Hackers

Who’s Who: The Wizards and Their Machines

Bob Albrecht. Founder of People’s Computer Company who took visceral pleasure in 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 800. This 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 Box. World-record-holding gold prospectors turned software stars, working for Sierra On-Line.

Doug Carlston. Corporate lawyer who chucked it all to form the Brøderbund software company.

Bob Davis. Left a job in a liquor store to become the bestselling author of the Sierra On-Line computer game Ulysses and the Golden Fleece. Success was his downfall.

Peter Deutsch. Bad in sports, brilliant at math, Peter was still in short pants when he stumbled on the TX-0 at MIT—and hacked it along with the masters.

Steve Dompier. Homebrew member who first made Altair sing, and later wrote the Target game on the Sol, which entranced Tom Snyder.

John Draper. The notorious “Captain Crunch” who fearlessly explored phone systems, was jailed, and later hacked microcomputers. Cigarettes made him violent.

Mark Duchaineau. The young Dungeonmaster who copy-protected On-Line’s disks at his whim.

Chris Espinosa ...