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I get a network error on the original Vance Haemmerle’s 1997 VAXBar website, but in any case, converting an old DEC VAX into a bar is awesome to mine eyes.

I found a reference here.

Dushnock

Another way to crack HARESâ(TM) encryption, says Torrey, would be to take advantage of a debugging feature in some chips... But taking advantage of that feature requires a five-figure-priced JTAG debugger, not a device most reverse engineers tend to have lying around."

Lol, five-figures...some "security researcher." Guess he's never been to DEFCON or Black Hat or ShmooCON...or ever even Googled "JTAG."

JTAGulators are $144
http://parallax.com/product/32115

More info - http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/jtagulator/

The article lacks the detail to replicate this guy's code

That's what you get for reading the press release... Here is the original site; here is the code.

The article lacks the detail to replicate this guy's code

That's what you get for reading the press release... Here is the original site; here is the code.

Cool? I dunno, it's pretty simple really. Here's the C source code for the hack. Basically he's just programming a smart card with a value of $999.99, and then asking the meter for the password, which it seems more than happy to provide for some reason.

IOW, the meters are simply using security through obscurity, which is the same as no security at all.

Because wrap-around screens would be really cool for games, if nothing else. I would like to see a "dry" version of what the ProtoType This guys did in their virtual sea adventure episode. A hemispherical screen (minus the projector of course) would be awesome.

Your idea of using surplus is only good is you have whatever said surplus already laying around. I don't happen to have any of the old parts you mention (gameboys, zip drives, scanner, etc.) lying around, or you have a large enough surplus supply (electronic goldmine, ocean state electronics, ebay but prices get whacked quickly) on the market.

Experimenting with cheap 8-bit microcontrollers such as Microchip's PIC or Atmel's AVRs is quite cheap, and typically all you need is a chip and one (really cheap if want) device - a programmer to transfer the (binary/hex) programs from your PC to the microcontroller's flash memory.

You will quickly outgrow Radio Shack unless you need a part right now and you don't have the right one in your own stock pile, often referred to as a "junk box" regardless of actual physical size. You should be getting the free catalogs (or CDs) from Digikey, Mouser, Newark, and Jameco. These all have usable online ordering systems and reasonable minimum order & shipping fees. UK geeks check G3SEK's UK Component and Tool Suppliers web page.

Many useful projects can be made for less than $100 even if you need to buy all the parts. After you build a collection of common parts (common resistors, capacitor values, PIC 16F628, AVR AT90S2313, red & green LEDs, 2N2222A, 2N3904, 2N3906, 2N4401, 2N4403, 2N4416, 4N25, 1N4148, 1N4001, 1N4007, etc.) and tools this cost will go down.

The real question is do they assume a general audience or do they assume a "knowledgeable user" is their target market? If the stuff is purely "cookbook" & kit building (AmQRP kits as an example) with little or no encouragement (and knowledge transfer) for the average Make reader to explore and expand it won't survive IMHO. BTW AmQRP kits on their own are pretty limited at expanding your knowledge, but combined with the AMQRP Homebrewer magazine and Conference Proceedings they do teach a lot. There is also the QRP-L mailing list which is very useful for technical questions (and has a rich archive)

I think it should be what Nuts and Volts magazine tries to be, but without the "legacy" dead weight and filler articles. A gentler introduction to most of the Circuit Cellar type stuff.

If people think this will recreate the Homebrew Computer Club, I expect they will be mistaken, but if you expect it to awaken the curiousity and encourage youth to learn about electronics, then I hope it is a brillent success.

In the end, I am curious and not quite sure what to expect of Make. It could be really lame if all it ends up being is computer geeks pretending to be electronic engineers (or electronic hobbyists). I hope that at least 10% of it expands what I know, which is more than I can say of books like Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks (O'Reilly) and Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty. I am more interested in reading stuff like Hacking the Xbox (An Introduction to Reverse Engineering) by Andrew "bunnie" Huang which starts simple but gets into FPGAs and reverse engineering.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Thanks to Blaine for the no-nonsense review. It's nice to hear people's thoughts without being sugar-coated.

For what it's worth, the full title of the book is "Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty".

As for the real mindset of a (hardware) hacker, true, that cannot be taught. But, it doesn't mean that more mainstream readers are not curious about tinkering with hardware. Getting people to think outside of what they are normally taught is the important thing and hopefully they'll benefit from the book.

I wanted to try and include something for everybody in this book. So, the introductory EE, coding, and OS chapters are for people who might not have a sense of those things (to tell you the truth, I use the EE chapter, which I wrote, as a reference guide all the time). The hacks range from easy (changing the LED in a Macintosh mouse or Atari 7800 Power indicator) to complex (Marcus Brown's Playstation 2 Independence Day hack). And, there's a wide range of hardware to play with, too.

I'd like to think there is something for everyone (well, almost everyone). You don't have to have extreme hardware skills or have an engineering degree to enjoy the book and rip your products apart. The worst you can do is break something, but that's part of the fun! :)

Joe

PS - PDFs of the TOC, Foreword, and Introduction can be found here.