Post #1494192

2026-04-19 03:06 UTC

one of these popped up for $25 and I&#39;ve been wanting one for years so I had to do it this is a Dallas Semiconductor ibutton which they have affixed to a ring, they were supposed to be highly durable and potentially purvasive hardware authentication tokens. Par for the course for sun they feature an actual jvm which run applets with can crypographically authentice you. It has many hardware features- a battery, which provides an rtc to prevent backdating authentication fames. They&#39;re designed to last ten years on a keychain, they&#39;re tamper evident if opened and if you open them anyway a microswitch zeroes out the keys. They also zero out on extreme temperatures and unusual voltage conditions. The ibuttons are still made though no one ever like made them work as a login token for linux or whatever, so you&#39;re more likely to find one being used as a key for a safe or a forklift.

Replies (25)

@penny@eldritch.cafe 2026-04-19 03:58

http://nug.only9fans.com/penny/ibutton made a post about it but it's mostly just a redux of this status

Open ##2114894
@attoparsec@clacks.link 2026-04-19 03:22

@penny Oh, I was SO into these things when they came out! Digital signet rings!

Open ##2114895
@irick@this.mouse.rocks 2026-04-19 03:25

@penny Gods Sun was so cool. Why can't we have Sun and SGI back? Why did we get stuck with Apple and Oracle and IBM still not being dead? This sucks, I want a refund. ... Anyway :3 That's such a cool little piece of computing history. I adore how very sun that is. 1wire/iButton was such a better choice than the funny smart card interface for this application IMO, but, lo and behold they backed the wrong horse. Oh well. At least they got used for laser tag!

Open ##2114896
@yyj1983@fans.fans 2026-04-19 03:52

@penny 很棒👍🏻

Open ##2114907
@DenOfEarth@mas.to 2026-04-19 12:13

@penny I still have mine from the era (or I should say the Epoch). It was a gift from a buddy at the Sun booth in a trade show we were both presenting separately. I was at a consulting firm booth flogging a firewall solution running on Sun hardware and sending folks to his booth after my spiel.

Open ##2114908
@n0bml@mastodon.radio 2026-04-19 22:08

@penny I used to have one of these. My job involved writing software for these Dallas Software devices and we were given them as part of a promotion when they came out. I wonder were it is now.

Open ##2114919
@nblr@chaos.social 2026-04-20 09:47

@penny Sadly it contains a battery. So the usefulness is limited to its flash.

Open ##2114920
@steely_glint@chaos.social 2026-04-20 10:15

@penny I got given one of those at JavaOne. Bizarrely it got stolen (presumably by the office cleaner) - so someone in the Manchester underworld was probably a bit disappointed!

Open ##2114925
@grumpydad@infosec.exchange 2026-04-20 10:41

@penny Interesting. How would you change out the battery on one of these critters without zeroing out the keys?

Open ##2114926
@anaerin@kind.social 2026-04-21 05:41

@penny I have seen these used to authenticate staff at a POS kiosk, especially in bars and restaurants.

Open ##2114932
@ireneista@adhd.irenes.space 2026-04-21 05:42

@penny nice!!!! we saw a couple of those back in the day

Open ##2114933
@f4grx@chaos.social 2026-04-21 05:44

@penny iButtons are still made, but they're just a 1-wire EEPROM with an occasional temperature sensor, the cool JAVA iButtons are not made anymore I think. I got so many free samples from Dallas, but I never managed to get a java one.

Open ##2114934
@Frantasaur@mastodon.ie 2026-04-21 06:01

@penny why does this remind me of Spaceballs?

Open ##2114935
@mikro2nd@indieweb.social 2026-04-21 06:22

@penny Still have my Java ring. If anyone wants it, hmu.

Open ##2114936
@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-21 06:26

@penny how do you program it?

Open ##2114937
@Atreyu@jorts.horse 2026-04-21 06:31

@penny I remember seeing one of these new, on the finger of a friend who worked for Sun. It's just as chonky now as it was then. stil a cool idea tho :)

Open ##2114938
@nikcorg@mastodon.social 2026-04-21 07:22

@penny I recently saw a hashtag #WeirdOldTech which this could fit under, maybe. I'd never heard of a JVM signet ring before. Really cool, but also weird. Thanks for sharing. Source: https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/116398629401364698

Open ##2114939
@dijumx@mstdn.social 2026-04-21 09:18

@penny my local shop has an iButton based login for staff on the self-service checkouts.

Open ##2114941
@gudenau@hachyderm.io 2026-04-21 12:12

@penny I should setup some eBay searches for this, one of the few rings I actually want.

Open ##2114942
@monstercollie@blimps.xyz 2026-04-21 16:37

@penny OMG IT'S A DECODER RING but for real!!!!!

Open ##2114943
@LilFluff@mastodon.art 2026-04-21 23:28

@penny oh! I remember reading the announcement for these. Always kind of vaguely wanted one.

Open ##2114945
@willasaywhat@infosec.exchange 2026-04-22 14:15

@penny one ring to bind them, and in the garbage collector find them hehehe this is awesome

Open ##2114946
@helle@tacobelllabs.net 2026-04-23 15:09

@penny I have wanted one of those since forever. I should really try and see if they are on eBay again. But well, erm, I guess not, budget is real. But they have always fascinated me and I have been annoyed they have never been produced since that initial run. I discovered their existence many years later sadly. — Violet

Open ##2114948
@quixoticgeek@social.v.st 2026-04-23 15:42

@penny I've seen them a lot for authentication of staff to a till at POS. Often in bars/restaurants. It's a nice idea tho.

Open ##2114949
@pixel@oldbytes.space 2026-04-23 15:44

@penny I never had the ring, but I did have a dozen of these things in keychain fobs!

Open ##2114950