Home » forums » Hacking » Hardware Hacks

Dr. Bob's banned hacks

Submitted by drbob on August 13, 2004 - 4:54am. Hardware Hacks

I occurred to me a moment ago that since I'm no longer an apple employee, I can put my forbidden hacks back up. For those not in the know, I was forced to take these down a few years ago suddenly and mysteriously. I didn't break any rules, but I was investigated and informed that I'd be harassed until they found some excuse to fire me if I didn't take them down. Well, I'm out, and I'm never going back. No amount of money could convince me to return to that hellish existence.

"Think different" is a fallacy. It really means, "Think like us or you're a dirty commie!"

The Purple G3/G4 that started it all:

http://www.kinstle.com/~drbob/g4.html

My silver paneled PowerBook G3 came next:

http://www.kinstle.com/~drbob/pbg3.html

Then I hacked my airport base station. This one became hugely popular and attracted way too much attention to me. It was the I beam that broke the camel's back:

http://www.kinstle.com/~drbob/airport.html

But I didn't stop hacking, I just went underground with the most hacked cube ever:

http://www.kinstle.com/~drbob/cube.html

and quickly followed up with some easy but rewarding hacks to the FireWire PowerBook G3.

http://www.kinstle.com/~drbob/pismo.html

Of course I'll probably never buy another mac again, so I wouldn't expect new apple based hacks from me any time soon.

» login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

extra credit

Submitted by drbob on August 13, 2004 - 6:18am.

Bonus points to anyone who remembers the alias I used to post mods under, and triple score for anyone who deciphers the meaning of that alias.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments
Jon's picture

KMAA Productions? Kinstle Mu

Submitted by Jon on August 13, 2004 - 7:07am.

KMAA Productions? Kinstle Mutilates Any Apple? Kinstle Mods All Apples? Kinstle Makes Awesome Apples?

Random guesses...

» I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. - Fritz Perls

login or register to post comments
performaman's picture

I remember these! They are re

Submitted by performaman on August 13, 2004 - 12:38pm.

I remember these! They are really cool and I'm glad you can share them with us (again). Now, do you have any qualms about buying second-hand Apple products, since no money is going to Apple? Because if you could take a dremel and some plexiglass to the back case of an iMac LCD...

» Egg freckles?

login or register to post comments

HEH!

Submitted by jt on August 13, 2004 - 12:39pm.

Kiss My ( | ) Apple!

jt Eye-wink

» Perpetrator of the 68kMLA's text format impaired: Peripherals Links Project(tm)
. . . and LinksProjectClassic(tm)

login or register to post comments

Ban lifted on Apple product speculation?

Submitted by mutant_pie on August 13, 2004 - 2:43pm.

Oh Dr. Bob,

Now that you've officially severed ties to Apple Corp., and lifted the self imposed ban on your Apple hacks, does that mean that you'll lift the other ban that you had in place on the board. . . the one forbidding upcoming Apple product speculation?

Mutant_Pie

»
login or register to post comments
Hokusai's picture

Hmm...

Submitted by Hokusai on August 13, 2004 - 3:12pm.

Ah, I remember those. You had to remove them? I didn't know that. Of course, I don't even know how long I've been posting on Applefritter.

» Macbook 2.1Ghz / 4GB / 120GB
GamingPC: Athlon 64 X2 5000+ / 2GB / 2x80GB / Radeon HD 4850

login or register to post comments
DanR's picture

Sch-weet!

Submitted by DanR on August 13, 2004 - 7:45pm.

I don't remember if I saw these the first time around, but I did pick up a couple of tips and some good ideas. Grin

»
login or register to post comments
visorboy333's picture

i remember them too. You prob

Submitted by visorboy333 on August 13, 2004 - 9:15pm.

i remember them too. You probably had to take them down because they were afraid of you making their hardware better. And cooler.

» Brenton

login or register to post comments

YEP! Wouldn't want to imply . . .

Submitted by jt on August 13, 2004 - 9:26pm.

. . . that the cube was either, underpowered, undercooled or especially that it was nearly impossible to upgrade now WOULD WE!?!!!!

People might think it was an overpriced flop or something equally abhorrent to Apple's Acolytes of the RDF!

jt Evil

» Perpetrator of the 68kMLA's text format impaired: Peripherals Links Project(tm)
. . . and LinksProjectClassic(tm)

login or register to post comments

The things you have done is f

Submitted by Arif on August 14, 2004 - 1:03am.

The things you have done is fantastic, why would anyone hold this against you?

and why should you choose never to buy an apple product again?... surely having worked their, you would then know even more than any of us do, how great macs are!?

»
login or register to post comments

Re: YEP! Wouldn't want to imply . . .

Submitted by drbob on August 14, 2004 - 1:19am.
jt wrote:
. . . that the cube was either, underpowered, undercooled or especially that it was nearly impossible to upgrade now WOULD WE!?!!!!

I think it was more of a "how dare he change our artwork" kind of thing.

I use mine to run the domain kinstle.com

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

Re: The things you have done is f

Submitted by drbob on August 14, 2004 - 1:20am.
Arif wrote:
and why should you choose never to buy an apple product again?... surely having worked their, you would then know even more than any of us do, how great macs are!?

Because they are overpriced and under powered. If they ever make a small cube like machine again I'd probably buy it for a server. I love OSX, but I don't care for the hardware.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

Re: HEH!

Submitted by drbob on August 14, 2004 - 1:21am.
jt wrote:
Kiss My ( | ) Apple!

DING DING DING!

The best part was hosting it on a mac.com account (back when they were free)

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

Re: Ban lifted on Apple product speculation?

Submitted by drbob on August 14, 2004 - 1:24am.
mutant_pie wrote:
Now that you've officially severed ties to Apple Corp., and lifted the self imposed ban on your Apple hacks, does that mean that you'll lift the other ban that you had in place on the board. . . the one forbidding upcoming Apple product speculation?

Let's be clear on something. That ban was not self imposed. It was imposed by Apple security and my management.

As for rumors, I still think it would be a bad thing for this forum.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

HAR!®

Submitted by jt on August 14, 2004 - 1:50am.
drbob wrote:
jt wrote:
Kiss My ( | ) Apple!

DING DING DING!

The best part was hosting it on a mac.com account (back when they were free)

U lil' Evil!!!!!

jt Grin

edit: uh oh! looks like we've got another emoticon inna' quote bug again!

» Perpetrator of the 68kMLA's text format impaired: Peripherals Links Project(tm)
. . . and LinksProjectClassic(tm)

login or register to post comments
sourapple's picture

I never knew those were banne

Submitted by sourapple on August 14, 2004 - 4:09am.

I never knew those were banned.....

» http://www.applemachome.com

login or register to post comments

Re: I never knew those were banne

Submitted by drbob on August 14, 2004 - 7:35am.
sourapple wrote:
I never knew those were banned.....

quite some time ago

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments
g3head's picture

wayback machine

Submitted by g3head on August 14, 2004 - 7:39pm.

Look at archive.org's copies of Applefritter, It's come a long way.

» 1 stories posted
login or register to post comments
BDub's picture

It's Come A Long Way

Submitted by BDub on August 14, 2004 - 11:02pm.

I was just browsing over all the old front page layouts. I still like this one the best.

I can't believe it's only been 5 years since Applefritter came online. Stuff would be different without it.

Nice to see the hacks up again Doc.

» "There is going to be a future: let's chase it until it kills us." - Spider Robinson
19 stories posted
login or register to post comments

okay, I know it's late but I

Submitted by The Lightning S... on September 10, 2004 - 5:57am.

okay, I know it's late but I think:
My ( | ) Apple! = My Ass Apple!

»
login or register to post comments
Jon's picture

You're missing the Kiss to ma

Submitted by Jon on September 10, 2004 - 11:03pm.

You're missing the Kiss to make it KMAA.

» I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. - Fritz Perls

login or register to post comments
sourapple's picture

RI for RIAA :ebc:

Submitted by sourapple on September 13, 2004 - 6:29am.

RI for

RIAA Evil

» http://www.applemachome.com

login or register to post comments

Airport

Submitted by ravuya on September 14, 2004 - 6:49pm.

To be honest, do you think the stuff over the Airport router was due to the fact that you were technically modifying an FCC-certified gadget?

I wouldn't yell at any employee for buying stuff from the company and then modifying it to suit his own fiendish needs. I might have a few problems if you were doing Sony VAIO hacks, but not from the same company.

Shame that you're getting out of the hardware; I think it's just getting good.

»
login or register to post comments

Re: Airport

Submitted by drbob on September 16, 2004 - 4:34am.
ravuya wrote:
To be honest, do you think the stuff over the Airport router was due to the fact that you were technically modifying an FCC-certified gadget?

My modification had no effect on the FCC certification. All FCC licenses are based on amplifier output power and are assumed to be 100% efficient. All I did was use a better antenna. I didn't boost the amplifier power, only the effective radiated power.

ravuya wrote:
Shame that you're getting out of the hardware; I think it's just getting good.

Well, I did so many mac hacks because I was getting the hardware for free. I'm not getting out of hardware hacks, but I'm shifting from what I consider an overpriced and dead end fanatical use base, to designing my own hardware and doing it totally custom. I'm working on a couple projects right now that will keep me busy for the next few months. None of them are computers, but I really feel I've hit my limit in modding computers. In order to challenge myself and keep learning new things, I have to shift my focus into my own work.

Don't worry, I'll release most of my schematics under GPL.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments
Jon's picture

Oh, schematics! :ebc: Thos

Submitted by Jon on September 16, 2004 - 11:25pm.

Oh, schematics! Evil Those must be some fun very custom toys you are planning.

» I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. - Fritz Perls

login or register to post comments
Kurenai's picture

Wow

Submitted by Kurenai on September 17, 2004 - 4:40am.

I remember these from AF1, i always liked the cube.

»
login or register to post comments

[quote]Well, I did so many ma

Submitted by ravuya on September 20, 2004 - 4:02pm.
Quote:
Well, I did so many mac hacks because I was getting the hardware for free

You get stuff for free when you work at Apple? Or is it just at such of a discount your co-workers would dump it into your willing arms when they moved to the next rev of hardware?

Hopefully you enjoy your new job, and steer clear of upper management.

»
login or register to post comments

Re: [quote]Well, I did so many ma

Submitted by drbob on September 25, 2004 - 5:01am.
ravuya wrote:
You get stuff for free when you work at Apple? Or is it just at such of a discount your co-workers would dump it into your willing arms when they moved to the next rev of hardware?

For some time, there was a notion that if you worked on a product, then you got one at the end. However, that has been mostly untrue for the past 2 years now.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

Re: Oh, schematics! :ebc: Thos

Submitted by drbob on September 25, 2004 - 5:04am.
Jon wrote:
Oh, schematics! Those must be some fun very custom toys you are planning.

Fun for me, but my current project is mainly functional. not flashy.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments

None of the links to www.kins

Submitted by kloneman on October 5, 2004 - 6:30am.

None of the links to www.kinstle.com work. Is this site back offline???Puzzled

»
login or register to post comments

Re: None of the links to www.kins

Submitted by drbob on October 7, 2004 - 2:00am.
kloneman wrote:
None of the links to www.kinstle.com work. Is this site back offline???Puzzled

huh, the web server stopped accepting connections even though the server was running. Odd. Oh well, I rebooted it and it's working OK now.

» Dr. Bob
Applefritter Admin
7 stories posted
login or register to post comments