Tales from the hack – The time Mudge and Kingpin helped save a bunch of Apple IIGS with Ladyada in high school … @dotMudge @joegrand #talesfromthehack

Apple ladyada

Limor (ladyada) told me a story from when she was in high school today that was so good, I asked her if we could share it on our blog (and I checked with Mudge and Kingpin too!) –

this past week, i’ve been spending a lot of time doing fun hacker-coding stuff with floppy disks. like many folks my age, i grew up using computers with floppy disk drives: c64’s, boxy macs, early pc’s, apple ii’s so, i started thinking a bit more about my first computers. back then, like it is now, i was made fun of or disbelieved when i told folks about the projects i was working on – lots of people saying girls just weren’t “really” into that kinda stuff! but i do have some great memories…

the high school i went to had a small IT department, and i would help out after school. i think i did simple stuff like wrapping cords, installing software on 50 computers in the lab, doing basic hardware swaps and repairs. or maybe i just played games – i’d like to think i was helpful 🙂

this was in 1997 or so, and the computer programming lab got a full renovation – used to be all apple 2’s (i thiiiink they were //gs but maybe they were //c’s?) and got converted to PCs. the old computers were all stacked in the basement cage when the IT director said that the school was going to toss them all out, but if i wanted some i could take them home before they were dumpstered. nobody was really using 2’s anymore by that time!

i was hanging out at the l0pht and other hacker spaces at the time, and i knew if there’s one thing that hackers *love* its free hardware! i contacted joe grand (a.k.a. kingpin) to let them know there was a great stash for picking, and joe came over to help dig through the pile. we fished out some of the best hardware and stacked it in front of the highschool quad. then Mudge (Peiter Zatko) pulled up in front of us in this INCREDIBLE BITCHIN BLACK MUSTANG COBRA. every high school kid who was outside smoking and skating stopped at once, and turned to look as i got in, with apple ii’s piled on my lap. i became the coolest person overnight (briefly), everyone wanted to know how i had a friend with such a great looking ride!

There are good people in the world, doing good and helping each other, we all get to decide if we’re going to be that person each day, I hope these stories we post will show the potential in all of us, that weirdo girl who likes computers – help make that spark that can make the next Ladyada, we need more of people like her out here. That person online, a “newbie” we were all beginners once, help them out – ya never know what they could become.

97svtcobra

Pictured here, not THE car that Mudge had, but close from what I am told!


Halloween season is here!
Halloween season is here! Check out all the posts, gift guides, and more!

Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 10/30/24 Adafruit LPS28 (LPS28DFW) Pressure Sensor – STEMMA QT / Qwiic

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: MicroPython v1.24.0 is here, a Halloween Wrap-up and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Halloween, WiLo, and more!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — First Solar’s $1.1 billion development of vertically integrated factory in the U.S.

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — Trigger happy oscilloscope?

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.