Put a hacker in a room with a Furby for a weekend and you'll hear a conversation that's fairly one-sided in its originality. Toss in an 802.11b network card, a soldering iron, wire cutters, a logic probe, and a few other carefully selected tools and materials and you'll have potential. Add a copy of Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks and by the end of the weekend that Furby will be saying things you never imagined.
From building an Internet toaster to creating a cubicle intrusion detection system, Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks offers an array of inventive, customized electronics projects for the geek who can't help looking at a gadget and wondering how it might be "upgraded." Beginning with basic hacks, tools, and techniques for those who may not have a background in electronics, the book covers the tools of the hardware hacking trade and basic soldering techniques, then moves into more advanced hacking projects. Clear step-by-step instructions allow even those with no formal electronics- or hardware-engineering skills to hack real hardware in very clever ways.
Hacks in the book are rated on a scale of difficulty, cost, and duration. Projects range from those that are truly useful to some things you may have never thought to do, but which are really cool, such as:
PrefacePart One: Basic Hacks, Tools, and TechniquesChapter 1: How to Build a Portable Laptop Power SupplyChapter 2: How to Build an Aquarium Inside a MacintoshChapter 3: How to Hack 802.11b AntennasChapter 4: How to Build a PC Water-Cooling SystemChapter 5: How to Hack a Furby (and Other Talking Toys)Chapter 6: How to Hack a Video Periscope for Your CarPart Two: Advanced Hacks, Tools, and TechniquesChapter 7: How to Build a Digital Video RecorderChapter 8: How to Hack a Building-Size DisplayChapter 9: How to Build a Cubicle Intrusion Detection SystemChapter 10: How to Build an Internet ToasterChapter 11: How to Build a Home Arcade MachineChapter 12: How to Build a Remote Object TrackerChapter 13: How to Make RC Cars Play Laser TagChapter 14: How to Build a Wearable ComputerChapter 15: How to Build an Internet CoffeemakerPart Three: AppendixesAppendix A: Schematic Capture SoftwareAppendix B: CommunicationAppendix C: Easy-to-Use Microcontroller BoardsAppendix D: Power SourcesAppendix E: ResourcesColophon
Anonymous
Posted February 8, 2004
Was it Peter Pan who said 'never grow old'? Because this book is for a select few. The ceaseless tinkerers who never left their childhoods. The common theme thru all the projects Fullam describes is one of hands on experimentalism. Enthusiasm is a more important prerequisite than technical background or skill. Electronics naturally pervades more examples. But simple stuff, and he even has explanations of how to read the colour coding of resistors. There is a modicum of software, because these days, even for hardware purists, you can rarely totally ignore software. Perhaps what Fullam should do is consider an advanced sequel to this book, if the latter is well received. Those who enjoy the projects here may appreciate something more challenging. There is a burgeoning field of people using mini ITX systems for all sorts of crazy off the wall stuff. These ITXs are full computer systems, reduced to the basics of motherboard with cpu, memory and disk, all for a few hundred dollars. Hobbyists are putting them into funky mobile applications. From Fullam's expertise shown in this book, he is well qualified to take your tinkering to the next level.
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Posted December 6, 2003
Like Don Lancaster's TTL Cookbook and Horowitz & Hill's Art of Electronics, Mr. Fullam's book is definitely going to become a classic enabling virtually anyone to create insanely cool things.
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Overview
Put a hacker in a room with a Furby for a weekend and you'll hear a conversation that's fairly one-sided in its originality. Toss in an 802.11b network card, a soldering iron, wire cutters, a logic probe, and a few other carefully selected tools and materials and you'll have potential. Add a copy of Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks and by the end of the weekend that Furby will be saying things you never imagined.
From building an Internet toaster to creating a cubicle ...