Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution, by Steven Levy
(C)1984 by Steven Levy
Chapters 1 and 2 ofHackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolutionby Steven Levy
Who's Who
The Wizards and their Machines
Bob AlbrechtFound of People's Computer Company who took visceral pleasurein exposing youngsters to computers.
Altair 8800
The pioneering microcomputer that galvanized hardware hackers.
Building this kit made you learn hacking. Then you tried to
figure out what to DO with it.
Apple II ][Steve Wozniak's friendly, flaky, good-looking computer,wildly successful and the spark and soul of a thriving industry.
Atari 800This home computer gave great graphics to game hackers like John Harris,though the company that made it was loath to tell you how it worked.
Bob and Carolyn BoxWorld-record-holding gold prospectors turned software stars,working for Sierra On-Line.
Doug CarlstonCorporate lawyer who chucked it all to form the Broderbundsoftware company.
Bob Davis
Left job in liquor store to become best-selling author
of Sierra On-Line computer game "Ulysses and the Golden Fleece."
Success was his downfall.
Peter DeutschBad in sports, brilliant at math, Peter was still in short pantswhen he stubled on the TX-0 at MIT—and hacked italong with the masters.
Steve DompierHomebrew member who first made the Altair sing,and later wrote the "Targe" game on the Solwhich entranced Tom Snyder.
John Draper
The notorious "Captain Crunch" who fearlessly explored
the phone systems, got jailed, hacked microprocessors.
Cigarettes made his violent.
Mark DuchaineauThe young Dungeonmaster who copy-protected On-Lines disksat his whim.
Chris EsponosaFourteen-year-old follower of Steve Wozniakand early Apple employee.
Lee FelsensteinFormer "military editor" of Berkeley Barb,and hero of an imaginary science-fiction novel,he designed computers with "junkyard" approachand was central figure in Bay Area hardwarehacking in the seventies.
Ed FredkinGentle founder of Information International,thought himself world's greates programmeruntil he met Stew Nelson. Father figure to hackers.
Gordon FrenchSilver-haired hardware hacker whose garage held not carsbut his homebrewed Chicken Hawk comptuer, then held thefirst Homebrew Computer Club meeting.
Richard GarriottAstronaut's son who, as Lord British,created Ultima world on computer disks.
Bill GatesCocky wizard, Harvard dropout who wrote Altair BASIC,and complained when hackers copied it.
Bill Gosper
Horwitz of computer keyboards, master math and LIFE hacker
at MIT AI lab, guru of the Hacker Ethic and student of
Chinese restaurant menus.
Richard GreenblattSingle-minded, unkempt, prolific, and canonical MIT hackerwho went into night phase so often that he zorchedhis academic career. The hacker's hacker.
John HarrisThe young Atari 800 game hacker who became Sierra On-Line'sstar programmer, but yearned for female companionship.
IBM-PCIBM's entry into the personal computer marketwhich amazingly included a bit of the Hacker Ethic,and took over. [H.E. as open architecture.]
IBM 704
IBM was The Enemy, and this was its machine,
the Hulking Giant computer in MI