[Robotgroup] "Feed me a cat" hack :)

[Vern Graner]

Ok, for those of you that saw the picture I showed last night:

http://www.notepad.org/hp_printer.jpg

here's the instructions on how to make an HP printer display the message 
(or any message you choose):

------------------------ CLIP ----------------------------
Change the status message of a HP LaserJet printer

This is an old trick, but always fun. It’s easy to change the status 
message on a networked HP printer; just telnet to the printer’s IP 
address on port 9100, and type the following:

@PJL RDYMSG DISPLAY="YOUR MESSAGE HERE"

Press enter, and you’re done; the new status message will stick around 
until you change it back, or someone restarts the printer.

The one in the photo can be done in this manner:

@PJL RDYMSG DISPLAY="FEED ME A CAT"

If you want to put some effort into it, maybe make an agent to change 
the message at a random interval, you can also write an application to 
accomplish the same thing.
------------------------ /CLIP ----------------------------

I was thinking a propeller chip with an Ethernet interface:

http://ybox.tv/

would make a neat little "prank" style device to just jack into a network.

Have it send out different status messages to any device on port 9100! 
Pre-program it with all kinds of interesting things for the printer to 
say! ;)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG