SpallsHurgenson(NG) wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-
I never had a true blinkenlight machine to take care of, but that's
okay; the flickering diodes on the modern routers and rack-servers were good enough for me.
I never had a true blinkenlight machine to take care of, but that's okay; the flickering diodes on the modern routers and rack-servers were good enough
for me. I even put up a blinkenlight warning sign... until the C-levels made me take it down after a few months for some reason that was never entirely clear to me (I suspect a terminal lack of humor).
"Achtung! Alles Lookenspeepers!
Das computermaschine ist nicht fr gefingerpoken und
mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen
und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fr gewerken bei
das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen das
cottenpickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen
das blinkenlichten."
I had access to a number of rooms full of computers with lots of blinkenlichten. The power supply section in these machines had a
blank plate that was just begging for a notice of some sort, so I
made up a sign for each one and installed them in a
professional-looking manner in enough places to maybe make people
think they were official. They read:
DANGER!
50,000 OHMS
On 2026-08-07, SpallsHurgenson <user14325@newsgrouper.org.invalid> wrote:
I never had a true blinkenlight machine to take care of, but that's okay; >> the flickering diodes on the modern routers and rack-servers were good enough
for me. I even put up a blinkenlight warning sign... until the C-levels made >> me take it down after a few months for some reason that was never entirely >> clear to me (I suspect a terminal lack of humor).
"Achtung! Alles Lookenspeepers!
Das computermaschine ist nicht fr gefingerpoken und
mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen
und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fr gewerken bei
das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen das
cottenpickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen
das blinkenlichten."
I had access to a number of rooms full of computers with
lots of blinkenlichten. The power supply section in these
machines had a blank plate that was just begging for a notice
of some sort, so I made up a sign for each one and installed
them in a professional-looking manner in enough places to
maybe make people think they were official. They read:
DANGER!
50,000 OHMS
Bud Frede wrote this screed in ALL-CAPS (fixed):
David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com> writes:
Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:
IBM >AN/FSQ-7 <https://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=73>. >>><snip>
A wall of blinking lamps was purchased by a Hollywood prop shop
and used by Irwin Allen in Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of
the Sea, etc. and many of his other schlocky series of the
era.
That seemed to be the popular impression of computers for many
people. Lots and lots of blinking lights.
That's partly because they used to have a lot of lights, iirc.
Hmmm.... worked for the Wizard of Oz too. :-)
If you have a lot of USB MIDI gear running, you will see lights on
the hub(s), the audio codec box, USB noise filter, the MIDI grid
controller, the network switch, and even some brands of USB
speakers.
My /white tower/ of blinkenlights has the fan blinking, and the two
RAM sticks. The /graphical prognostication unit/ also blinks an
arrow and a Gigabyte.
It's a veritable /industrial computer/!
On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:12:09 +0800
Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> wrote:
My /white tower/ of blinkenlights has the fan blinking, and the two
RAM sticks. The /graphical prognostication unit/ also blinks an
arrow and a Gigabyte.
It's a veritable /industrial computer/!
AFAIK those lights don't *tell* you anything, though, other than that
the power's on. I know the BeBox blinkenlights would indicate CPU load
in either of the dual processors, but I don't think anyone has done an equivalent for modern motherboards and their surfeit of LED pulsers...?
On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:12:09 +0800
Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> wrote:
My /white tower/ of blinkenlights has the fan blinking, and the two
RAM sticks. The /graphical prognostication unit/ also blinks an
arrow and a Gigabyte.
It's a veritable /industrial computer/!
AFAIK those lights don't *tell* you anything, though, other than that
the power's on. I know the BeBox blinkenlights would indicate CPU load
in either of the dual processors, but I don't think anyone has done an equivalent for modern motherboards and their surfeit of LED pulsers...?
On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:12:09 +0800
Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> wrote:
My /white tower/ of blinkenlights has the fan blinking, and the two
RAM sticks. The /graphical prognostication unit/ also blinks an
arrow and a Gigabyte.
It's a veritable /industrial computer/!
AFAIK those lights don't *tell* you anything, though, other than that
the power's on. I know the BeBox blinkenlights would indicate CPU load
in either of the dual processors, but I don't think anyone has done an equivalent for modern motherboards and their surfeit of LED pulsers...?
On 8/20/26 07:53, John Ames wrote:
On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:12:09 +0800
Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> wrote:
My /white tower/ of blinkenlights has the fan blinking, and the two
RAM sticks. The /graphical prognostication unit/ also blinks an
arrow and a Gigabyte.
It's a veritable /industrial computer/!
AFAIK those lights don't *tell* you anything, though, other than that
the power's on. I know the BeBox blinkenlights would indicate CPU load
in either of the dual processors, but I don't think anyone has done an
equivalent for modern motherboards and their surfeit of LED pulsers...?
Even in the elder days their use was fading. Sometimes a light pattern
might indicate a loop. I can recall an IBMer debugging on a 360/30 using console switches and lights, but they were gone by the System/370.
On 2026-08-20, Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> wrote:
Even in the elder days their use was fading. Sometimes a light pattern
might indicate a loop. I can recall an IBMer debugging on a 360/30 using
console switches and lights, but they were gone by the System/370.
The Univac 90/30s on which I mostly worked from 1975 to 1985 were
among the last machines with a couple of rows of LEDs with rollers
by which you could select various internal signals. I found one
display where the internal disk controller would display the
currently-active drive number and the length of the current seek;
it was useful for detecting disk thrashing, especially after the
new drives came out that had opaque covers so you could no longer
see the head assembly and its movements.
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