Conversation
arihi 
arh@blackstar.cafe
hardware wizards of fedi, i have a question
on my old laptop, the 'p' key stopped working. not just the keycap itself, but the underlying key. even if i rip off the keycap and press on the rubber part, it never types anything. other keys work, more or less, at least they type.
this would be ok because i use the old laptop mostly as a server, but now it's bad because it's currently turned off and the luks password, the user password and root password all contain 'p' somewhere in them.
if i had graphics, i could copy a 'p' from somewhere and paste it. but i don't, the first password prompt (disk decryption) is in the ramdisk phase and the second (user login) is from a terminal, not a graphical display manager. as far as i know i don't have copying abilities in any of them.
does anyone know of a way of inputting a character at least once without physically pressing the key? i cannot unlock the disk; i cannot login; i cannot chroot because that requires unlocking the disk. there is no sshd running, i start services manually after booting up.
i know i can probably get a usb keyboard and plug it in and use that, but i don't really want to buy stuff unless i have to. is there any obscure and creative way of having a 'p' without the 'p' key?
on my old laptop, the 'p' key stopped working. not just the keycap itself, but the underlying key. even if i rip off the keycap and press on the rubber part, it never types anything. other keys work, more or less, at least they type.
this would be ok because i use the old laptop mostly as a server, but now it's bad because it's currently turned off and the luks password, the user password and root password all contain 'p' somewhere in them.
if i had graphics, i could copy a 'p' from somewhere and paste it. but i don't, the first password prompt (disk decryption) is in the ramdisk phase and the second (user login) is from a terminal, not a graphical display manager. as far as i know i don't have copying abilities in any of them.
does anyone know of a way of inputting a character at least once without physically pressing the key? i cannot unlock the disk; i cannot login; i cannot chroot because that requires unlocking the disk. there is no sshd running, i start services manually after booting up.
i know i can probably get a usb keyboard and plug it in and use that, but i don't really want to buy stuff unless i have to. is there any obscure and creative way of having a 'p' without the 'p' key?
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gatita con frijoles 
coolbean@brain.worm.pink
@arh hm. this is usually what one would use a serial connection for, i think
problem of course being that laptops dont have those anymore
this is.... a problem
problem of course being that laptops dont have those anymore
this is.... a problem
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@nagirin i have telepathy but that has 'p' in it so it won't work
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@arh find adjacent row/column on the keyboard connector, short the pins corresponding to the p key
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@arh if you feel like you might want supervision while doing this so you dont accidentally mess something up, i'm happy to help
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@robot i think i'll first try the live usb suggestion from earlier in the thread before trying it at the hardware (i am bad at hardware), but thanks!
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@arh no problem, i used to do this with whatever metall pointy ish thing (i've used hairpins, paperclips, twist ties, screwdriver, bigger screwdriver, random piece of wire, etc) i could find to get my chromebook to power on back in the day (same thing that happened to your p key happened to my power key), if you do end up needing help tho, feel free to reach out!
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