Aslanna wrote: ↑October 5, 2022, 7:55 pm
Stolen from another thread...
/nerdvoice Actually.. The 1541 was a floppy drive not a hard drive!
As far as old hardware goes for some reason I have started to collect old Commodore computers. No idea why. So far I have a C64, C64C, C128, C128D, and a Commodore plus/4. I've also been assembling an Amiga 1200 although I have a few more components to go. I think I'm pretty much done spending money on that collection though. An SX64 would be neat but I can do without it.
Also I have most of my old PC hardware so I tried getting my AMD 386/40 (suck it, Intel!) with a massive 4MB RAM running again. I was able to do so but I was not able to install OS/2 on there like I had done originally as it kept hanging up during the install. Before OS/2 I was running QEMM/DesqView but I didn't feel like going back that far as I don't even have DesqView any longer but I do have my OS/2 disks.
I did eventually set up a Pentium 2 on a
Tyan Tsunami motherboard running OS/2. Pentium 2.. With the CPU on a card! Who remembers that failed experiment? Or even Tyan? I think they may still be around but they might only be doing enterprise hardware at this point.
My bad, 1541 definitely was a floppy drive! I'm about to go a little off topic but still nostalgic! I do remember OS/2!
That's cool about collecting old commodore hardware. At some point back in college my my mom asked me if she could sell my c-64 and it's peripherals (along with a ton of pirated games/software!), she sold it in a thift shop or something. Next to my comic collection I sold in the mid 80's that would now be worth around $100K I regret that for nostalgia purposes. The only old hardware I have is my original Mac Plus 9 inch screen I got in 1987 and it's (at the time) $500 40MB external drive. I used it in college but hated it. It was horrible for porn. C-64 was even worse but did have some out there on the BBSs.
Things changed in early 1990's (cant remember exact timeline) when I switched to PC 486, and then Pentiums, etc. I also knew enough to not use AOL from my old BBS Pirating/Phreaking days with the C-64 and used Netcom which had "true" internet access as opposed to AOL's tailored service. It's the same service Kevin Mitnick used during his hacking spree. It also gained me access to the usenet and I download my first high res porn picture which took like 20-30 mins to download one picture but was amazing quality (probably 320 res or something lol)
By the time EverQuest rolled around I moved to a location that had the new Cox cable internet service, it was just in time for the 1999 EQ Beta 3 and 4 tests.
As for PCs and other hardware, I'm most proud of the earlier days when hacking/pirating was fun and challenging. I hacked everything I could.
C-64
I can't remember what inspired my father to buy me and my brother a C-64/Tape Drive, Monitor and then shortly later a 1541 Floppy Drive. It changed my life and while not expensive, it wasn't "cheap" just to do that back then on a whim. I'm thinking I may have asked for it after seeing Wizardy (or a game similar to it) on my brothers friend's computer which was an Apple I think. We were all into D&D back then and seeing the little sprites going through dungeons was amazing. I was already pretty introverted reading comics/fantasy novels etc but after getting the C-64 became more so. I'm very good at being social and was voted "most friendly" in high school but that was just because I know how to be social, not because I wanted to be. It took me a long time to figure out that all that social stuff wasn't important. Anyway, my brother didn't have much interest in computers so it became mine.
In the early days It was phreaking with sprint/metro codes to call long distance for free so I could access Bulletin Board Systems. While not "hacking" It was also fun to hex edit C-64 games to put my Pirate BBS phone number in the game intro. Working with the old BBS software was great. My BBS CPU Headquarters (Central Pirating Unit) ran late at night on my land line where others could upload/download games and software. Back then, you had to pack up all your stuff, computer/monitor/floppy drive and haul it over then clone disks etc. Earlier in 1983 in school I became friends with the class president that was also into C-64 stuff and he introduced me to quite a bit on the software side of things like cloning software, hex editors, bbs software etc.
Also notable on the C-64 I've probably mentioned elsewhere on the forum, I met my first girlfriend in high school (before I left for Switzerland my Senior year) indirectly through the BBS. I met a guy via a BBS that was from across town, had just gotten my driver's license so after he and his girlfriend visited my home to trade software (I know right, what's with these computer nerds having girlfriends, kinda breaks the stereotype!) I visited his home and my future girlfriend was there at the small party. That friend (an actual genius) also introduced me to programming and I wrote my first programs. The one I was proud of was a D&D character generator program that you could create your D&D characters with random rolls and various options and settings. I didnt stick with programming though.
My great computer/girlfriend life was quickly disrupted when my father got a job in Sardinia Italy and I had to head off to a private school in Switzerland which was a blast but I lost a truly great girlfriend in the process and also was jolted away from computers for a full year.
Returning a year later in 1986, I resumed my BBS/Pirating. I also briefly had a part time college job at a B.Dalton Software Etc, store in the local Mall. As part of my perks, I was able to check out any piece of software I wanted and we'd just shrink wrap it up to sell after brought back (was legit process actually back then) but of course, I would copy the software at home so I had access to pretty much any c-64 software/games I wanted.
After deciding to switch schools to Arizona State University in 1988 I picked up the Mac Plus (before I was using the C-64 for some school work) As previously mentioned, I wasn't a fan of the Mac and got an early Amiga model for awhile for gaming. I also briefly worked at the Software counter at the ASU bookstore and was able to access PC/MAC apps for awhile. My job was to help faculty and students with their software needs and also did some desktop publishing for store Ads etc. I think I used Quark Express back then. I just looked, that software is still around.
Cable Box
Not sure if this really counts but I also had hacked cable boxes in the early days that unscrambled all the channels.
Consoles and DirectTV
Sometime in the 90's when DirecTV was available, I really wanted it. I lived in an apartment and no way to actually put the dish outside so I found a window facing the right direction and set the dish up inside (yes it works behind glass). Back then you had to have a land line for DirecTV so they could be sure they knew your location (also needed for NFL Ticket blackout restrictions etc late) I bought an emulator card from Canada that allows you to either directly emulate a DirecTV access card or program the asic chip on an existing DirecTV card. The early security wasn't great with DirecTV and initially I would just download software to my PC then use the emulator to hack the DirecTV card giving me full access to every channel on the service. Every once in awhile they'd send a "bullet" that would knock out the hacked cards but initially you could just reprogram them with updates. Later they could brick your card so that's when I had to directly use the emulator attached by wires to my PC and insert it directly into the DirecTV box and emulate the access card completely so nothing could be bricked. Fun times.
I hacked the PS2, original Xbox, Xbox 360, and PS3. Xbox was the most fun because it was most PC like OS. PS2 was mostly just to play pirated downloaded games, you'd stick a DVD in it to program it then swap it out for the pirated game. Not much fun there. The Xbox you could customize and add music players etc. Xbox 360 was challenging for my version I had to cross wires, short circuit the DVD player to force the updates etc.
Thinking back on my PC history. While I did enjoy some early games, I think the most fun for me was challenging myself to figure out how I could hack/pirate something. I remember using a war dialer in the early days (called phone numbers all night searching for the screeching BBS tones) and found a law firm BBS that I was able to log into. I never had any bad intentions, it was just cool to be able to do it. In the early PC days, it was was more challenging to get pirated games and software using FTPs and people setting up folders in cryptic locations inside trash bins etc, that would only last until the sysop discovered them on whatever company's server they were on. Nowadays you can get everything under the sun, games, movies, TV shows apps etc for free with a little work or super fast and easy if you know the right file sharing service to sub to.
I suppose the bottom line is I'd rather spend hours and hours figuring out how to get something, possibly even paying more than it is that I'm trying to access, because the "fun" part is the challenge, not the end result.
I've built my own PCs since the start of EverQuest. Proudest thing I've done in the repair category was fixing my own Samsung TV soldering and replacing some capacitors. I had a long post about that on VV about that back then that may or not exist anymore.
The Mentality of a hacker written in 1986 was perfect for the exact time I was growing up and doing these things.
Code: Select all
\/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/
by
+++The Mentor+++
Written on January 8, 1986
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
Damn kids. They're all alike.
But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.
I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.
I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...
Or feels threatened by me...
Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.
And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...
You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.
This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.
Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.
I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.
+++The Mentor+++
The movie Hackers from 1995 will remain my favorite movie even if it is corny because it brings back so many memories.
. I definitely need to sell one of the other 2 500s I have but I will swap the keyboard as the 500+ I got on eBay came with a UK keyboard. And that's just weird. Not sure how much I can get for an NTSC 500 with a UK keyboard though but hopefully a couple hundred. It works fine!
