4 ms·
This reminds me of how, twenty years ago, I used the PowerBook’s hard drive vibration sensor to rig up a seismograph to measure construction noise: https://all
by incanus77 1y ago
This reminds me of how, twenty years ago, I used the PowerBook’s hard drive vibration sensor to rig up a seismograph to measure construction noise:
https://allthegooddomainsweretaken.justinmiller.io/2007/04/04/allegro-never-misses-a-beat/ https://allthegooddomainsweretaken.justinmiller.io/2007/04/0...
- dtgriscom 1y agoI wrote that software, called SeisMac. Someone figured out the Apple-private API for the Sudden Motion Sensor that parks your laptop's hard drive if it detects free-fall. Working from that, I wrote a free app that used the API to show three-axis acceleration graphs. I was proudest of the calibration utility, which had you tip your laptop on its side (with properly rotated dialogs!), and then on its screen. People would send me recordings from all over the world (e.g. on a ship in the Drake Passage showing enormous surges). It was a lot of fun, and I even got an educational grant to improve it. Big bummer when Apple switched to solid-state drives (well, a bummer for my one small reason...) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Motion_Sensor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Motion_Sensor
- incanus77 1y agoAwesome, the name rings a bell now! Thanks for that. Honestly didn't remember the software involved (nowadays, I'd mention it in the blog post).
- tonymillion 1y agoThe best use of the SMS in the MacBook… or should I say SMACKbook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw
- bitwize 1y agoReminds me of the people who used their ThinkPad's vibration sensor to detect smacks on the machine, and rigged their X window manager to switch virtual desktops when smacked from the appropriate side, panning right when smacked on the left, and left when smacked on the right.
- 1bpp 1y agothis update breaks my case smacking workflow, please revert
- incanus77 1y agoOh, I vaguely remember someone hacking that for some sort of windowing back then on OS X!
- akubera 1y agoThe smackbook pro! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw
- incanus77 1y agoThat's it exactly. I clearly remember the nonchalantness.
- Forgeties79 1y agoWhat a great name
- stockresearcher 1y agoI heard that IBM decided to move out of this building [1] because vibration due to the construction of the tower across the street kept destroying hard drives in their computing center. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/330_North_Wabash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/330_North_Wabash
- mananaysiempre 1y agoObligatory link to Brendan Gregg shouting at hard drives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDacjrSCeq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDacjrSCeq4.
- CalChris 1y agoI used an iPhone as an air pressure recorder. There's an app for that; many actually. Anyways, the trunk gate on my car wasn't sealing and when it went over pavement joints on the highway it would slightly open and then close in quick succession which was nauseating. I showed the data to Tesla service and they (grumbled and) readjusted the trunk gate. The problem disappeared.