On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 23:13:37 -0500 (CDT)
"Jamie Ostrowski" <jamie at getsetnet.net> wrote:


>Maybe it would be
> possible to build a prototype with an old sound card. The sound card
would
> be the makeshift digital to analog converter, and we wouldn't have to
> write new drivers. Just software that measures the amount of ram and
sends
> a different frequency to the sound card. 

Well, I think we've hit on it here. I had a very similar realization this
morning when I was driving in. But you've overlooked an even easier way to
use the sound card... Rather than have the CPU or RAM figure translate
into a frequency, why not _amplitude_? A simple inverse log function in
the 'meterd' daemon will provide the proper scaling, and the sound card's
amplified audio output can drive a sensitive AC voltmeter directly, with a
little resistive padding to set the meter range!

The frequency idea is still not bad, expecially if one owned a nixie-tube
frequency counter :) Unfortunately, those things are typically the size of
a PC case.

No muss, no fuss. I will handle the hardware end of this, who wants to
write the code? How about the daemon should read a config file (or accept
a command line argument) to tell it if it should output information on
RAM, CPU or SWAP...


                           -.bill.layer.-
                          
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