Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!huey.wslab.Hawaii.Edu!whelan From: whelan@huey.wslab.Hawaii.Edu (The Obscure Guru) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: STOLEN: HP-48sx and HP-42s Summary: How to make a thief uncomfortable Keywords: 48sx, thief, USER mode Message-ID: <10070@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> Date: 29 Oct 90 09:12:10 GMT References: <9010290734.AA17005@image.soe.clarkson.edu> Sender: news@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Organization: Dot in the Deep Blue Sea Lines: 27 In article <9010290734.AA17005@image.soe.clarkson.edu> dean@image.soe.clarkson.edu (Dean Swan) writes: => => Anyway, this theft ocurred in Boston, MA. (On Beacon St. at Walnut) => => My 48sx had variables called 'PaulOwesDean' and 'TotalCost' defined, and => 'EQ' was 'Y=SIN(X+SIN(X)+SIN(2*X)/2+SIN(3*X)/3)'. => => My 42s had variables 'LISA', 'KYLE', and 'TRIP', amongst others, and => programs 'FMPlot', 'FILTER', and 'TVM'. After 'losing' a 28s under mysterious circumstances I cobbled together a little program called "OFF" that put my name and address on display and then shut the machine off using a SYSEVAL. With the 48sx its quite simple to write a similar program that uses the RPL command OFF and then reprogram the OFF key to call the program using the USER keyboard mode. Now whenever anyone turns my calculator off, it puts a big obvious message on display about who owns it etc. I figure that it will make it a little bit harder for a thief to be a thief and should I truly lose the thing, it will be quite easy for the finder to locate me. Now if a guy were really smart he might take the batteries out (or find some manuals somewhere that explain what's really going on the with the calculator), but its a big step in the right direction. If anyone is interested in the trivial code required for such a program, e-mail me. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- whelan@ (uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu || uhccux.BITNET || nextsrv.wslab.hawaii.edu)