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- So you wanna be a HACKER huh? <Bwahahaha!> It's a state-of-MIND!
- ..you can induce it - but only if you are willing to drive yourself
- mad enough! Go read and practice until you have mastered at least
- Assembly language and Intermediate Level Electronics! Without this
- foundation you'll be just another little geek, who might know the magic
- words to the spell but dosent understand what he's doing! So RTFM!
- ..so what does that mean? Read The Fucking Manual! You will be sooo
- amazed at how easy most things are if you just try to read the manual
- first! The truth is: Most people cant read. Or they read poorly if
- they read at all. So if you can't really read...STOP RIGHT HERE. GO
- learn to read first. If you can't read at a minimum 12th Grade level
- you cant be a hacker. Reading is the basic skill you must have to do
- EVERYTHING BEYOND THIS POINT.
-
- Tell your friends you cant party...you're busy. Spend at least 4
- hours a day at your new-found fascination...or decide right here
- and now that you cant cut it! If you CAN, get a copy of MINIX or
- LINUX...start learning about OPERATING SYSTEMS. Then start your
- 1st real hack...try building a computer-controlled, DTMF dialer
- card for your cheap PC...write the code to use it with, make it
- a TSR to keep life interesting...now port it to MINIX or whatever
- ...better yet, port it as an IOCTL call at kernel level! You keep
- reading...
-
- Now you're ready to take on something more complex - go to the
- Library, start a literature search; topic: Telephone Technologies.
- RTFM! Learm about the ancient cross-bar, the Pre-ESS systems, the
- fab MFTSS, the TELEX boxes and circuits...keep reading...buy up
- an older, cheap (like under $50) cellular phone...by this time
- you should already have a subscription to 'Nuts & Volts" as well
- as a few other grassroots technology pubs....buy a copy of the
- "Cellular Hacker's Bible"....start by doing something simple..
- ..disassemble and re-write the phone`s control ROM to allow it
- to function as an 800MHZ scanner...hopefully you've assembled
- a large array of tools and test gear by now. You've got a good
- dual-trace scope, some pc-based PROM burner, a signal generator,
- a logic probe or two, maybe even a microprocessor-emulator for
- the 5051, the Z80, the 68010 or something....you may have been
- dragged into some fields-afar by life - incorporate them: If
- somebody drasgged you into SCUBA, build your own sonar. If you
- have gotten interested in amateur radio, you can build a lot
- of swell stuff...I recommend you checkout Packet's AX25A level2
- protocol...very slick stuff! If your bud's are all into motors,
- take a whak at doing your own Performance PROMS for GM's F.I. and
- spark advance curves...or try adapting some Volkswagen/BOSCHE
- Kjetronics F.I. to a Harley Davidson!..maybe you're into music
- so you buy a synthesizer and learn all about electronic music,
- you start hacking analog modules and build a nicer synth than you
- could buy! Then you interface it to a MIDI port on a cheap 286AT
- and then hack up some sequencer software, or buy some and then
- disassemble it to fix all the bugs! You keep reading...
-
- By now most of your friends are also "far into the pudding", you
- have either gained 50 lbs or gone totally skinny...your skin tone
- is 2 shades lighter from being indoors so long...most of the opposite
- sex is either totally freaked by or with you - they either dig you,
- or they dont!...you're probably knocking on the door of what will
- be a $60K+/yr job as a systems analyst...and you are well-aware that
- 90% of the people in this world can't talk their way out of a badly
- cooked steak at the local eatery, let alone install a new motherboard
- in their PC! So you pick up some extra cash on doing shit like that
- for the straights...you keep reading, and RTFM'ing higher and higher,
- learning about networks...the VCR breaks down and your SO bitches
- about having to wait till monday to have it fixed...you fix it in
- about 40 minutes....the next day the clothes dryer starts to make
- squeeking noises like a 50' mouse, you've never fixed one before -
- but somehow it's not that difficult to open the bastard up and find
- the squeek and fix it...and suddenly it dawns on you that hacking
- code or hardware is pretty much the same! You keep reading...
-
- Congrats, you are now a real hacker. Absolutly nothing but a lack of
- time (or in some cases money) can stop you. You are a true Technologic
- Philosopher...you can function in places a mere Engineer or Scientist
- would truly FEAR TO TREAD! You can read better than Evelyn Wood, you
- have a collection of tools that would make a Master Machinist and a
- Prototype EE or ME cry. You can calculate series and parallel resonant
- circuits in your head. You can fix any consumer appliance - if you can
- get the parts. Your car has either become one of your main hacks or
- you'ver deligated the job to a mechanic who you have found to be a
- fellow hacker; and you work on his homebrew 68010 unix box...because
- you've got a 68010 emulator and he works on your car because that's
- the kind he specializes in! Maybe you trade services with people
- for 50% of what ordinary people have to BUY WITH CASH!...you keep
- reading...
-
- (this is the stage where the author now finds himself...16 years
- into a career at a Fortune 5 company and age 42...still reading...
- your mileage may vary! <-((that's my code too! I co-wrote VEEP,
- (vehicle-economy-emissions-program, a complete auto-simulator,
- written in Fortran-5 for the Univac 1108 system using punch-cards!)
- for the Ford Foundation and the DOT while at JPL in 1973)) )
-
-
- -Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY +----------------------------+
- TTI(es@soldev.tti.com)or: sorgatz@avatar.tti.com *Government produces NOTHING!*
- 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 +----------------------------+
- (OPINIONS EXPRESSED DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF CITICORP OR ITS MANAGEMENT!)
-
- .
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