Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Joe Grand (Author), Ryan Russell (Author), Kevin Mitnick (Editor) (Author) "You'll need the right arsenal of hardware hacking tools to get the job done right..." (more)
Key Phrases: homebrew software, paddle controller, hardware hacking, Radio Shack, Red Hat, Net Monitor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"If I had this book 10 years ago, the FBI would never have found me!" -- Kevin Mitnick This book has something for everyone---from the beginner hobbyist with no electronics or coding experience to the self-proclaimed "gadget geek." Take an ordinary piece of equipment and turn it into a personal work of art. Build upon an existing idea to create something better. Have fun while voiding your warranty! Some of the hardware hacks in this book include:

* Don't toss your iPod away when the battery dies! Don't pay Apple the $99 to replace it! Install a new iPod battery yourself without Apple's "help".

* An Apple a day! Modify a standard Apple USB Mouse into a glowing UFO Mouse or build a FireWire terabyte hard drive and custom case.

* Have you played Atari today? Create an arcade-style Atari 5200 paddle controller for your favorite retro videogames or transform the Atari 2600 joystick into one that can be used by left-handed players.

* Modern game systems, too! Hack your PlayStation 2 to boot code from the memory card or modify your PlayStation 2 for homebrew game development.

* Videophiles unite! Design, build, and configure your own Windows- or Linux-based Home Theater PC.

* Ride the airwaves! Modify a wireless PCMCIA NIC to include an external antenna connector or load Linux onto your Access Point.

* Stick it to The Man! Remove the proprietary barcode encoding from your CueCat and turn it into a regular barcode reader.

* Hack your Palm! Upgrade the available RAM on your Palm m505 from 8MB to 16MB.

About the Author
Kevin Mitnick (Technical Editor) is the most famous computer hacker in the world. Since his first arrest in 1981, at age 17, he has spent nearly half his adult life either in prison or as a fugitive. He has been the subject of three books and his alleged 1982 hack into NORAD inspired the movie War Games. Since his plea-bargain release in 2000, he says he has reformed and is devoting his talents to helping computer security.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Syngress Publishing; 1st edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932266836
• ISBN-13: 978-1932266832
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #408,988 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars something for every hacker, March 1, 2004

By A Customer

While this book might not have helped Kevin Mitnick evade the FBI (contrary to the brazen front cover citation), it will help you to earn the respect of your techie and non-technical friends alike.

Hardware Hacking is an inspiring handbook of hardware modifications. It's pages are filled with step-by-step photos, labeled illustrations and reference material (there's even an intro-to-programming section in the back!) You'll learn how to change the battery in your IPOD (and save yourself the costly service charge), to get stereo sound from your old Atari 2600 and to upgrade the memory on your palm. It's a great repository of handy hardware projects for experimenters of all levels.

Chapter three (page 47), for instance, describes how to "declaw" a CueCat. For those in the know, a CueCat is a special barcode scanner Radio Shack used to give away (to motivate signing up for a paid-service.) Some time later, the CueCat company folded and hackers discovered how to modify the scanner to scan ordinary barcodes. I sent off a few emails to friends until I rounded up a couple old CueCats (eBay sells them for a couple of dollars.) A few cuts with an Exacto knife and a little soldering later, I was the proud owner of an unencrypted output barcode scanner. I then used Amazon's API to barcode enable the open-source software program OpenBiblio. Now, when I get a new book, I simply swipe the CueCat across the bar code and instantly OpenBiblio retrieves all of the book details such as the name, title, summary, author and even a photo of the cover. That information is then stored away nicely into a searchable database. It's been a great way to manage my growing library of books - all thanks to a hacked CueCat.

If you are interested in "going under the hood" of your electronic equipment, then this book might well be up your alley. It's light reading, and the explanations are very clear. Have fun hacking!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard core hacking, March 20, 2004

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The subtitle about voiding your warranty is only half joking, if even that. Most of the projects/hacks described will probably do just that.

To the tinkerer in you, perhaps the best allure of the book is the chance of serendipity. Surely some hacks will not be of interest, or not relevant to you. The latter may be in part because the authors provide hacks for a wide range of hardware; from a recent Playstation 2 to the venerable Atari 5200 (which dates from 1982) to 802.11 to an iPod and others. So if you lack an iPod, say, and have no intention of getting one, then the chapter on it may be purely theoretical. But the sheer range of hardware increases the odds that there will be somethings to pique your fancy.

The final chapter sticks out. It is not a hack but the modicum of programming. A minimal walkthrough to let you get the gist. But if you find that this chapter is new to you, perhaps you should either pick a hack that does not require it, or consult a programming book for more comprehensive coverage.

The 8 (!) authors and presumably you seem to be hardware fanatics.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very cool book if you've got the guts, April 22, 2004

By	ueberhund "ueberhund" (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews

The title explains it all: how to get your hardware to do things it wasn't designed to do. This is a really cool book, a very interesting read, and a primer in basic electronics. It covers topics as varied as how to install a bigger hard drive in your iPod, how to add more memory to your PalmPilot, and how to build your own media center PC. But the book gets into some really interesting modifications, like re-housing your old Macintosh into an entirely Lego case, updating the audio and video outputs of your Atari 2600 system, and how to make your Atari 7800 play 2600 games.

Since you're dealing with sensitive electronics, which damage very easily, the theme carried through this book is "do not have fear". Once you overcome any fear about damaging any of your equipment, these hacks become very entertaining and a good way to pass the time. Moreover, if your hack is actually successful, you've got something to brag about to your buddies. What's more, the various hacks covered will provide the skill to move to increasingly complex projects.

The book begins with a very useful introduction to basic electronics. You learn the difference between capacitors, transistors, resistors, etc. The chapter then proceeds to discuss the basics of soldering and other electronics basics.

This is a very fun book to read, and it contains a lot of fun projects. If you like taking things apart and have no fear, this is a book you certainly want to get your hands on.