Written by Joe Grand and Ryan Russell
Technical Review by Kevin Mitnick
Foreword by Andrew Huang
Published by Syngress, copyright 2004, 537 pages
ISBN: 1-932266-83-6
Rating 8 out of 10
Table of Contents:
Summary
This book is great for people who work with computers on the software side, or people who like to play with electronics. You do not need to be an electrical engineer to understand what they are talking about in this book. As the title suggests, the authors walk you through different methods and processes of modifying common hardware.
At the beginning Hardware Hacking goes over the basics of electronics, just enough so you can understand what is happening later in the book. The explanation of many of the terms and concepts is very good. For example on page 20, "power" is a snapshot has been 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 knew something this simple, but explained it much better than longer, dryer text.
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, and then 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 are directions to other resources instead of everything being in this one book.
I'm not too interested in Atari hacking, but the idea for a standard power connector is good for other things too. This is one of the biggest strengths of this book. The examples 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 they 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 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 explanative photos.
Starting with something like this was able to give 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. I would think it would 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 with going over tools and the CueCat, but then it seems like the other chapters are 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.
I was able to appreciate the integration between the hardware and the software. Hardware Hacking also goes over the software side of the hardware.
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 with the earlier advice about static energy and grounding.
In part three they have a technical reference and one of the areas that they go over is 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.
Conclusion
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.