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GeneralRe: The last gasp of Windows XP support? Pin
Roger Wright10-Apr-14 8:36
professionalRoger Wright10-Apr-14 8:36 
GeneralRe: The last gasp of Windows XP support? Pin
ravikhoda9-Apr-14 19:47
professionalravikhoda9-Apr-14 19:47 
GeneralRe: The last gasp of Windows XP support? Pin
Mohamad M. Mohamad9-Apr-14 19:56
Mohamad M. Mohamad9-Apr-14 19:56 
GeneralRe: The last gasp of Windows XP support? Pin
SoMad9-Apr-14 20:10
professionalSoMad9-Apr-14 20:10 
GeneralRe: The last gasp of Windows XP support? Pin
Mohamad M. Mohamad9-Apr-14 20:41
Mohamad M. Mohamad9-Apr-14 20:41 
GeneralAn upcoming anniversary Pin
Kent Sharkey9-Apr-14 10:46
staffKent Sharkey9-Apr-14 10:46 
GeneralRe: An upcoming anniversary Pin
Member 41945939-Apr-14 14:01
Member 41945939-Apr-14 14:01 
GeneralRe: An upcoming anniversary Pin
kalberts10-Apr-14 1:18
kalberts10-Apr-14 1:18 
We never did that "print a bell and a formfeed forever", but we DID something about as nasty.

Those GE Terminet printers had a rubber band with metal "tounges" for each character, looping in front of the paper. Whenever a character "tounge" passed the position where that character was to be printed, a solenid stroke the tounge from behind, making it hit the paper (through an ink ribbon). There was one solenoid for each of the 132 printing positions. If the "A" tounge passed the position where an "A" was to be printed at the same time as the "Z" tounge passed the position where a "Z" was to be printed, the two solenoids would strike at the same time.

We did some experimenting to see how many solenoids we could make strike at the same moment, using carefully prepared text lines. It turned out that you couldn't make all 132 fire together, but you could fire every second, making 66 hammers hit the roller at the same time. The impact made the printer jump about half an inch. We made a program to repeat this for the specified number of lines; the program was given the descriptive name "bang". "bang 6" would make the printer fire six times, making six small jumps, and "bang 10" left a burnt-out power supply...

The IT operations guys at our university never discovered the "bang" program, and was very puzzled by the repeated breakdowns of the printer power supplies, making several inquires to the manufacturer about the problem. After a while, the novelty of "bang" wore off.
GeneralRe: An upcoming anniversary Pin
Kent Sharkey10-Apr-14 6:58
staffKent Sharkey10-Apr-14 6:58 
General"No, Timmy, them ain't big crows up thar' on the 'lectric line; them be drones, perching." Pin
BillWoodruff9-Apr-14 10:32
professionalBillWoodruff9-Apr-14 10:32 
GeneralRe: "No, Timmy, them ain't big crows up thar' on the 'lectric line; them be drones, perching." Pin
Roger Wright9-Apr-14 12:12
professionalRoger Wright9-Apr-14 12:12 
GeneralRe: "No, Timmy, them ain't big crows up thar' on the 'lectric line; them be drones, perching." Pin
CDP18029-Apr-14 14:18
CDP18029-Apr-14 14:18 
General::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
SoMad9-Apr-14 10:03
professionalSoMad9-Apr-14 10:03 
GeneralRe: ::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter9-Apr-14 11:25
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter9-Apr-14 11:25 
GeneralRe: ::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
SoMad9-Apr-14 11:49
professionalSoMad9-Apr-14 11:49 
GeneralRe: ::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
SoMad9-Apr-14 19:49
professionalSoMad9-Apr-14 19:49 
GeneralRe: ::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter9-Apr-14 20:25
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter9-Apr-14 20:25 
GeneralRe: ::Workspaces seems quite popular. Pin
SoMad9-Apr-14 20:31
professionalSoMad9-Apr-14 20:31 
GeneralHave you changed your password? Pin
Kenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 10:02
mvaKenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 10:02 
GeneralRe: Have you changed your password? Pin
ZurdoDev9-Apr-14 10:10
professionalZurdoDev9-Apr-14 10:10 
GeneralRe: Have you changed your password? Pin
Kenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 10:14
mvaKenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 10:14 
GeneralRe: Have you changed your password? Pin
Paul Watson9-Apr-14 13:04
sitebuilderPaul Watson9-Apr-14 13:04 
GeneralThe Overprotected Kid Pin
Jörgen Andersson9-Apr-14 9:38
professionalJörgen Andersson9-Apr-14 9:38 
GeneralRe: The Overprotected Kid Pin
Kenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 11:29
mvaKenneth Haugland9-Apr-14 11:29 
GeneralRe: The Overprotected Kid Pin
Jörgen Andersson9-Apr-14 20:38
professionalJörgen Andersson9-Apr-14 20:38 

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Straw Poll

Were you affected by the geomagnetic storms this past weekend?
Communication disruptions, electrified pipes, random unexplained blue-screens in Windows - the list of effects is terrifying.
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