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The exact definition of what is or is not a hacker is constantly evolving, and it is perhaps true that an exact definition will never be found.
Today, a look at phone phreaking, one of the early most forms of what could really be called ‘hacking’, through the exploits of John Draper, Steve Wozniak and Kevin Mitnick.
This documentary is some years old, so contextually it is a bit out of place in 2014, but is still a fascinating insight into early hacker culture.
Back to my computing roots this week, with the Commodore 64.
This computer came into my family in September of 1984, and I was hooked from day one – and ultimately, it became the foundation of my career in computing.
Some of my first breakout computing moments happened on this machine.
Like being told off in Year 11 for writing chemistry practical reports on it, but not being able to print subscript characters in chemical equations. I was told to “fix it”, or hand in hand-written reports only.
I saw this as a backward step – the solution?
I wrote my own print driver that could do the subscript and superscript characters that the standard print drivers that came with my word processing package couldn’t do.
I also had a flashback watching this program – I was a user of the GEOS operating system mentioned near the start. Using the desktop publishing features it describes – (and some of my own programming) – almost everything I did in my Year 11 and Year 12 studies was done on computer, and presented quite uniquely.
I just went through a lot of ribbon cartridges on my Okimate MCS-810 printer in the process!
Perhaps the crowning glory for my Commodore 64 was a Year 11 maths assignment, where we were given a task to use one of the several ancient methods for calculating the value of Pi.
Everyone else used paper pads, pens, and hand calculators to roll through the various methods and come up with theories on what the value would be if they went through right to the end.
I wrote 10 lines of BASIC code on a Friday night and went to bed.
By Sunday afternoon, the computer had processed 167,949 iterations through the formula, and delivered me a value for Pi that matched my theory for what it would be.
I got the best mark of the whole year level for that assignment.
I still have my Commodore 64 in a box in a cupboard – the last time I tried it, it still worked, though the sound chip seemed to have died.
Ahh, memories.
It has been a pretty common refrain from Malcolm Turnbull that the management of the National Broadband Network project by the previous government was “pathetic” – both before and after the previous election in September 2013.
Count how many times he uses that exact word in this transcript.
Morever, how about this quote?
“This is a project that they said when they published their corporate plan at the end of 2010 they said that by June 30 this year they would have passed and been able to connect by June 30 this year, 950,000 premises in brown field areas, built-up areas.”
“They in fact passed about 160,000 of which only a bit more than two thirds are able to get a connection if they actually asked for it. So there’s 33,000 customers connected to the fibre after four years I mean it’s pathetic.”
Turnbull promised us an NBN that would be “faster, cheaper, and sooner”, should the Coalition have come to power in the 2013 election.
Oh really?
| Malcolm’s Multi-Technology Mess Hits The Rocks |
“Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN plan is in tatters after revelations in a Senate hearing today that not a single user has been connected to its Fibre to the Node trial, despite announcing the pilot nine months ago.”
Not one?
Not even ONE?
Surely even 33,000 is a far better result than a big fat zero?
There have also been plenty of technical hurdles, that have yet to be overcome:
“In Senate Estimates last month, NBN Co chief operations officer Greg Adcock explained that a delay in the Epping trial was due to power supply issues for the nodes.”
“”The Epping trial in Victoria has slowed down a bit, while we work with the utility there to find a power solution. We’re working through that,” he said.”
“Close to a month later, a spokesperson for NBN Co told ZDNet that discussions with a utility in Victoria to gain sufficient power supply for the nodes were still “ongoing” with no timeline provided for where the trial will commence.”
No timeline?
Ouch.
One should remember that the previous fibre-to-the-premises model would not have had this issue, as there would have been no powered elements in the distribution network – (the fibre cables in each and every street) – but Turnbull’s move to the technically inferior fibre-to-the-node model has introduced this problem to an already complicated system.
If they can’t get power for just a single trial in a single suburb without striking difficulty, how many issues are they going to have getting power to 80,000 or more nodes across the entire country?
Does he really think this will be an isolated occurrence?
It won’t be – and the previous model would have completely avoided it – not to mention the cost involved with actually having his nodes consume power over the life of the network.
Turnbull has failed his first test on delivering his “faster, sooner, cheaper” NBN.
Dismally.
There was much laughing today when Carrie Bickmore was seen to be both holding and displaying a doodle on national television.
Though perhaps a silly practical joke played on her by the crew, I got more of a laugh out of this placement of the story this afternoon on The Age website, immediately above another (possibly) provocative image:
Perfectly matching a male torso, with her head and shoulders!
Possibly trolling by The Age, but still humourous.
Two of my favourite topics this week: computing, and space. This video from NASA describing their use of computing to plan, carry out and manage the space program of the 1960’s.
Although not dated, this video appears to have been prepared in the 1970’s, as it would seem the moon landings have already taken place, and it speaks of Skylab and the Space Shuttle program, both of which had their origins in the early 1970’s.
This week, a cheesy – (and admittedly self-promoting) – video from AT&T about the laying of the TAT-2 submarine cable in 1959.
Designed to provide a whopping “36 or more interference free telephone circuits” between Newfoundland and France, the video details the long and difficult process in laying that cable more than 50 years ago.
The process today isn’t all that different, but the challenges are considerably better understood.
I’m not sure what I am supposed to do with this door. I think I am supposed to “pull” to exit.
I’m glad I don’t have to “pus” the door.
Because that would be just weird.
A bit of nostaglia today for all the UNIX geeks out there, with a presentation put together by AT&T in 1982 about the UNIX operating system.
While UNIX is still around and in active use in many organisations, most organisations these days make use of Linux-based systems when UNIX-like functionality is required. Linux is a UNIX-like operating system, that comes in many different flavours, and chosen for use based on specific need cases.
But I’m one of the old school – many systems administrators these days know only Linux, and while I almost exclusively use Linux today, I started working on UNIX systems at the University of Ballarat in 1993 – (a System V Release IV machine called “nova”, and a System V Release 3.2 machine called “nugget”).
If I want to be completely accurate, I really first worked on a UNIX machine at Deakin University in 1992 – (on a machine called “eros”) – but I was “only” doing a Pascal programming course, so never really worked with the machine, just on the machine.
…pick any old one that’s close – right?
Got a small chuckle out of the photo attached to this local news item (click image for larger view):
“The Ford Falcon ute was only 2m from the house in the front driveway and was parked next to another of LPG, so they’re very lucky it didn’t spread or it would’ve been much worse.”
Without wishing or seeking to be flippant towards the family suffering these attacks, they might have been lucky after all – because that’s not their “Ford Falcon ute”.
The photo appears to be of a VY Holden Commodore, and is most certainly not a ute.
I know articles look much better with a photo – but that’s just not the car involved with this incident. There is certainly a Holden engine in that burnt out wreck.
Again, I feel very much for the family involved – nobody deserves what is happening to them.