bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) (01/10/90)
In article <5458@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> cygnus@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Marc Cygnus) writes:
i've just seen too many computer science majors graduate and 1) not
know what a .login is, 2) not write more than 2,000 lines of code
outside of class, 3) etc...
Depends upon what sort of "computer science" you do. Some prefer to
do theory and some prefer to produce products. The former might argue
that the latter are beer-drinking blue-collar computer programmers,
not computer scientists. And the latter might contend that the former
are scotch-drinking elbow-patch-tweed-jacket mathematicians, not
computer scientists.
You can find a school to teach you whatever turns you on, but it's
good for your balance to be exposed to the other side. That's what a
university is for.guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) (01/11/90)
Oh good, I've always wanted to start up a alt.hack group, but I don't think my administrator would be fond of me playing with the system like that, and I'd like to keep my account here. So, what are some of your accomplismnts that you'll admit to. The majority of mine are curiosity motivated.... Mickey D's General Dynamics Pizza Hut Pacific Bell Mountain Bell Dow Chemical UCSD (several systems) Tymnet Telenet Those are among some of the more reconizible ones I've roamed through, and out again...Strange though, the VAST magority of the large systems I've peeked into are virtually unused... See you on QSD France.
burch@quik07.enet.dec.com (Ben Burch) (01/11/90)
In article <1146@crash.cts.com>, guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) writes: > > So, what are some of your accomplismnts that you'll admit to. The majority > of mine are curiosity motivated.... > > Mickey D's . . . > Telenet > > Those are among some of the more reconizible ones I've roamed through, and > out again...Strange though, the VAST magority of the large systems I've > peeked into are virtually unused... > > See you on QSD France. > WELL! I think here we have the beginnings of a war over the definition of the term hacker! I think that a "hacker" is one who programs computer systems for the love of the task, e.g., a computer artist. This writer thinks that a hacker is one who commits wire fraud, finding ways to enter, and perhaps unintentionally (or intentionally) causing damage to the capital property of another person, corporation, or government. I think the correct term for such foolish and childish activity is "Phreaking", and that those who commit the act are "Phreaks". I am PROUD to be a hacker in the sense I described above. It has been a source of joy and income to me ever since I washed out of the Astrophysics program at U of C. "alt.hackers" does not need phreaks, and I suggest that they create their own group, either "alt.phreaks", "alt.wire.fraud", or "alt.idiots". In article <1146@crash.cts.com>, guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) writes: > From: guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) > Subject: Re: CS curriculae (was Re: Distributed Hacking :-) > > Oh good, I've always wanted to start up a alt.hack group, but I don't think > my administrator would be fond of me playing with the system like that, and > I'd like to keep my account here. > > So, what are some of your accomplismnts that you'll admit to. The majority > of mine are curiosity motivated.... > > Mickey D's > General Dynamics > Pizza Hut > Pacific Bell > Mountain Bell > Dow Chemical > UCSD (several systems) > Tymnet > Telenet > > Those are among some of the more reconizible ones I've roamed through, and > out again...Strange though, the VAST magority of the large systems I've > peeked into are virtually unused... > > See you on QSD France. > WELL! I think here we have the beginnings of a war over the definition of the term hacker! I think that a "hacker" is one who programs computer systems for the love of the task, e.g., a computer artist. This writer thinks that a hacker is one who commits wire fraud, finding ways to enter, and perhaps unintentionally (or intentionally) causing damage to the capital property of another person, corporation, or government. I think the correct term for such foolish and childish activity is "Phreaking", and that those who commit the act are "Phreaks". I am PROUD to be a hacker in the sense I described above. It has been a source of joy and income to me ever since I washed out of the Astrophysics program at U of C. "alt.hackers" does not need phreaks, and I suggest that they create their own group, either "alt.phreaks", "alt.wire.fraud", or "alt.idiots".
CMH117@PSUVM.BITNET (Charles Hannum) (01/12/90)
In article <1146@crash.cts.com>, guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) says: > >So, what are some of your accomplismnts that you'll admit to. The majority >of mine are curiosity motivated.... > >Mickey D's >General Dynamics >Pizza Hut >Pacific Bell >Mountain Bell >Dow Chemical >UCSD (several systems) >Tymnet >Telenet > >Those are among some of the more reconizible ones I've roamed through, and >out again...Strange though, the VAST magority of the large systems I've >peeked into are virtually unused... Listen, bub. You're definitely not a hacker. You're what's known as a "phreak" or a "cyberpunk" or an "idiot" or, to put it plainly, "a god damned asshole". If you want to break the law, then don't tell the whole net about it. Personally, I'm not impressed. Now, if you figured out how to install Super Boulder Dash or Lode Runner on your hard disk, then I'll be interested (but still not very impressed). Some of the more popular programs I've unprotected recently are: Ultima III, IV, and V all protected Sierra On-line adventure games & Thexder Gauntlet II Deathtrack APBA Baseball Earl Weaver Baseball Lode Runner (a while back; just here for reference) many, many, many others that I can't even remember There are basically three kinds of "copy protection": 1) SoftGuard, ProLok, and the like. Basically, they require special infor- mation on the disk. I can't copy them with DISKCOPY or install them on my hard disk. These are cake to unprotect. 2) "Code wheels" and the various implementations thereof. Most of these are pretty easy to unprotect. The only one that I've worked on that I *haven't* done is Starflight (I & II). This is in some pseudo-compiled Forth language that's a pain in the ass to trace. But I'm working on it .. These are less of a problem than the others, though. But if I lose the wheel, I'm in deep doodoo. 3) Anything that requires me to boot it. This kind *really* pisses me off. Not only can't I install it on my hard disk, but I can't run it from DOS, either. I have a bit lower hit rate on these. (It's hard to get any *higher* than 100%, now isn't it?) Basically, if it's protected, I unprotect it. Simple. Of course, for *obvious* reasons, I can't send any of these to you. Just thought you might be interested. -- - Charles Martin Hannum II "Klein bottle for sale ... inquire within." (That's Charles to you!) "To life immortal!" cmh117@psuvm.{bitnet,psu.edu} "No noozzzz izzz netzzzsnoozzzzz..." c9h@psuecl.{bitnet,psu.edu} "Mem'ry, all alone in the moonlight ..." c9h@eclx.psu.edu c9h@hcx.psu.edu
thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) (01/14/90)
> > Those are among some of the more reconizible ones I've roamed through, and > > out again...Strange though, the VAST magority of the large systems I've > > peeked into are virtually unused... You forget that large systems are designed to take peak load, not average (like many academic systems). So, it makes sense that they would be underutilized (probably at the times you 'roamed through them'). But too much space on this subject. > I think that a "hacker" is one who programs computer systems for the > love of the > task, e.g., a computer artist. I think we have agreement there. Now then, has anyone got any good hacks on VM machines? Other than the Puppies that go with PROFS, that is. - tom -- internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? -- The UUCP Mailer
rab@well.UUCP (Bob Bickford) (01/14/90)
Ahem. Yes. Well, anyway, as I was saying, I have my own definition
of 'hacker', which I've twice had published in article form in a local
computer rag (MicroTimes):
Hacker: "Any person who derives joy from
discovering ways to circumvent limitations."
I grant that this can be stretched to include the juvenile criminals
we see so much press about, but I really don't give a damn about them:
I'm interested in _true_ hackers: Artists of Technology, Riders of the
Third Wave.
And *that*, I think, is what this group is about.
Obligatory hack story: In our product, the graphics processor (34010) is
the only way to access the many megabytes of VRAM which contain the images.
But, there's only one Host port on the beast, and we're running a multi-
tasking OS on the '186 that sometimes wants to DMA several megabytes in
or out of the '010. Which means that for long times (over a second in
some cases) we can't talk to the '010 (like, send it graphics commands).
Unacceptable. So, I hacked up a way of 'suspending' the DMA, which also
means I have to preserve the '010 host port state (NOT EASY!), and then
I sneak in the command and put everything back. Unfortunately, the same
'186 register that contains the DMA control bit I want to use, has the
status bits for the timer interrupts (which I *must* *not* corrupt, even
by one tick). So, I had to put in a little kludge that looks to see if
the timer(s) are about to expire, and waits if so, before munging that
register (so that those bits are in a known stable state).
--
Robert Bickford {apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax}!well!rab
rab@well.sf.ca.us /-------------------------------------\
| Don't Blame Me: I Voted Libertarian |
\-------------------------------------/
--
Robert Bickford {apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax}!well!rab
rab@well.sf.ca.us /-------------------------------------\
| Don't Blame Me: I Voted Libertarian |
\-------------------------------------/gl8f@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) (01/20/90)
In article <BOB.90Jan10105229@volitans.MorningStar.Com> bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield) writes: >In article <5458@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> cygnus@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Marc Cygnus) writes: > i've just seen too many computer science majors graduate and 1) not > know what a .login is, 2) not write more than 2,000 lines of code > outside of class, 3) etc... > >Depends upon what sort of "computer science" you do. Some prefer to >do theory and some prefer to produce products. Unfortunately most of the people who want to "produce products" still haven't written 2,000 lines of code outside of class... and the projects they've done in class were often never really completed. If I were a cs prof I'd have students writing public domain software that would really got used and tested, or gnuware... but I'm not a cs prof. Fortunately, lack of programming skills among CS majors just expands the pool of people who want to hire me as a consultant, despite the large number of CS majors that hang around most universities. Obligatory hacking story: I've worked on IRC. 'nuff said. Or, do you know how easy it is to crash a VAX while trying to get into device driver buffers in kernel mode? Sheesh. Greg Lindahl gl8f@virginia.edu Astrophysicists for Choice.