Fitness Racer: PC Control of an RC Car

An anonymous reader writes "This project gives step-by-step instructions + source for connecting a cheap RC car to your parallel port and driving it around with a Dance Dance Revolution pad (or joystick). A fun way to make an old toy fun for another few hours, and another way to pretend that reading Slashdot may eventually lead to body movement."

and yet more ways..

[joeldg]

and yet more ways to waste time..

somehow I remember time being at a premium..

seems a long time ago now..

time to get me an RC car..

Fun for another few hours?

[Anonymous Coward]

driving it around with a Dance Dance Revolution pad (or joystick). A fun way to make an old toy fun for another few hours

This is Slashdot! The first coronaries will start after about 20 minutes.

or a joystick?

[wankledot]

OR a joystick?

Am I the only person that thinks controlling an R/C car with a DDR pad is retarded?

"You can drive this car with a wheel and pedals... OR you can control it using this jar of peanut butter and a hockey puck, wired to this monkey. "

What ?

[Jesrad]

another way to pretend that reading Slashdot may eventually lead to body movement.

All this scrolling and clicking and typing is a lot of movement for me already, you insensitive clod !

Fat parallel cable

[3Suns]

connecting a cheap RC car to your parallel port

Haha, I had a picture in my head of someone trying to drive round a little car with one of those awful, fat, stiff printer cables attached to the back. Silly me.

Well it would, but

[JemalCole]

. . . and another way to pretend that reading Slashdot may eventually lead to body movement.

Well, it would if the editors would accept more of my Natalie Portman stories, it would.

That's Nothing!

[speedfreak_5]

Try playing Gran Turismo 3 with Dance Dance Revolution pads. Against a drunk person, with said DDR pad.

Fun times, fun times.

Bug Notice-

[wo1verin3]

Version Number: V1.0
Revision Date: 10-21-2003
Patch(es) Replaced: None
Caveats: None
CVE Number(s): CAN-2003-4751

Tested Software:
Affected Software:
* Microsoft Windows 2000, Service Pack 2
* Microsoft Windows 2000, Service Pack 3, Service Pack 4
* Microsoft Windows XP Gold, Service Pack 1
* Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition
* Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003
* Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Software Not Affected:
* Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
* Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition
* Linux - All

Untested Software:
* SCO - No One Uses It So We Couldn't Test

Technical Description:
A security vulnerability exists in the Remote Control Service that could allow arbitrary code execution on an affected system. The vulnerability results because the Messenger Service does not properly validate the length of a message before passing it to the allocated buffer.

An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could be easily drive remote controlled cars in to grandmothers or small children. This has been seen in the wild but has been limited to chasing cats.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

taking the idea further

[fikx]

I've always wanted to replace the normal RC signal with WiFi. I can picture the robot battle craze moving to a standardized battle field where the people battling sit down at a standardized terminal and control RC mechs to fight with. using WiFi, you could build your own mechs as long as they could be controlled via WiFi. the battle field just has a wireless cloud over it. 'course, there's always the cool factor of having to log into and secure your mech before battle :)

Re:That's Nothing!

[AndyChrist]

I once played Street Fighter 2 on the SNES against myself, hands vs. feet. My feet actually did pretty well.

An even better idea!

[Hershmire]

Instead of a DDR pad, use a wireless joypad. Then you can follow the car around!

Wait...

It's a Visual C++ binary with no source code?

[aphor]

This software will probably scrape your hard drive for email addresses and then spam them with your return address, install a DDoS slave and invoke the return of Zuul, Queen of Gozer.

Seriously, you have to download and install the program, then *two* drivers, and tell me (wise ones) you're not nervous about this?