Something... weird.

[Darth Biff]

Greeting all,

I had a strange thing happen to me this weekend regarding an Ultrasound 2.5 board:

I was showing off the saber I had just finished wiring to some friends on Saturday, and after a too large supper, we grabbed a bunch or our MR and Force FX sabers, and my new one, and went outside to duel for a bit. Now, I live in Canada, and it was pretty cold Saturday night (about -18C). We were bundled up, but after about 20 minutes outside, my saber went, well, kinda nuts.

The LED went dim (not too dim, but lower intensity than normal). I could have attributed that to the batteries being too cold, but then the US went all Shodan on me. It started to stutter something about "not being able to access...", then it said "entering secret programming mode". What the Hell is that?!? After that, the momentary switch for the saber stopped working, and I had to pop the battery pack out and pull batteries to shut it down. After being in for about 10 minutes, everything seemed to come back to normal.

Now, before everyone jumps on the noob for going out in almost -20C weather and duelling, I've already been chewed-out by one wife and one Mom, and been given one "I told you so" about not bringing electronic devices outside when its so cold. In my defence, we ate WAY too much at dinner to not go and get some excercise, and the ceiling was too low in the house for good dueling.

Anyway, does anyone know what this "secret programming mode" is, and is it particularly bad for the US to do that? Am I stuck inside if it's cold out?

[Jedi-Loreen]

Do you have more than one wife?


That's weird. You're the second person to say that your US 2.5 has said something strange, and you each heard something different.

I have to wonder if you both really heard what you thought you did, if you can't make it repeat.

That's not to say that their can't be secret programming phrases/modes/methods burned onto the chips.

[Firedrops]

hehe its probably one of Ultra's "special Easter-Egg-ed" soundboards. if such a thing exists.
You should send Ultra an e-mail about this.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

That is so cool. I wonder what makes the US 2.5s to go into those crazy modes? I for one would like to know.

[JamoUp]

maybe i should take one of my sabers into the walk-in freezer and try to replicate this. Maybe there is a clash, clash, lockup, swing, swing, lockup, swing, clash, combination that will set it off. Everyone get out and start trying all combinations!

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I have been trying, believe me I have tried for hours and still nothing.

[Darth Biff]

Greetings all,

J-Lo, I didn't say that it was MY wife or mother now, did I...

There were 4 of us, and we all cofirmed the strange comments being made by the soundboard.

What are these easter eggs for the US that were mentioned? What have others heard?

I suspect that, since I'm a little dumb, I'll probably get back outside in the cold again with my saber this winter, so there is a chance I can break my saber's brain again. I'll pay a little closer attention to how long I'm outside for, and try to get the exact phrases next time.

[eastern57]

It's not a special feature. There are certain access program triggers that we stumble upon when these US boards aren't being used under "normal" conditions. I've had one say "hello" to me... that freaked me out...

My recommendations:

1) Don't go outside and play with your toys when it's that cold...

2) Don't live in Ottawa

[ecko]

2) Don't live in Ottawa

Whoa now!

[Darth Biff]

I must admire the forward-thinking of the US designers if freezing cold was used as a deliberate trigger for something. That and feel a little sorry for the poor bastards who had to program them (so... cold...)

I've worked with PLDs and microprocessors, so I'm quite curious how much access the talking interface allows to the logic of the soundboard. I don't know if I'm curious enough to risk killing it to find out... Maybe I'll wait 'til Ecko starts working on his, and see if I can con(vince) him to try some stuff...