)

    aw. how sad that must've been. - a short-lived idea.

  • spejic (unregistered) in reply to bogi
    bogi:
    Just looking at the picture, it seems it might work better if the PC had a power cord or Ethernet or keyboard or any cables coming out of back.
    This board is so full of Unix dweebs who are impressed that their computers can do wireless networking. They obviously don't know about the latest Microsoft updates that let a computer operate *fully* wirelessly.
  • thinice (unregistered)

    TRWTF is that cable going to the door. A few thousand opens and I bet that 'flexible' cover will fall apart.

    Am I the only one having movie-style flashbacks where someone drills a big hole through the door and cuts the wire on the other side?

  • B (unregistered)

    Nice! They're running Linux...

  • IHasYerCheezburger (unregistered) in reply to ay ess dee eff

    Not if it's an inverse lock.

    Do you want to know a real WTF? Connecting the 12V power source of a normal lock to an inverse lock, or "reversing the polarity", as we used to call it. After a few hour, your door is very secure. Because the lock is welded shut.

  • Dhalicious (unregistered)

    Good find! =)

  • (cs) in reply to Your Name
    Your Name:
    I don't know what Linux users do to their Windows machines to make them so unstable that they would crash overnight while sitting doing nothing.

    Well, there's always the old, "Gets infected before windows updates can get installed" problem...

  • (cs) in reply to Alex
    Alex:
    What is it about software engineering that encourages such petty sniping and ridiculous superiority complexes?
    Well, when you're blindsided by someone with your worst interests at heart, there aren't many choices. You can:
    • do/say nothing
    • cower down and try to change to suit the accusations
    • respond in kind
    • analyze the situation, figure out what drives the attacker, and respond to that

    I find the last response works best.

  • kono (unregistered) in reply to Chris

    ...&& "I'm from the federal government, and I'm here to help you." || "the check is in the mail" || "of course I'll still respect you in the morning." || "I promise, I won't come in your mouth"

  • Eduardo Mucelli (unregistered)

    That´s great. Genius.

  • Cristian (unregistered)

    I win, I only log onto mine and write eject, cause the cdrom is somehow set as the default device.. Although, that would primarily be used to impress fools in my class..

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