Hardware Hacking 189
| Hardware Hacking | |
| author | Joe Grand, Ryan Russell and Kevin Mitnick |
| pages | 537 |
| publisher | Syngress |
| rating | 8 |
| reviewer | Blaine Hilton |
| ISBN | 1932266836 |
| summary | Walks anyone through the process of modifying common electronic hardware. |
The authors' explanations of many of the terms and concepts used in the book are very good. For example, the description of "power" on page 20 is the best description of the term that I've ever heard or read. From first-hand experience trying to explain this concept to others I wish I'd known such a lucid explanation -- it explained the concept much better than longer, dryer text would have.
Another positive point to this book is the pace and order of the book. It starts with part one, which is an overview of working with hardware; part two is a collection of hacks that one can do on different devices. If, like me, you never really did any thing with the Atari, you could skip those chapters and still proceed with the book. This book is easy to carry because there the authors frequently provide directions to other resources rather than trying to cram everything into this one book.
Like I said, I'm not too interested in Atari hacking, but the idea presented in this book (in an Atari-centric context) for a standard power connector is good for other things too. This is one of the biggest strengths of this book: The examples themselves are highly specific, but the thinking behind them can easily be generalized.
The first part of the book briefly explores tools that are going to be used later in the hacks and how to use them. However I found it a bit odd that the authors tell you to use a heat gun and heat-shrink tubing, but do not list these items in the tools section.
The fun really begins in part two with the actual hardware hacking. I have never really done anything with hardware before. It seems like whenever I took something apart I could never get it back again, and that those times that I did get something back it would never quite work as it should again. Those experiences have taught me to not mess with things I shouldn't and, this is why I think it's great that part two begins with the ubiquitous and cheap CueCat. I had a couple of these lying around and didn't really care about them so I jumped right in, following the many clear explanatory photos.
Starting with something like this gave me the confidence that I can take stuff apart, and if I'm careful, it will go back again.
The order of chapters seemed a bit odd in part two, though. A book must be arranged in some type of order, and my gut feeling is that it should be by order of difficulty. The second part started off great, going over tools and then the CueCat, but then it seems like the chapters that follow are tossed in at random. This could be from my lack of hardware experience, or that the chapters were designed to be random. This fact really didn't distract from anything though. Just don't expect a linear progression.
I was able to appreciate the integration between the hardware and the software. Hardware Hacking also goes over the software side of the hardware involved.
One of the areas I wish they had given more attention to was in the chapter on the Macintosh where they are hacking a CRT monitor. I believe that the safety warning should probably be a bit bolder, especially considering the earlier, prominent advice about static energy and grounding.
The authors have used part three as a technical reference, including some frank talk about Linux vs. Windows in chapter six. Sure, many people like Linux better, however you have to take into consideration who will be using the system. In a system the whole family uses, it has to be user-friendly enough for the whole family to use.
If changing hardware to better suit your needs sounds like something you would like to try, but you don't know how and are worried about what might happen, then this book may just be able to convince you go for it, along with enough information to make your next warranty-voiding attempt a success.
You can purchase Hardware Hacking from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Good for beginners (Score:5, Interesting)
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atari hacking (Score:4, Interesting)
Who wants to hack an Atari. They are so hard to come buy that if you screw it up you'll be kicking yourself for months. Trust me, I know.
Re:Because the target audience isn't thick?? (Score:1, Interesting)
If there is a "tools" section at all, then it should be complete. Having an incomplete tools section is worse than having no tools section at all.
Whether I can figure out "heat-shrink", has little to do with whether I have some lying around for when I get to that point.
How about wetware hacking? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hardware hacking of all kinds is cool, but as I more intimately familiar with mechanical engineering and know that I have to take electrical engineering courses beginning next year perhaps this book will help. Can anyone second the review?
Re:somewhat misleading.. (Score:4, Interesting)
1. Enough understanding to use an item. This can be rather little, if the internal details are encapsulated well enough.
2. Sufficient to interface to or enhance an item. This requires more information, but the interfaces generally mean that you need less information about the internal details as well.
3. Sufficient to build an item. This requires significantly more knowledge, but depending upon the state of the art attempted, may not require a professional practitioner.
4. Sufficient to design an item. This is really where professional training and practice come into the requirements, but this level is not required to be able to do interesting things with most hardware!
Thanks for all the comments! (Score:5, Interesting)
For what it's worth, the full title of the book is "Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty".
As for the real mindset of a (hardware) hacker, true, that cannot be taught. But, it doesn't mean that more mainstream readers are not curious about tinkering with hardware. Getting people to think outside of what they are normally taught is the important thing and hopefully they'll benefit from the book.
I wanted to try and include something for everybody in this book. So, the introductory EE, coding, and OS chapters are for people who might not have a sense of those things (to tell you the truth, I use the EE chapter, which I wrote, as a reference guide all the time). The hacks range from easy (changing the LED in a Macintosh mouse or Atari 7800 Power indicator) to complex (Marcus Brown's Playstation 2 Independence Day hack). And, there's a wide range of hardware to play with, too.
I'd like to think there is something for everyone (well, almost everyone). You don't have to have extreme hardware skills or have an engineering degree to enjoy the book and rip your products apart. The worst you can do is break something, but that's part of the fun!
Joe
PS - PDFs of the TOC, Foreword, and Introduction can be found here [grandideastudio.com].
Re:Kev's an author? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you didn't notice, his tagline on the cover is obviously tongue-in-cheek, as there is nothing illegal in the book.
And yes, his name does help sell books. But no, he doesn't get a cut.
Joe
Electronic Grounding Helps Technically (Score:5, Interesting)
Jonah Hex
Why I've never been a hacker of hardware (Score:5, Interesting)
He looked at me, pointed at a chip and said "See that? Those cost $100 apiece. I have 4 of them, and they take 3 weeks to order. I can't afford to blow it up." And went back to his work.
I always remembered that as the best demonstration of the difference between hardware geeks and software geeks. Software geeks abide by neither the laws of physics nor economics.
Review of the Review (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm leery of any reviews which are completely positive. A reviewer should sit down and make a list of topics they expect should be in a book based upon what's presented on the book's cover and introduction. How high|low should the skill level be? How about themes|elements in each project? Even if it's cheesy; e.g., [Title]stuff [Goal] stuff [Hardware Needed: stuff, [Steps] stuff, [Testing] stuff, Confirming it works [suff], Debugging stuff. What types of topics (book level) should be covered? Are the topics [which are] presented progressive - i.e., do the have the things everyone learned in Freshman Comp: a beginning, a middle, an end? Are the topics consistent with an expected skill level? To be blunt, the review sucks. There's nothing to truly indicate whether I'd be willing spend my money on this book.
Then again, does the book violate the DMCA? (Score:3, Interesting)
Thanks for the calm, rational and respectful reply. Did more research. Turns out that, at least as far as Sony is concerned, the presence of a "mod chip" is not necessary to allege a violation of the DMCA. Indeed, as noted by Prof. David S. Touretzky at Carnegie Mellon University [cmu.edu], merely publishing information aiding circumvention of a copyright protection or management system can cause Sony to assert a DMCA claim:
Victor Matsuda, Vice President, Entertainment Robot America, Sony Electronics Inc. stated in his letter of October 24, 2001 [cmu.edu]:
This leads to the obvious question. Will Sony assert that the book Hardware Hacking violates the DMCA? Think this isn't possible? Then consider when HP used the DMCA to quash a vulnerability publication [slashdot.org].