The Linux Kernel can Kill Your PC-Speaker
This isn't exactly news, it's been that way since at least 2007. Interestingly, the question "Is it possible to write a kernel module which, when loaded, will blow the PC speaker?" has been asked regularly on June 12th for more than a decade.
The LKML Archive on lore.kernel.org shows that a character under the pseudonym "R.F. Burns" has been asking that question on June 12th every few years for years and years going all the back to 2007. "R.F. Burns" did, of course, ask it again this year.
Theodore Ts'o, creator of /dev/random/ and related kernel code, had this to say about this question:
"Yes; in fact, it's already been done. See sound/drivers/pcsp/ in the Linux kernel sources."
Theodore Ts'o offered no details as to exactly how one would go about using the standard PC-speaker driver to blow it. Perhaps "R.F. Burns" will get a more detailed answer next year?
published 2019-06-15 - last edited 2019-06-17
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