Now that I think about it, that’s how I’d like to start everything on my desk. Turning on my lamp? Use a key. Starting my PC? I absolutely want to turn a key to do that, too. Unlocking my iPhone? Okay, that would probably just get annoying. But the other stuff I definitely want keys for.
I mean, your PC’s power switch is just closing a connection between two wires. I’m sure that someone makes a key lock switch that can do that.
kagis
Apparently the term is “key switch” rather than “key lock switch”.
A key switch (sometimes called a keyswitch or lock switch) is a key-operated switch.[1] Key switches are used in situations where access to the switch’s functions needs to be restricted.[2][3]
If you’re looking to add a key switch, make sure you get one that functions as a momentary switch and not one that locks into the ON position unless you want your PC to turn off right after booting
Starting my PC? absolutely want to turn a key to do that, too
Back in the 90s my family computer had a lock. I can’t remember what it did, but it wouldn’t boot up if it was in the off position. I think it just stopped the power button from working
Some years ago, I (GLS) was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab’s PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab’s hardware hackers (no one knows who).
You don’t touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labeled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words ‘magic’ and ‘more magic’. The switch was in the ‘more magic’ position.
I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it’s a basic fact of electricity that a switch can’t do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side.
It was clear that this switch was someone’s idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed.
Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the ‘more magic’ position before reviving the computer.
A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the ‘more magic’ position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn’t affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch.
The computer promptly crashed.
This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and diked it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since.
We still don’t know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we’ll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was magic.
I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I’m silly, but I usually keep it set on ‘more magic’.
I’ve thought of building a random panel of buttons, switches, toggles, and even throw on some toggle guards and indicator lights for funsies. But I simply don’t have anything I want/need to customize or control that way.
I mean, your PC’s power switch is just closing a connection between two wires. I’m sure that someone makes a key lock switch that can do that.
kagis
Apparently the term is “key switch” rather than “key lock switch”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_switch
https://www.amazon.com/Key-Switch/s?k=Key+Switch
Though the first entry for sale on Amazon calls it a “key lock switch”, so YMMV.
If you’re looking to add a key switch, make sure you get one that functions as a momentary switch and not one that locks into the ON position unless you want your PC to turn off right after booting
Back in the 6 modded my pc to start with a keyed car ignition. It even force restarted when you held the key to the right for a few seconds.
Back in the 90s my family computer had a lock. I can’t remember what it did, but it wouldn’t boot up if it was in the off position. I think it just stopped the power button from working
From the Hacker’s Jargon File, for those who haven’t seen it.
https://github.com/PDP-10/its/issues/1232
No, there used to be legitimate built in locks back in the early 90s.
Like Windows 3.1 days back when Windows couldn’t boot itself and you had to open it with DOS commands.
Yes, right beside the “Turbo” button that you’d never turn off (I mean, why would you).
Some of those were cylinder keyboard locks, like the old bike locks that were vulnerable to the Bic pen trick.
I’ve thought of building a random panel of buttons, switches, toggles, and even throw on some toggle guards and indicator lights for funsies. But I simply don’t have anything I want/need to customize or control that way.