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Summary: A "how to" book for the computer savvy
Review: Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty shows just how to take an ordinary piece of computer equipment and transform it into something bigger, better, faster, and more fun. This compendium of tips, tricks and techniques ranges from modifying a standard Apple USB Mouse in a glowing UFO Mouse; create an arcade-style Atari 5200 paddle controller for retro video games; boot PlayStation 2 code from the memory card or adapt PlayStation 2 for homemade game development; design, build, and configure Windows or Linux-based Home Theater PC; remove proprietary barcode encoding from CueCat, and so much more. Clearly a "how to" book for the computer savvy (and one which the industry probably wishes didn't exist!), Hardware Hacking is a veritable and highly recommended repository of interesting things to do with "off the shelf" components!
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Summary: I lucked out.
Review: I actually bought my copy of the book at a conference I was at last week right when it first came out. I'm glad I did because Iknow some friends of mine have tried buying it now and it seems like a lot of places have sold out their books already. I read almost the whole book on my plane ride home. This worked really well becaue I was able to figure out the hacks I really wanted to do and then go through them following all of the steps once I got home. I then spent pretty much the whole weekend in my workshop.
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Summary: Very, very interesting...
Review: I bought this book for the "Electrical Engineering Basics" chapter and the HTPC chapter. The other ones, like modifying the NES controller for use on an Atari, I do find interesting but could just as easily find online. The HTPC chapter is the main reason I purchased the book and one of the two chapters I have read so far: it does however have one rather important omission. If you have a cable provider that requires a cable box (or satellite) you will need an "IR Blaster" (a device that sits under your cable box/receiver directly in line of the remote receiver, relaying any and all buttons pushes like channel changes and volume adjustments) to change channels at a particular time to record for instance. As it stands the HTPC described wouldn't do a whole lot of good for the desired purpose. To clarify a post by a prior reviewer the hack in this book is not to make the Atari 7800 backwards compatible with the 2600 (the 7800 already is) but rather to make a few select games which for various reasons don't work on the 7800 compatible (there's a rather concise explanation explaining this in the chapter).
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Summary: More Fun "Hacking" your "Toys"
Review: I like how this book in effect carries on where the O'Reilly book Hardware Hacking for Geeks leaves off. Not only does it detail a number of interesting products to hack, it also contains detailed instructions, figures and pictures to further illustrate its how to directions. Among the projects listed here? Hacking your old Atari computers, or the Playstation 2, or replacing the battery on your Apple Ipod, or even turning your old ClueCat into a bar code reader. There's also a chapter on electronics basics. And near the end of the book are chapters on the basics of various operating systems and programming concepts. This is another excellent book of "hacking" projects for those who enjoy tinkering with products to improve or tailor them for a user's particular needs.
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Summary: Outstanding Book from the TRUE hacker's viewpoint
Review: I received this book today and can only say "Wow!" This book embodies the true meaning of hacking, a term that has been used and abused for so long it's TRUE meaning has been completely distorted. Joe Grand, and the other authors, have taken many everyday items that many of us have laying around the house and demonstrated ways to modify and improve them...this is hacking. Moreover, after reading this book and trying some or all of the hacks out, you will want to start investigating other items you have that could possibly be modified and improved. A book that both informs AND stimulates thought? Absolutely. Finally, authors that understand what hacking is, and aren't afraid to admit it...in fact, they embrace it. Five stars, an absolutley fantastic read.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Book from the TRUE hacker's viewpoint
Review: I received this book today and can only say "Wow!" This book embodies the true meaning of hacking, a term that has been used and abused for so long it's TRUE meaning has been completely distorted. Joe Grand, and the other authors, have taken many everyday items that many of us have laying around the house and demonstrated ways to modify and improve them...this is hacking. Moreover, after reading this book and trying some or all of the hacks out, you will want to start investigating other items you have that could possibly be modified and improved. A book that both informs AND stimulates thought? Absolutely. Finally, authors that understand what hacking is, and aren't afraid to admit it...in fact, they embrace it. Five stars, an absolutley fantastic read.
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Summary: DON'T GIVE APPLE ANY MORE OF YOUR $$$$
Review: I was so [mad] at Apple for their iPod battery replacement policy, that I decided to replace it myself. You can get the batteries cheap from lots of different places. I'm pretty good at tinkering with things but I was worried that I might really do damage to my iPod. I was totally psyched when i saw this book covered how to replace the battery on your own. I had found a couple of pretty cheesy things on the internet, but nothing like this. The photos are really detailed and professional looking and the instructions are incredibly clear. I got the book just for the battery thing, but there's lots of other very cool stuff for the iPod in there. I've also now build my own home theater PC system using a lot of the info. from this book.
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Summary: Good stuff for the experienced hacker..
Review: If you're the hard-core type that likes to take things apart and "fix" them, you'll like Hardware Hacking: Having Fun While Voiding Your Warranty by Joe Grand (Syngress). Your discarded toys will never be quite the same again.
Chapter list: Tools of the Warranty Voiding Trade; Electrical Engineering Basics; Declawing Your CueCat; Case Modification: Building a Custom Terabyte FireWire Hard Drive; Macintosh; Home Theater PCs; Hack Your Atari 2600 and 7800; Hack Your Atari 5200 and 8-Bit Computer; Hacking the PlayStation 2; Wireless 802.11 Hacks; Hacking the iPod; Can You Hear Me Now? Nokia 6210 Mobile Phone Modifications; Upgrading Memory on Palm Devices; Operating Systems Overview; Coding 101; Index
The first thing to know about this book is that it isn't a beginner's volume. There is some serious hardware modifications going on here. You should be comfortable with electrical theory, devices such as resistors and capacitors, and tools like soldering irons. Also, I'd recommend that you don't try these things on primary devices. I'd say there's a decent chance you could damage it trying some of these tricks. But having said all that, you'll enjoy the book if you meet the above qualifications.
Since I'm not a major hardware geek, I don't know that I could do many of these mods. One of the mods that would be useful even to non-geeks is the chapter on the iPod. You will learn how to replace the battery and how to upgrade the hard drive on your earlier generation iPods, and you don't even need to be that handy. That tip alone would probably pay for the cost of the book. Each hack is very well illustrated with excellent photos and instructions, so you don't feel like you're reading assembly instructions written by something that was run through an automatic translator.
So if you have some old video game consoles gathering dust in the basement, pull them out and see what you can do with them using this book. You'll end up being the envy of all your geeky friends. :-)
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Summary: Something fun for everyone
Review: Modify your hardware to do something it was never intended to do and have fun in the process! Being the technical editor and primary author of this book, it was my honor to work with some of the best known hardware hackers in the various industries (video games, consumer electronics, Macintosh, etc.) This book has something for everyone, whether you're just curious about tinkering or if you're a hardcore hardware hacker. It not only shows you step-by-step hacks, it teaches you the methods that hardware hackers use to modify their products, so you can go out and void the warranty of your favorite products even if they're not mentioned in the book! Definetely a great read in an exciting new genre of book: fun, entertaining, and educational.
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Summary: Stayed up all night reading and hacking
Review: Ok, I'm a geek. I admit it. I just got my book yesterday and stayed up all night reading and trying some of the hacks. This book is awesome becaues it has the right combination of explaining how things work and also giving you real instrucions on the hacks. I'm a gaming console junkie so I really liked the PS2 and Ataris stuff especially. Highly recommended!
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