Hacking my own computer

You wanna hack your own computer? Through what? Through ftp? (vantage point scratches head and reconsiders meaning of life)

I don't think you'll be able to accomplish much through ftp, unless you're running some really funky ftp server software. Which OS are you using? Are you using UNIX something or other? If you're using classic Mac OS (OS 9 and below) you're not gonna get anywhere.

Probably what you wanna do is setup your inetd.conf file to allow telnet connections. (ftp connections too, if you want) Assuming of course, you're running one of the myriad flavours of Unix. Actually, uncommenting the telnet lines in the inetd file is all that is necessary to permit telnet connections.

Linux, I believe, will require that you install the ftp and telnet daemons in order to establish connections. These files usually have names like telnetd and ftpd. This is, of course, assuming that these were not installed as default. Depending on how these daemons are installed, you will need to make the necessary changes to the super server, inetd.

So what is it that you want to do?

In order to access your computer through FTP, you'll have to setup and run an FTP server on it, and forward the proper ports if you've got a router in the way. In order to help with this, we need to know what type of computer you're running (Mac OS X? Classic? Windows XP, 98 etc?) Who is your ISP? I'm wondering as some ISPs block common server ports.

Also, just to clarify terms, you are not asking about how to 'hack' your own computer. You're asking how to setup an FTP server. The following is an excerpt from ESR's "How To Become a Hacker". Though it's a fairly ego-stroking guide, this section is more or less accurate:

The Jargon File contains a bunch of definitions of the term ‘hacker’, most having to do with technical adeptness and a delight in solving problems and overcoming limits. If you want to know how to become a hacker, though, only two are really relevant.

There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker.

The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music — actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them ‘hackers’ too — and some claim that the hacker nature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term ‘hacker’.

There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren't as smart as you think you are. And that's all I'm going to say about crackers.

That being preached, we are of course, happy to help you learn.

can i get that book on amazon?

There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker.

Hmmm, I hadn't considered that before. This is possibly why Al Gore lost the presidency to George W. Bush. Al Gore, having invented the Internet, is a hacker. And we all know the negative conotations that the media have placed on the moniker. Better it be that you're labelled Satan than to be a "hacker" in the age of viruses, spyware, and other miscelaneous malware.

Kind of brings a tear to my eye when I think of Al Gore returning home to his oscilloscope, frequency counter, logic probe, assember, C compiler, and PowerPC equipped homebrew computers, after that devestating election to defeat to G.W.

Ya know, kind of makes me wonder why John Kerry lost the election to George W. Bush, too? I mean, why didn't Mr. Kerry just call up his Hacker buddy, Mr. Gore, and have him alter the count in those electronic voting machines? A litle hack here, and a little hack there, and John Kerry would have won by a landslide.

You probably can, but you can read it online for free.

You probably can, but you can read it online for free.

That quote was actually out of 'How to become a Hacker'. Not overly accurate, but it has a lot of good points.

ESR wrote that it's a part of the print book. I've not flipped through a hard copy, so I dunno if it's an appendix or what. You do make the good point that the quote isn't of C&B directly, though.

Yeah, if all you want to do is access your files remotely, there's a whole boatload of things that you could do.

FTP will only allow you access to the folders (directories) that you specify with your ftp server. You won't be able to access files that are outside your ftp directories.

File sharing will allow you to mount whole volumes (disks) onto your remote desktop and, depending on your configuration and/or privileges, allow you to copy, delete, use, and in some cases, even run the applications from a remote machine.

There's also other options like ssh or telnet that will allow you to login to your computer remotely. Telnet is great if you're not too terribly worried about people sniffing your packets. Telnet transfers data as clear text, so anybody that intercepts your data can read it as clearly as this post. ssh offers you some security through encryption, but it also means a bit of a performance hit for slower machines, and really old computers won't be able to connect at all.

If it's just specific files that you want to be able to access, you could setup something like a Hotline server, and that would allow you to access specific files that you make available for remote access. You can also store files on your Hotline server from a remote location.

There are literally hundreds of ways to access a computer remotely. You pretty much just have to weigh the options and decide what level of access you want and/or feel comfortable with. Plus, you should remember opening your computer for remote access, means that other people are able to access your computer as well. So you should carefully consider the security options available as well.