Ultimate crash-proofing idea

davidbrit2

davidbrit2

Licensed Computer Geek
I just had a great idea that I emailed to Apple. Let me know what you think of this kind of setup. The text of the message is as follows:

Ever since Macsbug went the way of cooperative multitasking, the interrupt button on the front of my G4 has been getting little use. I've got a fantastic idea that would make it an unbelievable tool to most any user. Here's how it goes:
Make the Darwin kernel in OS X trap presses of the interrupt button. When it detects that it has ben pressed, have the kernel forcibly kill all user processes, then kill and relaunch the gui. The user would be presented with a new login window in a mere fraction of the time required for a reboot. This would be very practical in situations where a badly written program sends the entire GUI into a horrible lockup. Having a "bail out" button like this would be one heck of a crash-proofing provision, and it would make a nice marketing point, too. I can almost see the commercial now... :)

Hopefully this would be technically possible, because it would be unbelievably cool.
 
SOUNDS GREAT :D
I have the interrupt/programmers button on my G3 (blue and white) and I have only used it once when I upgraded my firmware. Can anyone clue me in in what else I can do with it since it hasnt been receiving any action latelly :D

I have never used macbugs lol, (although I probably should cause my OS 9, where I spend most of my time, crashes at least 3 times a week due to the overload I have in programs and what I tell em to do lol :p. )



Admiral
 
You know, I had the same idea after my keybord and mouse stoped resonding (which happens every once in a while). Since the programers key doesnt work under X, they shoudl just make it a "reset all sleeping prosseses" key (or something of that nature), and if it is pressed 3 times, it will just take u to a console or something. I dunno, maby apple could figure out something better.
 
Sounds like a great idea. I would modify it to have options such as relaunching all of the unresponsive processes or daemons being run by root, etc.
 
That could be handy, too, especially if you have someone doing naughty things to your web server, and want to stop them immediately.
 
Just make a shell script that dials an external modem, which has been modified to just transmit the computer's audio output over the line. Have it call the local pizza place, and play a prerecorded message with an order and address. Put the script in cron.hourly...
 
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