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KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Smoke posted:

white LEDs are the new blue LEDs

Both my monitor (Dell U2713HM) and my speakers (Audioengine A5+) have white LEDS that pulse when they're on standby. Honestly they're not even that obnoxious, they're quite low-powered compared to the eye-searing blue LEDs that were all the craze a couple of years ago.

If I could be bothered, I'd change every one of them over to green and orange LEDs, but just putting a bit of tape over them is so much easier :effort:

KozmoNaut has a new favorite as of 15:06 on Jan 23, 2014

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Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

What's the history of fashionable LED colors? I think it is like red > green > blue > white?
Which goes hand in hand with the development of affordable LEDs of those colors.

AlternateAccount
Apr 25, 2005
FYGM

Collateral Damage posted:

It's whatever you want it to be. You can turn it left/right and you can click it. What those inputs do is entirely up to how you map it in the software.

I'm hard pressed to come up with a use case that justifies spending $60 too, but apparently enough people have that it's kept the corded version for sale for almost a decade.

But it's shiny!

This is clearly for playing TRON arcade games in an emulator.

Also for scrubbing in video, volume control or hey, maybe even a driving game :hurr:

Sham bam bamina!
Nov 6, 2012

ƨtupid cat

AlternateAccount posted:

This is clearly for playing Tempest in an emulator.
There we go.

robodex
Jun 6, 2007

They're what's for dinner
I bought an Alienware 14 a few months back and it has so many customizable LEDs on it I don't know what to do with them :smith:

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


robodex posted:

I bought an Alienware 14 a few months back and it has so many customizable LEDs on it I don't know what to do with them :smith:

VU meter?

Internet Friend
Jan 1, 2001

robodex posted:

I bought an Alienware 14 a few months back and it has so many customizable LEDs on it I don't know what to do with them :smith:



(Future candidate for this thread)

Pneub
Mar 12, 2007

I'M THE DEVIL, AND I WILL WASH OVER THE EARTH AND THE SEAS WILL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF ALL THE SINNERS

I AM REBORN

Mescal posted:

Argh, I want one of these knobs so much. It looks perfect for fixing the poorly-designed proprietary UIs at work. I would pay the sixty bucks for that bullshit knob in a second if it weren't mac only. Imagine if that design had made it into the standard keyboard layout how much happier we would all be.

They need to bring back the Tully Toggle.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Mescal posted:

Argh, I want one of these knobs so much. It looks perfect for fixing the poorly-designed proprietary UIs at work. I would pay the sixty bucks for that bullshit knob in a second if it weren't mac only. Imagine if that design had made it into the standard keyboard layout how much happier we would all be.

The USB-connected Powermate works on PCs as well. I think the reason they only advertise the bluetooth version for Mac is that it's BT4.0-only.

orphean
Apr 27, 2007

beep boop bitches
my monads are fully functional

Pneub posted:

They need to bring back the Tully Toggle.

The top comment on this right now is "It seems like a lot of work for low payoff :geno:" Awesome.

My favorite part is I could totally see thing existing in the backpages of Byte circa 1982.

semiavrage
Apr 28, 2007

I'll show them... I'll show ALL of them...

Croccers posted:

There's an N-Gage in that picture. I think that's a good failed technology thing.
Have to hold it on the side to talk.

You had to remove the battery to change the game in it.
There was an exclusive Elder Scrolls game on it though. This was before Elder Scrolls came out with Oblivion and became a massive thing.

Edit: Oh wait, that's the BEFORE N-Gage thing! Hell! Even older!

I actually no-joke owned an N-Gage, and I loved it. Being able to play Tony Hawk on the go was 100% worth all of the issues that existed with that phone. 100%.

What sucked about it, was that if you accidentally filled up the internal memory it would fail to start. It could not be fixed. RIP, my N-Gage.

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


semiavrage posted:

What sucked about it, was that if you accidentally filled up the internal memory it would fail to start. It could not be fixed. RIP, my N-Gage.

No loving way. :psyduck:

robodex
Jun 6, 2007

They're what's for dinner

Internet Friend posted:



(Future candidate for this thread)

That's basically what my laptop looks like!

There is an iTunes plugin to use the LEDs as a VU meter, but it's actually really terrible so I don't use it.

Davfff
Oct 27, 2008

Arrath posted:

No loving way. :psyduck:

Yep, same issue existed with the classic Nokia 3650, as I discovered...



Fantastic phone until then, though. Served my clumsy nature very well after at least a dozen drops onto concrete. Well worth the near $800 bucks I laid out for it...

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
IBM ThinkPad Butterfly keyboard was an idea that I'm sort of surprised never caught on when netbooks became popular, as it would be a way to keep the relatively small size but increase the size of the keyboard, too.

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

Apparently, it ceased being practical when screen sizes increased, meaning a normal keyboard size could also increase, too, without the need of a folding mechanism.

SymmetryrtemmyS
Jul 13, 2013

I got super tired of seeing your avatar throwing those fuckin' glasses around in the astrology thread so I fixed it to a .jpg

Davfff posted:

Yep, same issue existed with the classic Nokia 3650, as I discovered...



Fantastic phone until then, though. Served my clumsy nature very well after at least a dozen drops onto concrete. Well worth the near $800 bucks I laid out for it...

That phone looks like the least ergonomic keypad I've ever seen. Was it comfortable to use?

Davfff
Oct 27, 2008

SymmetryrtemmyS posted:

That phone looks like the least ergonomic keypad I've ever seen. Was it comfortable to use?

Yeah, you'd think it would be, and it certainly got plenty of sideways glances. But, it was surprisingly pleasant to use, definitely the best phone to txt message from I'd used (by a long stretch) until hard and soft keyboards with auto correct became widespread.

You'd generally hold the phone in two hands and use both thumbs to txt with, because all the buttons were nice and close together, but not so close you'd smudge them with your sausage fingers, it was pretty stress and strain free.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

JediTalentAgent posted:

IBM ThinkPad Butterfly keyboard was an idea that I'm sort of surprised never caught on when netbooks became popular, as it would be a way to keep the relatively small size but increase the size of the keyboard, too.

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

Apparently, it ceased being practical when screen sizes increased, meaning a normal keyboard size could also increase, too, without the need of a folding mechanism.

I had an used one that I picked up for $100 off eBay (retailed for $4000 originally). Really cool hardware, but it always felt more like a proof of concept than an evolutionary design. And a bitch to install anything on as it had no floppy and no CD-ROM. I can't remember if it had ethernet. I think I may have had to use a PCMCIA card for that.

But that pales in comparison to the Canon NoteJet:



A laptop with a printer under the keyboard!

Ensign Expendable
Nov 11, 2008

Lager beer is proof that god loves us
Pillbug

Internet Friend posted:



(Future candidate for this thread)

drat, you don't even need a monitor, you can play Tetris right on the keyboard.

Monkey Fracas
Sep 11, 2010

...but then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you!
Grimey Drawer

Krispy Kareem posted:

I had an used one that I picked up for $100 off eBay (retailed for $4000 originally). Really cool hardware, but it always felt more like a proof of concept than an evolutionary design. And a bitch to install anything on as it had no floppy and no CD-ROM. I can't remember if it had ethernet. I think I may have had to use a PCMCIA card for that.

But that pales in comparison to the Canon NoteJet:



A laptop with a printer under the keyboard!

I shudder to think how finicky that printer was, my god.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

Krispy Kareem posted:

A laptop with a printer under the keyboard!
I swear the 90's consisted of development teams who just sat around brainstorming DeBono style till they came up with something that sounded good.

quote:

Canon Inc. has introduced a powerful 7.7-pound laptop with a built-in ink-jet printer. So small and unobtrusive is the printer that the Canon Note Jet 486 looks pretty much like a normal notebook computer.

Prices will start at $2,499 when the Note Jet 486's become widely available next month.

When it is equipped with an optional facsimile modem, which costs an additional $399 or $899, depending on speed, the Note Jet 486 can also serve as a plain-paper facsimile receiver and printer. No more will executives have to trek down to the hotel lobby to retrieve flimsy documents they have sent to themselves just to get a paper copy; no longer will they have to dash to an all-night copy shop to rent time on a laser printer.
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/business/the-executive-computer-canon-s-new-laptop-packs-a-nice-printer-inside.html

The article sidesteps the fact that you still have to carry around a ream of paper with your portable wunder office.
Someone printing on the thing.

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


Internet Friend posted:



(Future candidate for this thread)

My super nerd mechanical keyboard has LEDs on it. They're white.

I keep them on the slow pulse setting because as long as I'm going to have useless things on my keyboard, I might as well go all out with them.

Necrothatcher
Mar 26, 2005




Just read this about the London Underground and thought of this thread:

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/underground-is-in-deep-trouble-6497394.html

quote:

"I'm down in the interlocking machine room, the guts of the District line's signaling system — effectively the brain of the line. The technology is mechanical levers powered by air pressure, directed by hole-punch reels driven by Hewlett Packard HP1000s, a 1960s computer system discontinued a decade ago. It looks like the traffic-control computer sabotaged in The Italian Job (1969) — only scruffier and with household fans rigged up to keep the heat down.

This miiight be what they're talking about :





Also in Tube news they accidentally poured 3 feet of quick setting concrete into a Victoria line signalling room today, bringing the whole line to a standstill:





gently caress knows how you clear that up.

blugu64
Jul 17, 2006

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8nyw45z9A0

The future is now.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Quicker than the concrete sets, hopefully :stonk:

But yeah, they're hosed. That is going to be out of commission for quite a while. This is why you make sure the spot you're pouring concrete into doesn't have any leaks or pipes or conduits open running to other spots you'd rather NOT fill with concrete.

madeintaipei
Jul 13, 2012

Mr. Flunchy posted:

gently caress knows how you clear that up.

If it's anything like what you do with a cement mixer that breaks (and the other motherfucker doesn't clear), a looooot of quality time with a jack hammer, a crow bar, and a sledgehammer (remember your safety glasses kids).

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


If they let it dry much at all before they start busting it I bet the electronics will looove that good old concrete dust.

SymmetryrtemmyS
Jul 13, 2013

I got super tired of seeing your avatar throwing those fuckin' glasses around in the astrology thread so I fixed it to a .jpg

My sister's Corsair K70 (Cherry MX Reds) does that, too. It's pretty cool.

Mescal
Jul 23, 2005

Mr. Flunchy posted:

Just read this about the London Underground and thought of this thread:

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/underground-is-in-deep-trouble-6497394.html


This miiight be what they're talking about :





Also in Tube news they accidentally poured 3 feet of quick setting concrete into a Victoria line signalling room today, bringing the whole line to a standstill:





gently caress knows how you clear that up.

God, what is the plan B for this situation? Tell me there's a plan B!

Zonekeeper
Oct 27, 2007



Mescal posted:

God, what is the plan B for this situation? Tell me there's a plan B!

I think plan B is: "Salvage what we can and build a new one".

Anything that can remove the concrete (jackhammers, sledgehammers) is going to destroy the trapped equipment in the process of removing it, so for all intents and purposes everything under the concrete is lost.

cowtown
Jul 4, 2007

the cow's a friend to me

Mr. Flunchy posted:

Also in Tube news they accidentally poured 3 feet of quick setting concrete into a Victoria line signalling room today, bringing the whole line to a standstill:


How do you accidentally fill a room with concrete?

Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

Internet Friend posted:



(Future candidate for this thread)

I am going to buy the gently caress out of that keyboard the day it comes out.

Arrath posted:

If they let it dry much at all before they start busting it I bet the electronics will looove that good old concrete dust.

Concrete gets super hot and expands* as it dries, so if they left it in there until it was solid there would pretty much be nothing left underneath it to be mad about the dust anyway.

*Actually maybe it contracts? Same end result for the stuff swimming in it.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.

kastein posted:

Quicker than the concrete sets, hopefully :stonk:

But yeah, they're hosed. That is going to be out of commission for quite a while. This is why you make sure the spot you're pouring concrete into doesn't have any leaks or pipes or conduits open running to other spots you'd rather NOT fill with concrete.

^ that's how you accidentally flood a room with cement.

Also, the way you solve that kind of problem is a handle of whiskey. and then a new job.

Any chemical or mechanical method of removing the cement is going to destroy the wiring and relays as well. And you'll never get it out of the connectors and relays. The only way that is getting fixed is with a jackhammer and a very large order of relays, wire, and sockets... I sure hope they have schematics for it in its present state and someone around who knows how to actually design/debug relay logic systems.

MRC48B
Apr 2, 2012

My only idea would be to grab a fire hose and water it down until it can't set anymore.

... assuming there is somewhere to drain the large amount of water you would need.

Platystemon
Feb 13, 2012

as a person who never leaves my house i've done pretty well for myself.

MRC48B posted:

My only idea would be to grab a fire hose and water it down until it can't set anymore.

Cement trucks used to (and might still) carry bags of table sugar for use in case of a breakdown. Mixing in enough sugar will “poison” the concrete and prevent it from setting.

Good luck acting fast enough and mixing it well enough in a situation like this, though.

Dicty Bojangles
Apr 14, 2001

There's a MythBusters episode where they test what happens when a cement mixer gets stuck in traffic and how difficult it is to clean the drum out afterward. Long story short, it's practically impossible. Those relays are finished for good.

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


Inspector_666 posted:

Concrete gets super hot and expands* as it dries, so if they left it in there until it was solid there would pretty much be nothing left underneath it to be mad about the dust anyway.

*Actually maybe it contracts? Same end result for the stuff swimming in it.

Oh yeah, anything under the concrete is a lost cause already. But that dust will get everywhere.

slomomofo posted:

There's a MythBusters episode where they test what happens when a cement mixer gets stuck in traffic and how difficult it is to clean the drum out afterward. Long story short, it's practically impossible. Those relays are finished for good.

And it also led to one of the best explosions in Mythbusters history :allears:

darkhand
Jan 18, 2010

This beard just won't do!
Is that when they blew a truck off a mountain?

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


This one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxm_qpKh7Jw

That's how a real powerful explosion looks and sounds, not like those huge fireball Hollywood explosions.

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TerryLennox
Oct 12, 2009

There is nothing tougher than a tough Mexican, just as there is nothing gentler than a gentle Mexican, nothing more honest than an honest Mexican, and above all nothing sadder than a sad Mexican. -R. Chandler.

KozmoNaut posted:

Both my monitor (Dell U2713HM) and my speakers (Audioengine A5+) have white LEDS that pulse when they're on standby. Honestly they're not even that obnoxious, they're quite low-powered compared to the eye-searing blue LEDs that were all the craze a couple of years ago.

If I could be bothered, I'd change every one of them over to green and orange LEDs, but just putting a bit of tape over them is so much easier :effort:

A bit off topic but whats with consumer electronics manufacturers choosing the most idiotically powerful LEDs in all devices? Air conditioning, computer cases, TVs, everything has its own LED that unless taped over, will put enough light on your bedroom to prevent sleep.

Wish they included a dimmer or off switch for status LEDs.

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