Hacking for beginners_A hacking guide for beginners

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!)