Can we have another trigger mechanism for desktop computers?

[alantrick]

I'm not sure if you're interested in adding new features, but my desktop doesn't have a hinge. Could we add another way to trigger the morse code? A couple ideas:

• DVD tray open/shut: it's not like I use the DVD reader for anything anyways.
• CPU temperature: it's fairly easy for me to jam a pen/pencil in the fan that covers the heat sink. However, developing the technique required to reliably produce appropriate spikes in temperature might be difficult.

[veggiedefender]

These should all be possible. You just need a way to call morse_code_open.sh and morse_code_close.sh with the right timings. These ten lines are the only ones that care about the hinge.

That said, anything is bendable if you try hard enough. Your desktop doesn't have a hinge yet.

[AugustsK]

I would personally argue against using CPU temperature, as it is not predictable enough (having higher CPU load would increase temperature much faster than having <5% CPU load) and therefore you could not get the timing just right. Then there's different cooling solutions that would require calibration on each machine separately. Too much hassle.

However, you can measure CPU fan speed RPM, which should be consistent (if the threshold is low enough, like 10RPM).

[mlh758]

Do you have a microphone? You could try screaming a pattern of long and short noises at your computer to trigger it.

[MarcelGarus]

Most desktop computers have a USB port, so repeatedly plugging a USB stick in and pulling it out again sounds like an intuitive mechanism to me.

But there might be an even more convenient way: At least on Linux, the hardware usually fires a power interrupt when the power is going out. If you power your PC over a switchable extension cord and you write a custom kernel interrupt service routine, you could register these interrupts and enter morse code by using the extension cord's switch. From a purely haptic point of view, this is definitely the preferred option. You just have to be fast enough when turning the switch back on again.

[don-code]

My team made me aware of this bug because my desktop has a hinge that can generate chassis intrusion detection events. Suggest marking as invalid.