Does anyone have or ever seen anything like this. take an electronics keypad like this: linky and have a little code that you could maybe punch into it in order to start your computer. i know something like this may take a lot of work to do like a little bit of programming maybe but it could definately be cool. esp. in a situation like dorms, apts with roomates and the such. If this is possible i plan on doing it for my next mod which to hint it will be codenamed D.O.D (dept of def. themed) A completly custom case, all stealth drives, HDD mods done, and a very all around hitech look to it.
i think those thingies send a short electronic signal to open or unlock, or whatever they do. so it could theorhetically be wired directly to teh mobo pwrswtch headers. no programming necessary. or get an external laptop keypad and use that, just hook it to ps2 and set bios to boot on input from that, only problem would be it is not secure only functional.
what do you mean it wouldnt be secure? could you not set it so that you have to enter in a sequence or numbers or just a few in order to activate the power? that sounds secure to me as only one person would know it. right?
no using the keypad you duggested would be secure, i offered a second idea to use an external laptop keypad (you know its just the number pad on a ps2 cable) this would let you mount it in the casem and enable boot on kboard input.
http://www.rautermods.net/index.php?p=codelock a lesser known (but still very capable) modder Rauter did this a while back.. He uses the keypad to unlock the cabinet the computer sits in, the same can be applied to powering the computer tho. Give the article a read
wow... such speculation. the keypad that Arkuden does not have a built in driver. it is a regualr old matix keypad. splinter_cell -- it does not send out any electrical impulses at all. it is just a plain keypad. if you wanted to use it to turn on your computer, or do anyting else, you would need to build a driver circut. the guy at rauter bought a kit with the driver included. you can also program your own controler with a PIC16F84 or similar microprosseser. if you think this is beond you, i would just get a PS2 kepad and use it to type in a bios password. if you are intrested in the circut i mentioned, let me know.