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From: hughes@endor.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: What the world needs now [ is an exploding computer ]
Message-ID: <2175@husc6.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Jun-87 01:39:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: husc6.2175
Posted: Wed Jun  3 01:39:35 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jun-87 03:42:39 EDT
References: <12067@topaz.rutgers.edu> <910@killer.UUCP> <15@gordon.UUCP> <2725@phri.UUCP> <8252@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <19211@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: news@husc6.UUCP
Reply-To: hughes@endor.UUCP (Brian Hughes)
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 24

In article <19211@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (David Phillip Oster) writes:
>
>This folt tale was told to me when I was an undergraduate. I'd like
>confirmation, and details. 
>    [Rewinding the disk drive]
	I have heard that telling early disk drives to execute "rewind"
could do awesome things, but never that anyone put a disposal inside a
disk drive to freak out novice hackers.
>
>I've also heard stories about students programming a series of disk
>seeks at the resonant frequency of the disk drive cabinet, so that the
>entire cabinet could be made to "walk" menacingly toward the operator.
>Maybe we need comp.misc.folklore.
>--- David Phillip Oster            -- 
	This is actually the Donovan and Madnick hack (supposed to be
true, but who knows). Both were in the computer room (this was before
there were seperate terminal rooms). Donovan (or perhaps Madnick) punched
up a short deck of cards (this is long ago), submitted them, and the
disk drive walked across the floor. Madnick scratches his head a while,
punches up his own deck of cards, submits it, and the disk drive walks
back to its original position.
	Given a not terribly massive drive, and a heavy set of head arms,
this is theoretically possible. Not sure that you'd need to make the drive
resonate to do this.