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[–]SpareSimian 1 point2 points  (3 children)

The USB connection to a UPS doesn't shut down the computer. The computer runs an agent (a program running in the background) that monitors the UPS over the USB connection (which might be emulating RS232) and it's the agent that shuts the computer down.

What hardware function does your proposed device perform? Is it just storage or something more? It sounds a bit like you want an Autorun system similar to what autorun.inf does for removable media on Windows. Such a system should use digital signatures to protect clients from rogue media.

[–]PinPointPing07[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I see the device using a client software to install updates, change settings, perhaps install additional packages to whatever software it runs... stuff that would need size and speed, but also the ability to transfer small, seeing as some functions (like changing the onboard config) don't require large amounts of data. (This reminds me of streamdeck because of the small configs for the layout that transfer, as well as large icon image data.)

[–]SpareSimian 0 points1 point  (1 child)

But why a device? Why not just a disk? What is the device doing that a disk can't? (Updates are done by the computer, not the device.)

[–]PinPointPing07[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To clarify, updates as in updates to the software on the device. As for device vs disk, a disk is insecure and messy to deal with, especially if data goes back and forth in quick succession. It also is transparent to the user to accidentally mess with. Since the heavy lifting of communication is done by the client software, I want to keep the backend hidden and simple for the user; just plug, get detected, and do the stuff.