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3COM's Ergo Audrey Hacked
It looks like the 3COM Ergo Audrey hacking scene is finally taking off. A guy named Sowbug has hacked the 3COM Ergo Audrey to shell. He has pictures of it here(1) and here(2). Another site has opened to cover this hack, here(3). And of course the Linux Hacker messageboards are covering it quite a bit.
Remember back in the days when we could freely modify systems on the completely undubious grounds that we owned them? Chips could be slipped into playstations, Ms. Pac Man tables could be overclocked, and freaks could weld together Wonderswans and GBA's to the amusement of the world.
From what I've seen of this trick NONE of it falls under the DMCA: no encryption/decryption involved. It can be argued, probably successfully, that getting an image of the software that runs the system is copyright violation. However, estimating the value of the code per copy at less than 100 dollars, a single copy under the non-profit copyright laws would be insufficient for jailtime. Of course, I could be remembering the statute incorrectly: it has been several months since I last looked at the law.
As for a licence... that's a civil matter. Thank goodness that so far no company has managed to convince congress that violation of a click-through or shrink-wrap agreement should result in incarceration.
Someday these companies will realize that what we want is to pay a fair price for a box that works on our terms. In the mean time, let's pay an absurdly undervalued price and hack away.
The ______ Agenda
I was on a search to figure out what an Audrey even was and found a discontinued notice on 3Com's site dated March 31. They say they discontinued all of their internet appliance line due to a lack of market.
Here is their End of Life Statement.
Here is their product page
Here is their Q and A page regarding the discontinuation.
After looking at the specs I doubt I would have bought one anyhow.
You lazy dweebs, check the links before you distribute your ignorance to the world. I swear, /. is a colossal stupidity amplifier.
As was widely reported (including here on Slashdot) Audrey ran QNX. So no, you wouldn't see any Linux in there. I was on the dev team for Audrey at 3Com, I've read the procedure described, and it would in fact work, he obtained a shell in a Photon pterm.
I'm pleased to see that people will get some use out of the hardware. We put a lot of work into the thing, it was highly depressing that 3Com was/is in such financial trouble that it was terminated before we got a chance to rev software and address many of the complaints people had about the product. (I personally would like to buy all of the available inventory on Ebay and shove them one by one sideways up 3Com's inept CEO Bruce Claflin's ass, a sentiment shared by many of the company's long-suffering shareholders - but I digress).
What is not widely known even within the product team was that there was an internal under-the-table project to run Linux on the Audrey almost from go. The big hang-up was getting X to run, and fit in the 16MB of flash in the Audrey. The main advantage to QNX was the availability of the Photon environment, which was a great deal lighter-weight than X with a toolkit.
Progresso Black Beans, eh? Yeah, someone's gonna get owned unless he takes some Pepto.
Got Rhinos?
Maybe it's just that the name isn't that familiar, but the idea of "hacking Audrey" has a certain creepy resonance to it... thinking of the people that I know named Audrey... hmmm...
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
Ya, but what's an Audrey?
Sounds like 3Com has learned the lesson of the I-Opener. Nothing is impossible to hack, but at least this one is hard.
what's with the dec '99 dates for /bin and /tmp?
he says that he purchased it on july 23rd. i think his directory creation dates look a little funny. maybe these *are* faked.
All you have to do is look at them. Look at the bar across the top, the way the text is rendered, etc. That's not native Audrey, it's a fake.
Got Rhinos?
The first thing I noticed was the beans also.
I feel the beans cast an air of suspicion over this whole thing.
Its like this guy is working on his computer but instead of drinking a Coke, he just eats a can of beans? That aint right.
here is how he said he did it... Before we complain about borders not lining up, someone who understands this should give us a fair evaluation of his methodology
Um, read his webpage.
He doesn't say anything about even trying to run linux on it. He's managed to get QNX to give him a regular shell prompt on it, and considers that useful. QNX aint a bad OS, so, sure, that's useful.
It's too fuzzy to make out what's on that title bar, but it would be perfectly normal for the QNX gui to put a title bar on a window, wouldn't it?
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
Looks exactly like a QNX RTP pterm (photon term) to me...and that's what in the audrey. The top font is the default text font for all QNX windows (unless otherwise specified by the application).
The dirlist looks good too.
not to mention the fact that when he did some digging he came with QNX employees on the names of some binaries...which I know for a fact work there, since I'm also a QNX employee (and work with some of the names mentioned). The rest of the info he's put together looks pretty good as well (as in accurate).
Maybe you should check out the QNX RTP before claiming that these are faked up shots...
Didn't *anybody* follow the first link? This page describes how he actually did it. The reason that it looks like it's running in an Audrey window is because IT IS. He got a shell, all right, NOT by porting Linux to Audrey, but by updating Audrey's flash so to add a QNX shell application on the flash card. He then booted the Audrey and ran the shell. That's what the screenshot is of.
Once again, not a fake.
That ain't Linux, that's Audrey.
check the site, he didn't install linux on it, he got a prompt on the native OS, which is QNX
I doubt these are faked considering the fact that there is a directory named after the internal 3COM name of the project. :) I guess he could have worked @ QNX or 3COM and been smart enough to add that in - but I doubt it. :)
........ "The faster I go, the behinder I get" - Lewis Carroll
Right, I *know* this is redundant but as this is the first Wrong comment to reach +3 I will explain.
He did not install linux on his machine. He is using QNX.
He has got a shell running in QNX. It is natural for an OS with a GUI to put a title bar on its windows, is it not?
He got the shell running by adding a new web-page to the CF card which holds the Audrey OS, which had a link when clicked on bought up the shell.
For the people discussing "smudges" and 0-pixel misalignments: get a life. For the people that did not read the article: get a life.
Feel that power? That's mah MOUSING FINGER
"INFAMOUS HACKER SOWBUG ARRESTED BY FBI"
Tuesday, August 7 - Newswire
Today the FBI arrested the infamous hacker
"sowbug" on a criminal complaint from 3com.
The FBI alleges that "sowbug" violated the DMCA
by reverse engineering 3com's "Audrey"
device.
A company spokesperson explained : "sowbug
violated the DMCA by bypassing our elaborate
security mechanisms to prevent unauthorized
access to the operating system. ingenuity
will not be tolerated. We intend to send a message
to the dangerous hacker community that using our
products in ways 3com never considered is totally
unacceptable."
Supporters of the DMCA are calling for the death
penalty, arguing "a mere 5 years imprisonment
is not a strong enough deterrent to free thinking
and research."
Ergo Audry? Sounds like a model you'd find at Real Doll.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I guess it's a good thing that Audrey runs QNX then, isn't it.
Oh my god! It doesn't look like Linux! It doesn't behave like Linux! Linux is the only OS in existance so these shots must be a fake!!!!
No entry for here in section 1 of the manual
$ man 2 here
No entry for here in section 2 of the manual
$ man 3 here
No entry for here in section 3 of the manual
What's up with enumerating your links?
A search for the audrey on the 3com site reveals that the product has been discontinued, and will no longer be supported see http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/consumer/au drey/finalfaq.pdf so pickem up cheap now well you can
-Beans
I've never understood the fascination with Internet Appliances. Couldn't you just use a cheap PC? It would do all the functions of an Internet Appliance, plus so much more.
I've never understood the fascination with climbing mountains. Couldn't you just do some other activities? They would have all the excietment of watching a movie about mountian climbing, plus be so much safer.
(because it's there)
There'll be no more talking to whos who are not.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.