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Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
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Author: Scott Fullam
List Price: $29.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0596003145
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates (01 November, 2003)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 3,522
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Cool projects for rising hackers
Are you an electronic enthusiastic with a lot of spare time and some extra cash laying around? Well, turn those resources of time and money into awe-inspiring hacker projects. Scott Fullam's latest book is the tool you need for that transformation. Inside you'll discover plans for your own cubicle intrusion detection system - cube warriors of the world unite! See what's causing the traffic jams with your homemade video periscope for your car. Go all out and build a gigantic (building-sized) low-resolution display, perfect for declaring your love for your girlfriend, or for mad games of pong. The book is nicely laid out like a textbook and crammed full of illustrations and tables and schematics and photos. Page 270 (describing wearable computers) inspired me to hack my old camcorder's viewfinder for a handy head-mount display. Perhaps you'll be motivated to build your own home arcade machine (page 213) or customized TiVo from scratch. Whatever your hacking fancy, you'll find related projects within these pages. A must read for the experienced or up-and-coming hacker
Rating: 5 out of 5
Guide to "Better Hardware Hacking"
I'm not really a "geek," nor do I play one on TV. But after looking through a book like this, I might just be motivated to try and become one. This book is one that appeals to the "mad scientist" in all of us, the one that is always looking for ways to build the better mouse trap or the perfect home "do it all device." While some of us less "handy types" would be better off not coming anywhere near this book, there are enough projects listed here that even someone with little or no hardware experience would find at least a handful of projects doable. Projects like the "Macintosh aquarium" or the laptop PC power supply. In fact the book is divided into Basic and Advanced Hacks and techniques, so if you've started off with a couple of the basic projects finished, you can move on to more advanced ones. Very cool.And for each project, there is a graph for project cost, time and difficulty on the beginning page. For some projects, there's a list of what items you will need. There are also extensive step by step instructions for each "project," along with drawings, photos and diagrams. You'll love this book if you're one of those people who loves taking apart products and trying to "improve" upon their original design.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Funky and cool
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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