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Can someone explain to me in laymen's terms what this does? It renders the motherboard inoperable? Kills the display? How do you recover from this if you ACCIDE

Can someone explain to me in laymen's terms what this does? It renders the motherboard inoperable? Kills the display? How do you recover from this if you ACCIDENTALLY unplug it?

mpalme 7y ago
> [...] rule that will trigger xscreensaver to lock the screen every time any USB drive is removed
arm 7y ago
It can do whatever you want it to do. The examples in the article were: • whenever any USB drive is removed, trigger xscreensaver to lock the screen: > ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", RUN+="DISPLAY=:0 xscreensaver-command -lock" • whenever a specific USB drive is removed, shut down the computer: > ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{ID_MODEL}=="Micromax_A74", RUN+="shutdown -h now"
- oefrha 7y ago
  Nitpick, it can do whatever you want it to do that’s possible in software. You’ll be disappointed if you want to have it drill a hole in your hard drive ;)
  - somebodythere 7y ago
    Just build a USB-powered hard-drive drill, duh.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Etheryte 7y ago
The article shows two different configurations, one that simply triggers the screensaver with a lock screen, the other to fully shut the machine down. Recovery from both of those is fairly straightforward.
michaelt 7y ago
It locks the screen by executing "xscreensaver-command -lock" So this is a "kill cord" in the meaning of a jetski, power boat, or treadmill where pulling out the kill cord triggers a fast but nondestructive stop.
redacted3212 7y ago
It simply uses udev to identify when the USB device is removed, then executes a linux command of your choosing. In the examples provided, he demonstrates a simple 'lockscreen' and 'shutdown' command. It's clever, I'll admit, but the name leaves more to be desired with a name like 'buskill'
mrandish 7y ago
It appears to simply be a USB plug that works with a simple software driver to automatically log out if the USB is unplugged. The scenario is a snatch-and-grab of the laptop while the user is logged in to a highly-secure, high-value online account. Not something most users likely need but I can imagine some TLAs being interested in something like this, as it looks pretty inexpensive to implement.

Can someone explain to me in laymen's terms what this does? It renders the motherboard inoperable? Kills the display? How do you recover from this if you ACCIDENTALLY unplug it?

mpalme 7y ago

> [...] rule that will trigger xscreensaver to lock the screen every time any USB drive is removed

arm 7y ago

It can do whatever you want it to do. The examples in the article were: • whenever any USB drive is removed, trigger xscreensaver to lock the screen: > ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", RUN+="DISPLAY=:0 xscreensaver-command -lock" • whenever a specific USB drive is removed, shut down the computer: > ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{ID_MODEL}=="Micromax_A74", RUN+="shutdown -h now"

oefrha 7y ago
Nitpick, it can do whatever you want it to do that’s possible in software. You’ll be disappointed if you want to have it drill a hole in your hard drive ;)
- somebodythere 7y ago
  Just build a USB-powered hard-drive drill, duh.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Etheryte 7y ago

The article shows two different configurations, one that simply triggers the screensaver with a lock screen, the other to fully shut the machine down. Recovery from both of those is fairly straightforward.

michaelt 7y ago

It locks the screen by executing "xscreensaver-command -lock" So this is a "kill cord" in the meaning of a jetski, power boat, or treadmill where pulling out the kill cord triggers a fast but nondestructive stop.

redacted3212 7y ago

It simply uses udev to identify when the USB device is removed, then executes a linux command of your choosing. In the examples provided, he demonstrates a simple 'lockscreen' and 'shutdown' command. It's clever, I'll admit, but the name leaves more to be desired with a name like 'buskill'

mrandish 7y ago

It appears to simply be a USB plug that works with a simple software driver to automatically log out if the USB is unplugged. The scenario is a snatch-and-grab of the laptop while the user is logged in to a highly-secure, high-value online account. Not something most users likely need but I can imagine some TLAs being interested in something like this, as it looks pretty inexpensive to implement.