Interviews: Ask Andrew "bunnie" Huang About Hardware and Hacking 58
samzenpus (5) writes Andrew "bunnie" Huang holds a Ph.D in electrical engineering from MIT and is one of the most famous hardware and software hackers in the world. He is a contributing writer for MAKE magazine, and has worked on a number of projects ranging from autonomous robotic submarines to peel-and-stick electronics. We recently covered one of his latest projects, an open source hardware laptop called Novena which features entirely NDA-free components. Bunnie has agreed to take a break from his work and hack away at any questions you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one question per post.
Why "bunnie"? (Score:1)
Seriously, that's the first question I have whenever I see his name. I just can't get past it. What's the story behind that nickname? Please tell me so I can focus on his good works instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously. I can't get past that nickname. Whenever I hear it, I immediately think the guy is a joke.
A better nickname would be good for him.
Re: (Score:3)
What's in a name?
Seriously, why would the name turn you off to his work? I know bunnie is a cutesy-wootsy name but it has no bearing on who he is or what he does. Maybe he likes rabbits. Maybe its what his mother calls him. Maybe it was a nickname he earned on the mean streets of Boston during his time at MIT. Either way, who really cares?
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe he likes Reggae [wikipedia.org]?
Re: (Score:2)
Let me introduce you to the president of our Fortune 100 company, Mr. Davis "Fluffy Bunny Poopie Uppums Dumpling Pants" Stonebaum.
Bunnie is a pet name for someone's girlfriend. It's not even bunny spelled right. That's not a guy's name. That's not a nickname any guy would like to have. That's not professional.
Let me introduce you to the president of our Fortune 100 company, Mr. Davis "Fatass" Stonebaum.
Let me introduce you to the president of
Re: (Score:2)
Or it shows that he takes things a hell of a lot less seriously than you do.
I think we could use taking stuff less seriously as a society.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That's not a guy's name.
oe noes. He doesn't 100% conform to the standard middle of the road ideal of gender norms. Clearly someone like that can't be trusted to design a laptop. Because that's for men with a wife, 2 kids, 2 cars and a big lawn in suburbia, who would never ever *EVER* do something their work collegues or friday night ar buddies might deem not 100% masciline.
It shows odd judgement.
And the fact that he built a laptpo for hmself doesn't? (note: odd, not bad).
These are flags to stay away from
Re: (Score:2)
Because the only thing that can stop him is the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
Re: (Score:2)
Three!
Chinese industry (Score:2)
What is the most important thing you wish you had learned earlier about manufacturing in China?
Re: (Score:2)
And speaking of learning, where have you learned things that you could not easily or ever have figured out on your own? Which environment or learning experience do you look back on with gratitude?
Why so expensive? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I've never heard of you (Score:3, Insightful)
No disrespect intended, but let's say we stop some random people on the street and ask them to name a famous hardware hacker. I bet that question isn't showing up on Family Feud anytime soon!
What can we do to increase the public awareness (and create more hardware hackers)? I was thinking perhaps high schools could have shop classes for nerds -- instead of working on engines, wood working, etc, it would be hardware and software.
Re: (Score:2)
No disrespect intended, but let's say we stop some random people on the street and ask them to name a famous hardware hacker. I bet that question isn't showing up on Family Feud anytime soon!
A random person on the street might be able to name the person who first developed Linux.... but probably not. That doesn't mean Linus isn't well-known in tech circles.
I'd heard of bunnie for his work cracking the original Xbox. Here [wikipedia.org] is his Wikipedia page.
Re: (Score:2)
If any questions about the original Xbox come up.. (Score:2)
...and Andrew/bunnie doesn't answer them, I can. I'm very briefly mentioned in the book under a different Internet name that I'd rather not say here.
I was the person who figured out how to dump the second version of the MCPX's secret boot ROM without having to repeat the HyperTransport bus tap craziness that Andrew did in the first place. Namely, the A20M# attack, which was much easier to do. (If Andrew hadn't done his original attack, though, we wouldn't have had the knowledge necessary to pull off my a
Re: (Score:3)
A random person in the street can name you multiple Kardashians but won't be able to name you the vice president.
So no, a random person on the street won't know who Linus Torvalds is.
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking perhaps high schools could have shop classes for nerds -- instead of working on engines, wood working, etc, it would be hardware and software.
There is something to be said for mastering traditional tools and materials. Stone, Wood, Metal and Glass. Paving a walk. Building a fence, a deck, a table.
How do you become a professional hardware hacker (Score:5, Interesting)
What advice would you give to a person who wanted to make a living in the "Maker" tradition - being able to spend your days designing, engineering, and building on technically interesting and creative maker projects? I'm most interested in the career aspect, assuming that you've already obtained a preliminary education: would you look for a job with a similarly minded engineering firm, launch a kickstarter, start a hackerspace, hack together some things and try to sell them through a webstore, work as a freelance engineer, or something else entirely?
Colon, not comma (Score:1)
There should be a colon after "one of his latest projects." The following clause specifies the preceding clause: it explains what "one of his latest projects" is. Because it's a restrictive clause, it's followed by a colon rather than a comma. Notice the preceding clause was non-restrictive: many things may be followed by a colon rather than a comma, so a comma is used to show the relationship between the two clauses. If we omit "because" from the sentence, we have an independent clause; either a semi
100% Open Hardware (Score:1)
At what point will we be seeing a 100% complete open hardware platforms, replaceable~ for modern OTS offerings? By that, I mean from silicon manufacture to FOSS binary. 100% open design, manufacture, and source code.
I'd like to think this endeavour isn't more than a thought experiment.
Small Scale Chip Manufacturing? (Score:2)
Where do you see small scale chip manufacturing, up to and including custom multi core CPU's, going in the near future?
How was it growing up? (Score:2)
Restrictions in the future? (Score:2)
Do you see manufacturers of the future attempting to put restrictions on hardware hacking, either more technical or legal? Will manufacturers order CPUs without I2C pins, or toy drones with UEFI secure boot operating systems? Have other countries put restrictions on hardware hacking that have affected you?
Lappy toppy (Score:2)
Do you plan to use an x86 CPU in a future design?
I love the idea of a laptop that is a portable hardware hacking platform. Its a trifecta of PC + FPGA dev board + open source design in one portable box. I can carry one system and it has everything I need. But the limitation that seems to hamstring it is the ARM CPU which is unable to run the Xilinx tools. This means we have to lug an x86 laptop to run the Xilinx tools if we want to make changes to the HDL code. That or use a remote server/workstation to bui
Re: (Score:2)
Is there an x86 part that is 100% open with no NDAs required?
How do you go about discovering hacks? (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't read your book (I will when I get off work) but I'm curious as to how exactly people discover these hacks. I mean, there's some really weird ones out there that make me question how people even thought to do them, such as hacking a PSP battery into service mode in order to load custom firmware or manually opening a PS2's disc tray to bypass the copy protection that only activated when the button to open or close the DVD drive was pressed. I know with the Xbox, there was a software hack (I don't know if it's the same one you found) with save files from certain games, but only specific versions of those games.
So my question is, how do you go about looking for exploits?
Current-Gen Consoles: "Unhackable"? (Score:1)
One follow-up question.
With the current console generation giving the manufacturers the ability to do things like force firmware updates when trying to run games or check for updates constantly (WiiConnect24 or Spotpass on the 3DS), and most importantly the ability to update their firmware to remove exploits, it could be argued that today's consoles are the most secure in terms of prevention from hacks that don't rely on inside information.
At the same time, none of the current-gen consoles or handhelds has
Hacking the Xbox (Score:2)
One of my first forays into the realm of hardware hacking was following along as you recorded your exploration of the original Xbox console [xenatera.com]. I was fascinated by the hardware, but enjoyed your analysis and methods even more. It was you that got me interested in hardware and hacking. (Aside: Thank you very much for releasing your book as a freely-available download [nostarch.com] and for the open-letter about Aaron and MIT)
What was the most memorable experience for you of your Xbox expose? Was there a particular part of
Re: (Score:1)
You actually have an amazing collection of questions there. I doubt the powers that be would put this forward to bunnie as they are all in one post.
Would be great if you put them in sepatate posts
Re: (Score:2)
I don't agree that multiple question marks necessarily == multiple questions, but I'll take the advice of my anonymous friends and restructure my question:
During your original Xbox expose, was there a memorable experience you had that stands out -- perhaps a particular part of the hardware that you found especially well-designed (or laughably poor), or maybe a method that yielded unexpected success (or failure)?
Re: (Score:2)
And the second half of my question:
I remember you posting the voicemail of the Microsoft employee asking you to remove the images of the Xbox ROM from your website -- something I got a good laugh out of. What other kind of fallout from Microsoft that you have to deal with?
Why proprietary software? (Score:1)
The tower of success (Score:2)
Getting Started (Score:1)
How did your parents... (Score:1)
How to make the best of a visit to Shenzhen/HK? (Score:1)