4 Mar
2005
4 Mar
'05
6:47 p.m.
I haven't had very good luck with paper clips. A better tool is a used dental
pick, because this is tempered and holds up when you put stress on the lock
with a tool (screwdrivers are not the best tools to use, as they can
dent/flatten the lock noticeably, but in absence of a better tool they work.)
Put the screwdriver in, apply pressure, stroke the lock pins with the pick.
If you're really into it, you grind and temper a thin tool with a bump at the
end. The computer locks I've seen (excl. IBM Medeco) don't need this,
though.'
-Scott Quinn
4 Mar
4 Mar
6:52 p.m.
Scott wrote about picking locks:
I haven't had very good luck with paper clips. A
better tool is a used
dental pick, because this is tempered and holds up when you put stress on
Or just buy a set of lock picks. They're not expensive. I think I
paid under $15 for a reasonably nice set.
Eric
11:29 p.m.
Eric Smith wrote:
Scott wrote about picking locks:
> I haven't had very good luck with paper clips. A better tool is a used
> dental pick, because this is tempered and holds up when you put stress on
The MIT Lockpick guide recommends going out after a street sweeping machine
has been by and look in the gutter for the bristles that break off the brushes.
New bristles are not as good as used ones, because the metal wears down
thin just before it breaks off. It is very hard and ideal for the material
to fab the picks from.
this is just from reading. I never pick locks, I go around to the back door,
which is usually unlocked and go in there.
Jim
6 Mar
6 Mar
1:36 p.m.
On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 23:29:51 -0800
jim stephens <jwstephens at msm.umr.edu> wrote:
Eric Smith wrote:
The back door here (our house) has a skeleton key lock. That was the
only lock on the back door. At least, that's all it had when we moved
in. Now it has a slidebolt, and a big scary black dog inside.
You can still buy skeleton keys out of the bins at most hardware stores.
There are a few different types. The ones for our house were there.
(to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it is 'damaging' to the
credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is disabled or replaced?
Are there sources for the keys? My ancient RS/6000 has the lock
'sprung' so that any screwdriver will turn it. My SparcServer 1000 has
the lock intact (and I have the key).
-Scott
Scott
Scott wrote about picking locks:
> I haven't had very good luck with paper clips. A better tool is a
> used dental pick, because this is tempered and holds up when you
> put stress on
The MIT Lockpick guide recommends going out after a street sweeping
machine has been by and look in the gutter for the bristles that break
off the brushes.
New bristles are not as good as used ones, because the metal wears
down thin just before it breaks off. It is very hard and ideal for
the material to fab the picks from.
this is just from reading. I never pick locks, I go around to the
back door, which is usually unlocked and go in there.
Jim
3:25 p.m.
Scott Stevens wrote:
(to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it is
'damaging' to the
credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is disabled or replaced?
Are there sources for the keys? My ancient RS/6000 has the lock
'sprung' so that any screwdriver will turn it. My SparcServer 1000 has
the lock intact (and I have the key).
Yeah, kind of. But needs must, I suppose. I've lost the ignition key
for my PDP-11, so I've basically jumped across the switch pins in the
mains plug with a bit of wire. At some point I'll either get round to
getting a key made, or getting another lock, or just pulling the tumblers.
Gordon.
3:43 p.m.
>>>> "Scott" == Scott Stevens
<chenmel at earthlink.net> writes:
Scott> (to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it is 'damaging'
Scott> to the credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is
Scott> disabled or replaced? Are there sources for the keys? My
Scott> ancient RS/6000 has the lock 'sprung' so that any screwdriver
Scott> will turn it. My SparcServer 1000 has the lock intact (and I
Scott> have the key).
In the case of DEC, there are only two locks that I know of. One is
an ACE (tubular key) lock; the other is a 3 or 4 pin flat key lock.
They have always been keyed alike since the beginning of time.
And then to confuse things there are on some machines dark gray things
that look like ACE locks but are just dummies. They are turned with a
plastic blank -- or with any ACE key you might have in your
collection.
So with DEC at least, it should be easy to get a key.
paul
7 Mar
7 Mar
2:27 a.m.
On Sun, 2005-03-06 at 18:43 -0500, Paul Koning wrote:
I've found that it's ridiculously cheap over here to get a flat key made
if you just take the lock in to the right people; no need to have the
original key or even any kind of lock number.
I've yet to find anyone who can make (or even duplicate from original) a
tubular key though. (Which is annoying as it'd be nice to have a backup
for the steering wheel lock on my car! :)
cheers
Jules
>>>> "Scott" == Scott Stevens <chenmel at earthlink.net>
writes:
Scott> (to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it is 'damaging'
Scott> to the credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is
Scott> disabled or replaced? Are there sources for the keys? My
Scott> ancient RS/6000 has the lock 'sprung' so that any screwdriver
Scott> will turn it. My SparcServer 1000 has the lock intact (and I
Scott> have the key).
In the case of DEC, there are only two locks that I know of. One is
an ACE (tubular key) lock; the other is a 3 or 4 pin flat key lock.
They have always been keyed alike since the beginning of time. 
6:54 a.m.
From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk>
I've found that it's ridiculously cheap over
here to get a flat key made
if you just take the lock in to the right people; no need to have the
original key or even any kind of lock number.
I've yet to find anyone who can make (or even duplicate from original) a
tubular key though. (Which is annoying as it'd be nice to have a backup
for the steering wheel lock on my car! :)
I must have lucked out. I had no trouble getting my DEC tubular keys
duplicated at the local place (which is pretty big, as it happens).
I thought everyone used BIC pens as the backup for those steering wheel
locks :-).
Vince
6 Mar
6 Mar
6:49 p.m.
Scott Stevens wrote:
(to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it is
'damaging' to the
credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is disabled or replaced?
Are there sources for the keys? My ancient RS/6000 has the lock
'sprung' so that any screwdriver will turn it. My SparcServer 1000 has
the lock intact (and I have the key).
I don't know about credentials, but the aesthetics are certainly
diminished in my eyes. And if it's a choice of having an intact
ornament and a looted, running system, I'll drill it or spring it ina
heartbeat.
I have keys to all my RS/6000s, and my SS1000 is drilled out. ;)
Doc
7:27 p.m.
On Mar 6, 2005, at 6:49 PM, Doc Shipley wrote:
Scott Stevens wrote:
Yes, I have an Alpha desktop that has no key, but supposedly there is a
way to open the case with a screwdriver and some patience... I would
love to open it and add more RAM, that was I can run SVR4 from
DEC/Compaq on it.
Mark
(to bring this back on-topic) Do people feel it
is 'damaging' to the
credentials of a classic machine if the keylock is disabled or
replaced?
Are there sources for the keys? My ancient RS/6000 has the lock
'sprung' so that any screwdriver will turn it. My SparcServer 1000
has
the lock intact (and I have the key).
I don't know about credentials, but the aesthetics are certainly
diminished in my eyes. And if it's a choice of having an intact
ornament and a looted, running system, I'll drill it or spring it ina
heartbeat.
I have keys to all my RS/6000s, and my SS1000 is drilled out. ;)
7231
days inactive
7233
days old
9 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
chenmel＠earthlink.net -
doc＠mdrconsult.com -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
gordon＠gjcp.net -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
medavidson＠mac.com -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
Saquinn624＠aol.com -
vrs＠msn.com