newton@ils.nwu.edu (David Newton) (03/11/91)
In article <524@spool.mu.edu>, gill@boris.mscs.mu.edu (Vijay (Ender) Gill) writes: > In article <10055@pitt.UUCP> anthony@cs.pitt.edu () writes: > >hackers have better things to do then read this drivel. They are > >probably out stealing my credit card numbers. > That's crackers dude, not hackers. This was a media perversion. On the otherhand, cracking is quite capable of being a good hack, i.e. completely disassembling the EPPOMS on a POS terminal hooked up to a TRS-80 Model 16 (this is, of course, a fabricated example. No, really. Honest. Truuuuust me. Right Mr. Carter? Muhahahaha.) and deciding that modest re-writes would be consumerly amusing. And _some_ hacking into TRW (for instance) in extremely non-trivial. For the person that questioned my "dropping into a room filled with lasers and people with guns" as being a hack: if picking a tricky lock is a hack, then picking (at least) 5 of them is, and dropping down into a room filled with people, some with guns, most certainly is. (Oh, those steam tunnels were so fun.) Was this better? -- David L. Newton | Work: (708) 467-1015 | newton@ils.nwu.edu ILS, Room 135 | Home: (708) 332-2321 |------------------------------- 1890 Maple St. |-Gumby Cyberdeck Jockey-| Kicked out of alt.hackers by Evanston, IL 60201 |__Dr. Seuss is a god.___| "Real Hackers." Oh WOE is me.
okunewck@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Phil OKunewick) (03/12/91)
newton@ils.nwu.edu (David Newton) writes: > For the person that questioned my "dropping into a room filled with >lasers and people with guns" as being a hack: if picking a tricky lock >is a hack, then picking (at least) 5 of them is, and dropping down into >a room filled with people, some with guns, most certainly is. (Oh, >those steam tunnels were so fun.) > > Was this better? Close, but not quite. To explain it to computer illiterates, I tell them that a cracker is a Young Hacker who was seduced by the Dark Side Of The Force. Admittedly, cracking involves basic hacking. But the basic nature of cracking prevents the cracker from reaching the level of enlightenment that the true hacker will attain. In cracking, the highest level of one can reach is a major break-in. (Some goal - you can do it using old hacks.) But the highest level a hacker can attain is a truly awesome hack - a clever original trick that revolutionizes the computer industry. ObHack: Using a uart without building a control circuit. Uses a clock, a 1488, a 1489, and a uart. Data_in_input_buffer is tied to the reset_input. If you tie the data_in_input_buffer to the transmit_strobe, the uart will transmit its send_data every time an input_char comes in. And'ing it with one of the receive_data pins will make it transmit only if that bit is asserted on the receive_char. Uses: Device control. Use the 8 lines to control the device; the device will send its status every time a command comes in. Send it a dummy control signal if you just want to read the status. For instance, an electronic thermometer with several probes - every time a new probe is selected (using a char sent out), the status of that probe gets sent to the host. (Or the previous probe, depending on how the probe switch is timed - a delay between the data_in_buffer and xmit_strobe will prevent ambiguity.) Of course, a digital thermometer with a single probe need only have dummy chars sent to it, to report its status.