Hackers heroes of the computer revolution

Hackers Hackers Steven Levy Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo Hackers by Steven Levy Copyright © 2010 Steven Levy All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (my.safaribooksonline.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Editor: Mike Hendrickson Production Editor: Rachel Monaghan Production Services: Octal Publishing, Inc Copyeditor: Amy Thomson Indexer: John Bickelhaupt Cover Designers: Monica Kamsvaag and Edie Freedman Interior Designer: Ron Bilodeau Printing History: May 2010: First Edition The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc Hackers and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein ISBN: 978-1-449-38839-3 [SB] Contents CAMBRIDGE: The Fifties and Sixties Preface ix Who’s Who: The Wizards and Their Machines xi Part One TRUE HACKERS CAMBRIDGE: The Fifties and Sixties Chapter The Tech Model Railroad Club Chapter The Hacker Ethic 27 Chapter Spacewar 39 Chapter Greenblatt and Gosper 61 Chapter The Midnight Computer Wiring Society 83 Chapter Winners and Losers 101 Chapter Life 123 vi Contents Part Two HARDWARE HACKERS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: The Seventies Chapter Revolt in 2100 151 Chapter Every Man a God 179 Chapter 10 The Homebrew Computer Club 201 Chapter 11 Tiny BASIC 227 Chapter 12 Woz 249 Chapter 13 Secrets 275 Part Three GAME HACKERS THE SIERRAS: The Eighties Chapter 14 The Wizard and the Princess 289 Chapter 15 The Brotherhood 313 Chapter 16 The Third Generation 325 Chapter 17 Summer Camp 345 Chapter 18 Frogger 365 Contents vii Chapter 19 Applefest 389 Chapter 20 Wizard vs Wizards 413 Part Four THE LAST OF THE TRUE HACKERS CAMBRIDGE: 1983 The Last of the True Hackers Afterword: Ten Years After Afterword: 2010 Notes Acknowledgments 437 455 463 479 485 Index 489 Index Numbers 25th Hacker’s Conference, 471 8080 chip, 229 A Acculators, 70 Adams, Roe, 349 ADD (command), 174 Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA), 58, 125, 138, 146 Adventure Development Language (ADL), 311, 348 Adventure game, 135 Adventure-style games, 290, 306, 314 Albrecht, Bob, 165–170, 173, 195, 222, 234 Alchemy and Artificial Intelligence, 81 Algorithm, 32 Alkabeth game, 398 Allen, Paul, 228, 229, 232 Allison, Dennis, 234 Altair, 189, 194, 196, 201, 202, 203–205 Altair BASIC, 228–234 Altair Users Newsletter, 232 Antic chip (Atari), 330 Apollo 17 moon shot, 145–146 Apple computer, 289, 303, 313, 319, 328, 345, 367, 376, 410, 414, 423 Apple Computer Company, 258, 269–271, 276–278, 319, 469 Apple II computer, 259–260, 304, 353, 470 design, 270 Apple World, 318, 321–323 Applefest, 397, 402 Arcade games, 317 Art of Computer Programming, The (Knuth), 136 Artificial intelligence (AI), 11, 36 AI lab, 124, 146 Asimov, Isaac, 92, 140–144, 145 Assembly computer language, 329 Assembly language, 19 Assembly-language programmers, 332 Atari (game company), 219, 251, 321, 366, 420 Atari 400, 328, 338 Atari 800, 328, 329, 334, 338, 423 Pac-Man injunction, 336–344 VCS game machine, 338 VCS machine, 371, 418 Awake! publication, 357 490 B Baba Ram Das, 168 Bachelor mode, 94 Bain, Larry, 351 BAL computer language, 296 BASIC computer language, 57, 167, 173, 228, 256 Tiny BASIC, 234, 238 Battle Warp game, 332 Baum, Alan, 201, 250, 252, 266 BC cartoon, 432 Beeler, Mike, 63, 147 Beer Run game, 383 Bekins Moving and Storage, 298 Bell System Technical Journal, 87 Bell Telephone System, 87 Bell, Gordon, 71 Bennett, Bill, 99–100 Benway, Doctor, 153, 177 Berkeley Barb, 159 Berzerk, 369 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 477 Binary number system, 19 Bit (measurement), 19 Bit Works, 396 Blattisms, 61 Blue box long-distance calls, 279 Blue boxes, 86, 251 Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), 42, 58 Bootstrap, 212 Box, Bob and Carolyn, 385–386, 433 Brand, Stewart, 197, 465 Brautigan, Richard, 174 Broken Flowers (movie), 466 Brotherhood (Brøderbund) Software, 317, 318, 321, 382, 421 Buchanan, Bruce, 137 Budge, Bill, 362 Bueche, Chuck, 384, 401, 410 Bug (robot) program, 102, 105–107 Bunnell, David, 186 Index Burnstein, Malcolm, 160 Burroughs computer, 297 Byte (measurement), 190 Byte magazine, 227, 246 Byte Shop, 392–393 C California Polytechnic, Pomona Campus, 293 Call Computer service, 252 Cambridge urchins, Captain Crunch, 251, 253, 277, 315, 405 Carlston, Doug, 317, 321, 409 Carlston, Gary, 317, 321 Carmack, John, 464 Carnegie-Mellon University, 133, 138 Carpetbaggers, The (Robbins), 294 Cassette recorders, 314 CBS opening, 54 Charles Adams Associates, 76, 79 Chat program, 253 Chess program, 12, 36–37 Chicken Hawk system, 199 Chinese food, 71 Choplifter game, 382 Christie, Agatha, 306 Circle Algorithm hack, 48 CL 9, 468 Clements, Bob, 83 Clue board game, 306 Coarsegold, 311, 332 Coats, Tracy, 429 Commodore computer, 276, 313, 326 Communist Party, 155, 157 Community Memory, 151–154, 164, 173–178, 179, 183, 243, 273, 280, 282, 284 Compatible Time-sharing System(CTSS), 112 Compiler, 36 Computer Faire, 268–274, 275, 282, 317, 332 Index 491 Computer Lib (Nelson), 171, 192, 194, 273 Computer Power and Human Reason (Weizenbaum), 128 Computerland, 281 Computers, effect on people’s lives, 34, 363 Conan the Barbarian (movie), 395 Cons (conferences), 330 Consumer Electronics Shows, 402 Continental Company, 318 Control Data Company, 165 Control Data Institute, 295 Conway, John, 140–142, 223 Copy protection, 390–391 Corbató, F J., 58, 112 Crawford, Chris, 332 Crazy Climber game, 327 Creepy Corridors game, 384 Cribbage computer game, 355 Cromemco, 208, 243 Crowther, Will, 135 Cruft, 10 Currie, Eddie, 187 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), 41, 56, 122, 168 Digital rights management (DRM), 473 Disassemblers, 329 Disk drives, 315 Display hacks, 47–49 Display list interrupts, 330 Dithering (color technique), 311 DIY biology, 477 DNA synthesis, 477 Docusports, 413 Dompier, Steve, 191, 201, 202, 203–205, 211, 234, 243, 246 Doom game, 464 Dr Dobbs Journal (DDJ), 235, 257, 267 Draper, John, 253–256, 277–279, 315, 405 Dreyfus, Herbert, 82 Duchaineau, Mark, 392–397, 400–401 Dungeons and Dragons, 345, 395 Dymax, 168–170 D E DAC (Deposit Accumulator), 44 Daisy (song), 205 Dancing with the Stars (TV show), 468 Dark Crystal (movie), 373 Data General Nova computer, 250 DataSoft, 373 Davidson, Rick, 351 Davidson, Sharon, 351 Davis, Bob, 351, 417–420 Dazzler, 223, 243 DECAL assembler, 89 Decimal print program, 32–34 Dennis, Jack, 14, 39, 43 Department of Defense, 125 Deus Ex Machina, or The True Computerist, 240 Deutsch, Peter, 17–19, 42, 56, 161 Dial-a-joke service, 251 Dictionary program, 376 EAM room, 3, 5–6 Earth Dies Screaming game, 383 Eastlake, Don, 121 Easy Writer program, 315, 405 Edwards, Dan, 53, 88 Electrical engineering course No 641, 11 Electronic Accounting Machinery(EAM), Electronic Arts, 403–406 ELlZA program, 127, 192 EMACS editing program, 438 Erhard, Werner, 244 Espinosa, Chris, 261, 265, 276 Esquire magazine, 251, 393 Est training, 244 Expensive Desk Calculator program, 35 Expensive Typewriter program, 35, 376 E-Z-Draw program, 316 492 F F&T Diner, 72 Facebook, 475 Felsenstein, Joe, 155, 156 Felsenstein, Lee, 153–160, 179–181, 185–186, 195, 201, 206, 209, 212, 215–217, 241–243, 273, 279, 282, 282–286, 473 FIND (command), 174 Finkel, LeRoy, 168 Flexowriter, 15, 20 FLIT, 20 Micro-FLIT, 42 Foo, 104 Foo Camp, 476 Fool on the Hill (Beatles ballad), 204 Forbin Project (movie), 192 Form Master (disk-copying machine), 395 FORTRAN computer language, 36, 63, 167, 294, 304 Fountainhead, The (Rand), 117 Franklin, Benjamin, 467 Fredkin, Ed, 91–93, 115, 130, 132, 134, 144 Free Software Foundation, 472 Free Speech Movement, 158 French, Gordon, 199, 201, 212 Fresno County jail, 418 Fried, Ben, 464 Friedman, Barry, 428–429 Frogger game, 366–371, 407–408, 423, 433 Fuller, Buckminster, 164, 168, 180, 219 Full-screen editing, 327 Fusion-io, 469 G Galactic Saga game, 317 Galaxian game, 318, 345 Gamma Scientific company, 329, 335 Gardner, Martin, 140 Index Garetz, Shag, 53 Garland, Harry, 207, 223 Garriott, Owen K., 397 Garriott, Richard, 397–399, 401, 410 Gates, Bill, 228–230, 232, 374, 463, 466, 477 Gebelli, Nasir, 316, 382 General Electric Science Fair, George Jackson People’s Free Clinic, 176 Glider gun, 141 GNU operating system, 472 Gobbler game, 334 Godbout, Bill, 183 Going public, 291 Gold panning, 385 Golden, Vinnie “the Bear”, 182 Google, 469 Gorlin, Dan, 382 Gosper, Bill, 39, 66–68, 70, 77, 103, 111, 129, 140–146, 471 Graham, Paul, 474 Great Subway Hack, 116, 125 Greenblatt, Richard, 61–66, 69, 76–77, 79, 117, 122, 123, 128, 130–142, 146, 304, 470 Griffin, Kathy, 468 Gronk, 104 Guinness Book of World Records, 385 Gulf & Western Conglomerate, Sega division, 367 H Hack, 10 Hackathons, 475 HACKER (Sussman program), 112 Hacker Dojo, 473 Hacker Ethic, 27–29, 37, 54, 81, 86, 122, 137, 147, 162, 166, 184, 190, 221, 225, 228, 276, 283, 293, 313, 315, 321, 339, 366, 374, 389–390, 393, 431 Index Hackers, 10, 61, 191, 413 hardware, 147 Hackers Conference, 464 Hacking, current state, 471 Haight-Ashbury Medical Research Clinic, 176 HAL (2001), 205 Hamilton, Margaret, 89 Hands-On Imperative, 9, 28, 62, 154, 166, 325 Hardware hackers, 147 Harris, John, 325–336, 339, 340, 341–344, 345, 358–361, 365–371, 378, 383, 422–425, 428, 433 Harvard University, 46 Harvey, Brian, 110, 124 Hawkins, Trip, 403 Haystack Observatory, 84 Hazeltine 1500 terminal, 174 Heath Company, 155 Heffron, Eli, 9, 101 Heinlein, Robert, 92, 156, 180 Henson, Jim, 373 Hertzfeld, Andy, 469 Herzfeld, Andy, 315 Heuer, Roberta (see Williams, Roberta) Hewlett-Packard (HP), 171, 251, 259 Hexagon House, 334, 395 Higham Institute, 46, 53 High-level computer language, 36 Hi-Res Adventure, 311 Holm, Celeste, 171 Holt, Rod, 266 Homebrew Computer Club, 199, 201–225, 227, 230–232, 239, 241, 249, 252, 267, 276, 282, 464 Honeywell company, 114 Hulking Giant, 5, 12, 63 Hyperspace, 53 493 I IBM (International Business Machines), 29–30, 74, 373, 422, 432 IBM 704, 5, 12, 36 IBM 709, 12 PC machines, 374 IC (integrated circuit), 181 Illich, Ivan, 179, 181 Image subtraction, 106 IMSAI, 244, 272, 281 Incompatible Time-sharing System (ITS), 118–122, 123, 125, 138 Infocom, 361 Informatics, 298–303, 377 Information International Incorporated (Triple-I), 91, 134 Information Should Be Free, 464 Ingram, Gary, 184, 208, 263, 280 Integer BASIC, 257 Intel, 181 4004 chip, 236, 238 8008 chip, 188, 195 8080 chip, 188 Intellectual property law, 467 Intentional system crashes, 119 Interface Age magazine, 242 Interval Research, 473 Interzone, 176 Introduction to Computer Progamming (EE 641), 63 iPad, 473 iPhone, 470, 473 iPod, 473 Iran hostage crisis, 382 J Jawbreaker 2, 423 Jawbreaker game, 337–339, 373 Jehovah’s Witnesses, 356 Jensen, Mr., 33 Jewell, Jerry, 315–316, 321, 382, 409, 414, 432 494 Jobs, Steve, 251, 254, 258, 262–267, 270, 282 Joplin, Janis, 169 Journal of Community Communications, 215 Joy Fong restaurant, 72 JUMP (command), 44 K K1uge room, 43 Kahn, Bob, 166, 192, 273 Kaleidoscope program, 223 Kemeny, John, 167 Keypunch machine 407, KILL SYSTEM command, 119 Kindle, 473 Kluge room, 33, 61, 69 Knight, Tom, 109, 113, 122, 123, 128 Knuth, Dona1d, 136 Koltnow, Joanne, 269 Kotok, Alan, 9, 36, 39–46, 50, 56, 67 L Lancaster, Don, 184, 195, 244 Lawrence Hall of Science, 191 Leary, Timothy, 168 LeBrun, Marc, 273 Leopold’s Records, 151–153, 174, 280, 285 Lessig, Lawrence, 472 Lester (engineering student, University of Missouri), 62 Letter to Hobbyists, 463 Levitt, Mike, 133 LGC Engineering Company, 185 Lincoln Lab, 14, 19, 40, 91 Linux, 472 LIO (Load Input-Output), 44 Lipkin, Efrem, 160, 163–165, 178, 282, 284 LISP programming, 12, 47, 79 Lock hacking, 94–97 Locksmith program, 391 Index Lode Runner game, 421 LOGO computer language, 131 Long-distance blue box calls, 251, 277, 279 Long-Range Computer Study Group, 58 Lord British, 397, 398 Losers and winners, 109 Losing, Loving Grace Cybernetics, 174 Lubeek, Olaf, 335 M M&R Electronics, 266 MacHack chess program, 82 Machine Aided Cognition, 59 Machine language, 36 MacLISP, 80 Mailer, Norman, 145 Make magazine, 477 Maker Faire festivals, 477 Mariott, Pat, 404 Mark 4, 299 Marketing, 366 Markkula, Mike, 263–264, 278 Marsh, Bob, 183–185, 195, 207, 208–211, 241, 242, 244, 263, 280 Marx, Karl, 180 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 3, 38, 89, 127 Master key, 96 Mayan calendar hack, 45 McCarthy, John, 11, 36, 47, 56, 67, 134, 137, 168 McKenzie, John, 16, 84 Melen, Roger, 207, 223 Memorial Student Union (UM), 62 Memory boards, 208 design and production, 210 Merton, Louis, 131–133 MICRO magazine, 310 Micro-8 Newsletter, 233 Microbooth, 317 Microprocessor, 181 Index Microsoft, 374, 463 MIDAS assembler, 89, 120 Middle Earth trilogy, 135 Midnight Computer Wiring Society, 88–90 Midpeninsula Free University, 168 Milhon, Jude, 160–161, 177, 222, 282, 285 Minsky, Marvin, 36, 48–49, 57, 82, 90, 114, 125, 145 Minskytron, 49, 53 Missile Command game, 332 MIT hackers, 464 MITS Caravan, 230 Moby Memory, 118 Model 33 teletype, 114 Model Instrumentation Telemetry System (MITS), 186–188, 190, 193–194, 228, 229, 230, 263 Modem, 280 Modes, 63 Monopoly game, 367 Moore, Fred, 196–199, 201–203, 214, 217–218, 275 Morby, Jacky, 375 Motorola 6800 chip, 238 Motorola microprocessors, 256 Mouse in the Maze game, 47, 294 Mouskattack game, 341 Multics, 112, 114 Multi-format disk scheme, 396 Multiple Access Computing, 59 Mung (Mash Until No Good), Muppets, The, 373 Music program, 21–22, 31, 45 Music, of a Sort, 206 My Computer Likes Me (Albrecht), 168 Mystery House game, 306–310, 320, 421 N Naked Lunch (Burroughs), 153 NASA, 145 National Strike Information Center, 124 495 NBC Magazine, 388 Nelson, Ralph, 171 Nelson, Stewart, 83–86, 87, 92–94, 99–100, 133, 180 Nelson, Ted, 171–173, 194, 222, 273, 275, 374 Newton-John, Olivia, 358 Noftsker, Russell, 81, 97–99, 126 Nomography, 63 Notes on Distant Dialing, 87 Nussbacher, Ken, 340 O O’Reilly, Tim, 476 Oakhurst, 289, 311, 345 Oakland Seven, 160 Oasis, 219, 227 Octal number system, 20 Officially Sanctioned Programs, 106 Officially Sanctioned Users, 16, 115 On-Line Systems, 290, 313, 318, 321, 332–334, 339–341, 346–353, 365, 370, 375, 377, 378, 413 (see also Sierra On-Line) programming office, 291 recruiting, 362 Open Letter to Hobbyists, 233 Orifice, Osborne computer, 284 Osborne, Adam, 281, 282–284 P Pac-Man, 334, 335–339, 373 Page flipping, 316 Papert, Seymour, 131 Parker Brothers, 367, 433 Password hacking, 113 Password TV gameshow, 318 PC ’76 computer show, 247 PDP-1, 39, 42–43, 61, 63–68, 84, 87, 304 PDP-10, 122, 133, 136 PDP-6, 70–71, 123 PDP-6 MacLISP, 80 496 PDP-7, 93 PDP-8, 168 Peanut (PCjr) home computer, 374 Peg Solitaire (HI-Q), 68 Pennywhistle modem, 220, 280 People magazine, 423 People’s Computer Company, 165, 169–171, 182, 195, 196, 202, 234 People’s Park, 182 Personal computers, effect on people’s lives, 34, 363 PET computer, 326, 328 Phone company, 40, 87, 254 phone hacking, 86 phone phreaks, 253 Ping-Pong, 103, 145 Pittman, Tom, 201, 236–241, 273 PL⁄I computer language, 114 Plank House in the Valley, 307 Playability (computer games), 327 Player-missile graphics, 330 Plug board, Pong video game, 219 Popular Electronics, 186, 188, 207, 246 Pornographic programs, 220 Porter, Katherine Ann, 145 Portola Institute, 168 Prancing Pony, 137 Priesthood, 5, 12–13 Principles 0f Electricity and Electronics Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work, 87 Processor Technology, 208–211, 230, 242, 244, 246, 272, 280 Program bumming, 13, 32, 308 Programma, 308, 318 Programming, 297–298, 389, 413 social aspects, 300 Programming languages, 301 programming languages, 470 Project MAC, 59, 65, 69, 112, 471 Project One, 161 Propaganda of the Deed, 215 Index Q Quinn, Mike, 182 R Radio Amateur’s Handbook, 155 Radio Electronics, 184, 189 Radio Frequency (RP) Modulators, 266 Radio Shack, 276 Rand Corporation, 81 Raster Blaster game, 362 Red Death, 72 Registers, 70 Reiling, Bob, 268 Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), 15, 42 Resource One, 161–163 Revolt in 2100 (Heinlein), 156, 158, 160 Rich and Rich Synergistic Enterprises, 429–430 Right Thing, The, 69 Robbins, Harold, 293 Roberts, Ed, 186–188, 191, 207, 228, 229, 230, 262 Robotics, 102–104, 138 Robotron game, 369, 414 Rolling Stone, 198 ROM memory boards, 209 ROM-cartridge-based computers, 427, 432 Royalties, 333, 383 Russell, Steve (Slug), 46, 49–50, 55 S S-100 bus, 260 Sagan, Carl, 145 SAGE defense system, 11, 91 SAIL, 134 Sales figures, 389 Samson, Peter, 3, 20, 31, 40, 52, 71, 82, 133, 180 San Francisco Applefest, 392 Saunders, Bob, 9, 22–26, 42, 56 Saunders, Marge, 22–26, 34 Schwader, Warren, 353–358, 419 Scientific American, 140 Index Scott, Mike, 263 Screenwriter II, 376 Sepulveda, Vic, 341 SHAFT (Society to Help Abolish FORTRAN Teaching), 167 Shootout-at-El-Cassiopeia, 53 Shuttle LIFE pattern, 141 Sierra On-Line, 378, 381, 383, 392, 406, 417, 420–424 (see also On-Line Systems) Sierra Sky Ranch area, 345 Signals and Power (S&P) Subcommittee, 99 Signals and Power (S&P)Subcommittee, 8–9 Silicon Valley, 181 Silver, David, 95, 101–102, 104–107, 128–129, 139 Singer, Hal, 233 Sirius Software, 316, 318, 321, 382, 409, 413 Skeet Shoot game, 362 Skylab 2, 397 Smash-Up game, 355 Smith, Adam, 467 Smith, E E (Doc), 49 SMUT-ROMS, 220 Snyder, Tom, 247 Social engineering, 134 Social issues, 217, 222 Society of Creative Anachronisms, 398 Softalk magazine, 320, 333, 346, 353, 375, 390, 407, 417 Softporn game, 349–350 Softsel Distributors, 371 Software Arts, 347 Software Expo, 368 Software flap, 233 Software Superstars, 292 Sokol, Dan, 218–219, 231, 255, 276 Sol computer, 245–248, 260 Solomon, Les, 188, 223, 224, 244, 246 SORDMASTER, 396 Southern California Computer Society (SCCS), 241 Southwestern Data company, 318 497 Space Eggs game, 316 Space Invaders game, 316 Spacewar, 49–56, 136 Spergel, Marty, 203, 220, 266 Spiradisk, 393–397 Stallman, Richard (RMS), 465, 471 Stanford Medical Center, 198 Stanford Research Institute, 133, 138 Stanislaus River trip, 322 Star Trek game, 171, 192 Star Wars (movie), 345 Stargate machine, 424 Starpath, 369 Steel, 348, 410 Steffens, Lincoln, 473 Stephenson, Jeff, 347, 348, 419, 422 Stockman, Tom, 19 Stoneware company, 318 Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), 157 Sullivan, Jay, 300–303 Summer Camp, 348 Sunderland, April, 378 Sunderland, Dick, 299, 377, 379–380, 387, 400, 419, 421–422, 432 Sup’r Mod modulators, 267 Sussman, Gerry, 110 Sylvania company, 250 Synapse Software, 424–425 Synergy, 219–222 System, The, Systems Concepts, 133, 180 Systems hacking, 120–122 Systems programs, 19 Systems software, 300 T TA Associates, 375 Target game, 247, 272 Tatum, Tom, 413–417 Taylor, Robert, 125 Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC), 6–8, 61, 63, 69, 86, 96, 376 Tech Square, 65–66, 92, 123, 164 war-era security measures, 126 498 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 476 Telephone interface board, 277 Telephone network fingerprinting, 40 Tempest, 369 Ten Little Indians (Christie), 306 TENEX, 122 Third Generation, 345 Third Generation hackers, 381, 389 Thompson, Dan, 416 Thompson, Hunter S., 404 Thorlin, Fred, 339 Thread memory, 471 Threshold game, 357, 362 Tiger Toys, 372 Time sharing, 58, 115, 118–120 Time Zone game, 347, 349, 418 Tiny BASIC, 234, 238 Tiny BASIC Journal, 235 Tolklen, J.R.R., 135 Tom Swift Terminal, 180, 242, 280 Tommervik, Al, 318, 341, 407, 408 Tommervik, Margot, 318–320, 407–408, 417 Tomorrow TV show, 247 Tool (jargon), 10 Tool Room, 10, 70, 71 Tools for Conviviality (Illich), 179, 182 Tools to Make Tools, 29, 146 Tools, use of, 99 Tools-to-Make-Tools, 304 Torvalds, Linus, 472 Transamerica Corporation, 161 Travolta, John, 432 Tri-Pos, Three-Position Display (Minskytron), 49 TRS-80 home computer, 276, 317 TV Typewriter, 184, 256 Twentieth Century Fox Games, 373, 414, 432 Twerps game, 383 TX-0 (Tixo), 14–17, 27–28 Tymshare Company, 173 Index U U.S Navy, 77 Ultima game, 398 Ultima game, 397 Ulysses and the Golden Fleece game, 352, 417 Univac, 67, 78 Unused op-codes, 107 User definable characters, 330 UT-3 debugging program, 20 V VCS machine, 321, 338, 371, 418 Venture capital, 375, 402 VersaWriter, 307 Viaweb, 474 VIC-20 computer, 427 Video display module (VDM), 243 Vietnam War, 124 VisiCalc, 347 Von Braun, Werner, Vortex Model program, 89 Vril power, 224 W Wagner, Bob, 16, 34 Wall Street Journal, The, 363, 430 Wall Wars game, 292 WarGames (movie), 279 Warner Entertainment conglomerate, 337 Warren, Jim, 218, 235–236, 267–269, 271, 273, 317 Watchtower publication, 357 Weather Underground, 126 Weizenbaum, Joseph, 127 Western Electric College Gift Plan, Western Electric company, 40 WGBH (Boston public TV channel), Wheels of Zeus, 468 Whirlwind computer, 11 Whole Earth Catalog, 168, 169, 197 Wigginton, Randy, 253, 265, 272, 276, 278 Index Williams, John, 334 Williams, Ken, 290–298, 301, 321, 332, 344, 345–353, 355, 361–364, 365, 369, 371–379, 394, 400, 406–411, 415, 418, 421–422, 425–427, 431–433, 475 Williams, Larry, 303 Williams, Roberta, 290, 295, 304, 321, 347, 373, 381, 387, 431, 475 Winnitude, 104 Wizard and the Princess game, 311, 349 Wizard of Id cartoon, 432 Wizard vs Wizards (TV contest), 413 Women hackers, lack of, 76 Women, hackers’ relations with, 74–76, 358–361 Wong, Mr (Chinese chef), 72, 73 Woods, Donald, 135–136 499 Word processing, 376, 432 Word word-processing software, 463 World Game, 164 Wozniak, Stephen (Steve, Woz), 201, 249–253, 256–259, 263–265, 276, 282, 289, 314, 319, 405, 410, 468–469 X XDS-940 computer, 133, 161 Xerox, 135, 161, 403 Y Yates, Bill, 188, 189 Z Ziploc bags, 314 Zork game, 362 Zuckerberg, Mark, 475 About the Author Steven Levy is a senior writer for Wired Previously, he was chief technology writer and a senior editor for Newsweek Levy has written six books and had articles published in Harper’s, Macworld, the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Premiere, and Rolling Stone Steven has won several awards during his 30-plus years of writing about technology, including Hackers, which PC Magazine named the best sci-tech book written in the last twenty years, and Crypto, which won the grand ebook prize at the 2001 Frankfurt Book festival Colophon The cover fonts are Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica Neue The text font is Sabon; the heading font is Myriad ... hackers who made their mark in the personal computer of the eighties This is in no way a formal history of the computer era, or of the particular arenas I focus upon Indeed, many of the people you... include the true hackers of the MIT artificial intelligence lab in the fifties and sixties; the populist, less sequestered hardware hackers in California in the seventies; and the young game hackers. .. days, the results of the machine’s ingestion of their “batch” of cards 6 Chapter This was something Samson knew, and of course it frustrated the hell out of Samson, who wanted to get at the damn