Wonder what ever happned to all the famous Crackers of our time? What they are up to? Did they continue on in the computer world? Or did they just vanish with out a clue? I know of one guy that out great! Remember a guy called The Freeze? Well he ended up owning his own companies for Computer Supply! What about the others that we heard about? The Jerk? The Gonif? Dr. Death? The Wombat? The Disk Jockey? Just a few names , but they were awsome at what they did back in the Apple II days , and since the statue of limitations has gone away , it's probably safe to say what they are up to about now! I wish I could get in touch with alot of them to see what's up , and what they are up to. I am sure there are alot of users here that were very talanted back in the day , fo rdoing various hacks/cracks what have you. :O)
So if you know of how alot of these folks are doing , speak up! I am sure we would all love to hear about it! Make this forum interesting! After all! If it werent for Woz , and others like him , the Apple II would not be what it was back then!
By the way , you can check out the interview with The Freeze in Jason Scott's " The BBS DOCUMENTARY " DVD collection , if you have not scene these at all , they are jammed packed with tons of interviews with all the people back in the day that halped make Apple II what it is today , so check it out!
See ya and I look forward to your guy's answers!
Patrick.
I still chat with Tom E. Hawk.. He's a Network specialist down in Florida. Dragonlord is a RFID Developer.
Your title certainly caught my attention and made me want to find out what you meant. Sounded like you were trying to borrow a line from Chris Rock: "Wow, this place is Cracker Lacking!" Definitely, a different connotation. I'll leave now, laughing at my--probably not uncommon--knee-jerk reaction.
What I mean by Crackers , were the people that had the knowledge and skill to de-protect software and were able to put their Aliasas on the software! Remember? Cracked By Dr. Miro or Cracked By The Jerk?
And the kewl guys that made all the great warez for us to play with! LIke the awsome and clever Beagle Bros software , and the endless utilities that alot of people designed themselves , like Mini Applers Beautiful boot maker , alot of title page programs like Pirate's signature , etc... now you guys get the hint and your replys are awsome! Keep them going! Would be awsome to have a section on the site that these guys could log into and leave messages on what they are up to and it would be a great opportunity
Patrick
A2forever
Yea Tom-E Hawk did alot of stuff back then! Mini Appler did alot , The Freeze , The Jerk , The Gonif , The Wombat , The Tempest , who really did alot of kewl stuff for the Apple Cat Modem [Whink Whink] lol , I remember all the awsome Warez parties that were going on back then , walking up to Apple II+'s that had 6 Drives hooked up , so you could use Penaulti Copy! The awsome BBS's back then , such as The Adventure's Tavern , Dune [One of the best and most complex boards] , The Digital Dimension another awsome board a friend of mine ran , The Pig-Sty and elite who's who that used this board , wow! So much to get into , and not enough time! So keep those replys coming :O) I really appreciate viewing whats up with these guys and what they are doing.... I think the BBS Documentary series was good , but they really should have dug deeper and did interviews with all the great Crackers and phreakers back then , would have been awsome to see that! And Hawaii Cruiser... When I refere to Cracker , it means someone that was capable of de-protecting software :O)
See ya.
Patrick.
A2forever
Crack screens are the best. I've got a bunch of cracked games, such as Jungle Hunt, Mario Bros. and Prince of Persia. I remember when I first saw a crack screen and I saw the phone numbers. I thought, "Why on earth would they put their phone number there??!!! That's so silly!" It was only later on that I realized it was the number to their pirate BBS's.
Some of us grow up. I know some work in banks IT now. Some got great deals with the Treasury. We start doing things as a learning experience of how 'things work' then use that knowledge to 'experiment (teen years). Later I used the knowledge to outsmart and bust some white collar ponzi rings. You can read my bust in L.A. Daily Journal then. it was a $350M scheme in Beverly Hills back in the late 80's early 90'. That was a hobby I now no longer do. Now I develop and design microprocessors for that big company. I also picked up an aerospace hobby and used it to catapult high school kids into top colleges including my two children. With my kids off to college now, I intend to bring the aerospace research into a business venture. A dream of mine.
I am sure some like me. just have an insatiable thirst for knowledge, pursuit of new and contructive ideas that can be realized into useful projects. The aerospace project? See:http://www.rocketscientists.org
Thanks for letting me to think aloud and share it with you.
-RocketScientists
rocketscientists.... awsome reply! Yea that's true , alot of people naturally grew up and went on to other things , some stayed in the computer game , never know though! It's kinda weird that alot of them don't want to get back into it again , and talk about the past , how can you regret that? That it was probably one of the best times of their lives?! The fun at learning , and what not. The accomplishments that they made towards the apple II , to make it a more enjoyable experience for all! The creativity was un-real! It's just a shame that alot of them , the really well known ones , like The Gonif , The Jerk , TheCatcher , and so one , would never write or respond ,
...... But I guess we still have our memories , huh?
Thanks.
Patrick.
A2forever
i've wondered how many were actually the real crackers and how many changed the name of a screen a hacker created. Sometimes the crack screen was a file that could of easily been loaded with a paint program and changed. And the original cracker wasn't in a position to complain about someone hijacking his "work" either LOL
That's actually a good question. I can tell you for sure that 80% were real cracks. I have heard from others in the past , about certain people that really had no true Cracking cababilities , and would use a Non-Autotstart F-8 Rom , capture the crack screen with the RESET button. Modify the screen and save it back to the program.
The Freeze , Dr. Micro , The Gonif , The Jerk , Dr. Death , The Disk Jockey , The Digital Gang , The Blade , these were only a handfull of the true real Crackers back then. I remember watching The Freeze crack a peice of software , how fast it took him , due mainly because every other crack artist or cracking team was trying to do the same thing , to get that software cracked and uploaded to their BBS so that others would have the software that night! It was a very competitive! That's what I looked forward to from these guys , was the great warez that were always becoming available!
I just wish I knew what they were upto these days , if they actually stayed in the computer biz or moved on to other things...
Patrick.
A2forever
With USAlliance back in the later 80s. In fact, I am still in contact with Blue Adept from the group. He lives in Utah and owns a software company there. A few years ago, I was in contact with The Cloak from Blackbag (which is where my "handle" comes from nowadays-- an homage to one of the greatest A2 cracking groups ever). Unfortunately, I've lost his email, so I have no idea where he is.
Interesting.... There were so many different types of cracking groups out there! Alot of them were kinda fly by night groups , did a few cracks and that was about it. I know that southern Cal had groups like PpG [Pacific Pirates Guild] and other groups , Circle (K) did alot , but there were so many talanted users in these groups that made some really remarkable utilities and add-ons to games! I just wish I knew where they all went to...
See ya
Patrick.
A24ever!