The devices tag has no wiki summary.
22
votes
2answers
4k views
Why does my computer go “New USB device” every time I plug one into a different port?
Let's say I have a mouse. I plug this mouse into slot 1 out of 4 on a computer. It goes through the new device detected and all of that, which is fine. But if I come back later with the same mouse and ...
20
votes
3answers
48k views
What is this dm-0 device?
While poking around trying to figure out why a Linux -> Linux file transfer is running slower than I think it should, I stumbled across something I'm not familiar with. /dev/dm-0 seems to be my ...
15
votes
2answers
15k views
What is /dev/mem?
Presumably it's somehow related to memory? What would
sudo cat /dev/urandom > /dev/mem
do? Trash all RAM? All non-kernel virtual memory? None of the above?
10
votes
3answers
395 views
Why does simple plug and play hardware sometimes include drivers?
I have about 7 devices (speakers, mouse, etc.) that are all USB. They all came with CD's containing drivers for it. My question is, why do they? All 7 of these devices have run just fine on every ...
10
votes
1answer
326 views
Linux - Creating Virtual Audio Device
My question here is rather simple. How does one create a purely virtual audio device in ALSA that would be capable of:
being used as an audio output destination,
being used as an audio input source, ...
9
votes
5answers
6k views
How much radiation do computers emit?
How much radiation do computers (PCs, laptops, etc.) emit? What precautions can users take to prevent/reduce the effects of this radiation?
9
votes
4answers
12k views
How can I find what /dev my DVD-drive is?
I'm on Mac OS X, have a DVD in the DVD-drive and can look at it in the Finder. I'd like to try to create an iso of it by using the dd command. But to do that I need to know what device to use as an ...
8
votes
4answers
562 views
What is this internet device?
I was watching YouTube videos of the very opinionated Chris Pirillo, recordings of his live show. He has a little internet device sitting between his two monitors. Here's an example video that shows ...
8
votes
1answer
802 views
difference between MDM certificate and APNS certificate
I am new to mobile device management(MDM).I want to configure my own MDM Server to support iOS devices for mobile device management.
I know that for this apple developer Enterprise account is ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
fdisk -l shows a partition is not in /dev directory
I am having troubles on mounting my ntfs hard drive on linux. I am running ophcrack live CD.
fdisk shows me the hard drive I have installed on my computer
fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hdc: 30.0 GB, ...
7
votes
5answers
32k views
Windows 7: Base System Device drivers missing
I re-installed Windows 7 and I currently have 2 Base System Devices with a yellow exclamation which means it's unrecognized and the drivers for it are missing.
Windows update has been unable to find ...
7
votes
2answers
7k views
Easy way to switch default sound output device
I want an easier way to change my default sound device from my sound card to my usb headset.
Currently it takes a very precise right click, a left click, another right click, and two more left ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
How does USB device recognition work?
I'm curious how USB device recognition works in Windows. I imagine it's something like this:
When you plug in a device, it tells Windows "here's my device ID to tell you what I am"
Windows looks to ...
6
votes
8answers
4k views
Force Vista to “forget” a USB device
I have a device (HTC Dream / G1 Android phone) that I want to set up with a specific driver. Unfortunately I have already previously installed the device with the default driver. Even after ...
6
votes
2answers
3k views
Any tips or tricks to hasten USB device detection and initialisation?
I reattach dozens of USB devices to my Windows 7 across the day, such as printers, flash drives, mice, modems, midi keyboards, and scanners. The computer has seen them all before / all have been set ...
6
votes
1answer
413 views
How to get a list of connected devices?
I'm experiencing a strange phenomenon. Every now and then (perhaps once per hour on average) my Win7 box emits the "Device connected" system sound (the one you get when you plug in a USB device) for ...
5
votes
6answers
571 views
Is file system part of operating system?
I was wondering if a file system on a storage device is part of OS?
I don't think it is. Instead it is part of the storage device, and exists outside of any OS although was created by an OS. Is my ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
Which static electricity prevention tools do actually work? [closed]
I need a device that would discharge static electricity from my body in order to safely work with electronics. I have looked and found some that interested me, but I don't know whether they work:
...
5
votes
4answers
791 views
Relation between device, device driver, device file and mounted point
How are devices, device drivers, device files and mounted points related in Linux (I am a beginning user of Ubuntu)?
My understanding about them is quite vague; I hope there will be some clear ...
5
votes
2answers
3k views
What's the best way to extend wifi over a wired network?
I've got primary router that handles the connection out to the internet, acts as a switch and broadcasts a fairly weak wifi signal. This is connected to a decent 200Mbps powerline adapter which comes ...
5
votes
2answers
719 views
How do Windows NT-based operating systems address devices?
I'm confused with notation like
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\...
and
\Device\HardDisk1\DR1
\Device\Video0
I see these addresses only in the context of Windows NT-based operating systems ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Good Digital Pen that Integrates with Microsoft OneNote
Does anyone know of a good digital pen product (like the Logitech IO2) that:
Can cleanly integrate with Microsoft OneNote
Works with regular paper (not expensive DPS paper)
Works with Windows 7 - ...
5
votes
1answer
319 views
Monitor hardware change events
I have a laptop that periodically notifies me that some piece of hardware was installed/removed by playing the little ba-dum sound. I have no idea what hardware is changing - I am not adding or ...
5
votes
6answers
4k views
Windows 8 constantly plays the Device Connect sound
On my PC, Windows 8 keeps playing the Device Connect sound (Windows Hardware Insert.wav) - a slightly discordant sequence of 3 notes. This is at least every 1-2 minutes, but can be up to every ten ...
4
votes
2answers
662 views
Is there a multichannel digital TV tuner? [closed]
Is there such thing as multichannel digital tuner?
I have a digital TV at home and I want to capture 10-11 channels. All tuners I've found support only once channel at a time. The only solution I ...
4
votes
2answers
177 views
Restrict device ownership to root only. But why?
NSA's Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 recommands restricting device ownership to root only.
So my question is why should we restrict device ownership to root? And ...
4
votes
3answers
65 views
Lost Router broadcasting a “Lost Network?”
So I'm working on a network at this house, and there's two wireless networks being broadcast, both by the last name of the owners implying it is in the house somewhere. The one router I'm staring at, ...
3
votes
4answers
3k views
Use a device over SSH?
I have 2 PCs with Ubuntu at home and a network link between them.
If I do
$ sshfs pc2root@192.168.0.2:/ /media/pc2
can I use a remote device as a local one? (in this case: /media/pc2/dev/sr0 as a ...
3
votes
2answers
161 views
Recommended devices upgradable with open-source firmware [closed]
Having bought a lot of tech stuff during these years, the best devices I've enjoyed the most are the ones upgradable with open-source firmwares.
To name some of these:
Two Xbox (first version) with ...
3
votes
2answers
61 views
On Linux, is devices order constant?
For example will sda2 be sda2 on every boot? What about NICs? Will eth0 always be the same card?
3
votes
2answers
97 views
How do internet services determine the device type?
I'm at my partner's lodgings at her university, and they use a proxy (I think, at least) running Ask4. I don't know the exact structure of their network, but it's likely to be some sort of proxy. The ...
3
votes
2answers
244 views
How is /dev/zero created and how can I make variants like /dev/one?
I read the mknod man page, which is (as far as I can tell) what you would use to make a character device like /dev/zero, but I don't see how you would get it to yield an infinite stream of zero bits ...
3
votes
3answers
324 views
How can I make a local USB audio device function as a “play-to” device supported by windows 8?
As a followup to this question:
How do I use different audio devices for different apps in Windows 8?
I can play music from the XBox Music app on a different computer or network speakers via the ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Are there any external CUDA devices?
I have a workstation with a recent graphics adapter: Nvidia Gefore FX3700. As I want to use that adapter for long running CUDA programms, it might be very useful not to run also my desktop graphics on ...
3
votes
1answer
171 views
Why obfuscating a serial number of a device? What is the risk?
In one of my xx.stackexchange questions I've got an answer, in which the user has obfuscated his disk's SN (serial number). Recently I have seen this in several photos as well, the SN was blurred out.
...
3
votes
1answer
3k views
Configure permissions for /dev/ttyUSB0
I'm trying to communicate with an Arduino from Ubuntu 12.04. When plugging in the USB cable, the arduino's serial port occurs as /dev/ttyUSB0. When I try to connect to it using moserial, I'm getting ...
3
votes
2answers
404 views
Does there exist commands to recognize devices?
Is there a command to initiate recognition of an USB device? How about a device that is connected by ethernet rj-45 or by serial port?
I've already tried Device Manager and anything else I could ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views
How to map host PCI device to virtualbox?
In a virtual box it is possible to map host's USB device.
But is it not possible to map host's PCI device to guest system?
How is it possible to connect (map) a PCI device to guest OS?
Our host ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views
Error: “The inf file you selected does not support this method of installation”
I'm asking this here because a Google search for this error string turns up poor results, so hopefully some people will post better answers here and Google will index it!
While trying to install this ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there an RSM replacement in Windows 7? (to eject USB and Firewire devices from command line)
I know Windows XP and previous had an rsm.exe file in the <root>\windows\system32 folder that could be used to manage media. I used this command in batch files and from the command line to eject ...
3
votes
0answers
168 views
Pre-installed barcode/qr readers on mobile devices [closed]
There's an idea within my company to put QR codes in some of our marketing literature, and I'm trying to find some stats (or specific device info) to help me make the decision.
My feeling is that, of ...
2
votes
3answers
257 views
Identifying devices on Linux
My Linux box has three devices, sda, sda1 and sda2. How can I find out what each one of these are? I'm running Ubuntu 9.04.
2
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I view a list of devices from the command line in Windows
I want to use the Windows command line to enumerate through devices connected to a computer and return information.
How do I do this?
Thanks
2
votes
3answers
3k views
Danger/Risk of Plugging USB Devices into Powered USB Ports
This question seems like it would have a logical answer, but I thought I’d ask to be safe.
As shown in the photo below, there exist externally-powered USB hubs (A) and USB power-adapters—like the ...
2
votes
2answers
49 views
Is it good to uninstall previous driver always before to install new version on Windows PC?
Is it good to uninstall previous driver always before to install new version on Windows PC?
I'm talking about any type of Driver.
2
votes
6answers
142 views
Synchronized Clipboard?
Evernote, Dropbox, Xmarks and what not. Many know these but is there a software that can synchronize clipboard between devices? For what you might be asking? Here is for what:
Sometimes I want URL ...
2
votes
2answers
160 views
3.5mm nub to insert into computer for easy mute?
I've always liked the fact that when you plug headphones into the headphone jack of my laptop, the laptop will not make a sound. For example, if I'm in a class and I need to restart my computer, I'll ...
2
votes
2answers
4k views
How can I remove multiple printers at once in Windows 7
Is there a way to remove multiple printers or devices at once?
In XP you can select multiple and hit 'delete', but I can't do that in win7. The only thing I can do is right-click and click "remove ...
2
votes
1answer
102 views
What exactly are device drivers and INFfiles?
I know that a device driver is a piece of software that enables the OS to communicate with a piece of hardware, but recently I've heard about INF files and have gotten quite confused. Some sources say ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
Which Windows 7 log file contains device connection/disconnection information?
Windows 7 frequently plays the usb/new device connection/disconnection sound. It happens both when the computer is idle and under load. All usb device connections have been checked (though I can't ...
