[ style:theme-monocolor]
(Systematic)
   

"REAL HACKS"


< DRAFT++ >

Listing useful & politically transformative — not just fun — things coming out of hacker culture.

Revisions:
    2016-05-27 "hacker-projects" stub
    2016-11-09 touch
    2017-10-04 touch-up
    2017-10-14 merge
    2020-03-24 merge + quick overview old+new docs
    2020-07-20 touch
    2020-07-24 touch-up
    2020-10-22 ping
    2021-02-13 ping

Also see...
    → 🔗alike
    → 🔗coop-alike
    → 🔗fields
    → [...]


Table of Contents
1 About
1.1     Initial motivation
1.2     Document goals
2 Existing lists, conceptions & resources
3 →→→ APPROVED
3.1     GNU - a general free computing system
3.2     P2P file sharing, youtube-dl, etc
3.3     radical open access: libgen, sci-hub, z-library, anna's library, etc
3.4     civic hacking, open data
3.5     OpenSourceEcology
3.6     Grid Beam / Box Beam
3.7     hackbases
3.8     Hexayurts
3.9     MagicShifter light-synth
3.10     eotl.supply
3.11     TV-B-Gone
3.12     IPFS
3.13     collapseOS
3.14     Freifunk (& community mesh networks)
3.15     Guerilla Translation
3.16     repair everything!, repair cafes, ...
3.17     LibreFlip
3.18     OpenSolarProject, LibreSolar, etc
3.19     self-hosting servers
3.20     The Debt Resistors' Operations Manual
3.21     Food Hacking Base (fhb)
3.22     Smart Citizen Kit (Fablab Barcelona)
3.23     HeaterBloc (DIY isoprop heaters)
3.24     _____
4 →→→ SKEPTICAL
4.1     Security/Privacy R&D
4.2     Exploits scene
4.3     3D printing
4.4     Blinkenlights ("blinky stuff")
4.5     ___
5 →→→ NO
5.1     iphone jailbreaks
5.2     "growth hacking"
5.3     corporate "hackathons"
5.4     demo scene
5.5     ___
6 ↓↓↓ new & unsorted
7 Protagonists
8 *** PAD
8.1 (sci articles / theory)
8.2 gosh #events
8.3 automation in standard form factor : cubespawn
8.4 "What is hacking?"
8.5 Offensive vs Defensive activism
8.6 +ckohtala @p2p-left
8.7 Sector67 space rebuilds building
8.8 [!!] rename to "hacks"


About

This page is a stub, add more: [...] !


    Initial motivation

#gamut
I'm calling for more basic infrastructive, self-organized practice & politics in the "hacker"-identified world:
    * GNU and the prospect of post-corporate computing
    * Open knowledge, Open data, Transparency 
    * Hacker engagement in recent progressive electoral attempts (Sanders, Corbyn)
    * Solarpunk, autonomism, etc ... also see 🔗alike
    * 🔗hacking-housing beyond bourgeois architecture
    * [...]




    Document goals

    * Look for actual utility, via clear goals:
        NO: "most hackers just want to build silly little explody things"
        YES: "hacking is a transformational language"

    * Look for positive political implications:
        → Is powerful & re-distributes power in a desirable way
        → Has emancipatory political outcomes
        → anti-ecocide & anti-exploitation

    * Focus on hack replicability

    * Focus (also) on not-software !

    * The document's structure is in flux
        * it's just a random idea of the structure, to start off
        * Some general patterns should emerge. #TODO

    * The perspectives are, of course, subjective:
        * ... but feel free to edit the document !
        * the "grand goal" narrative:
            "It would help, wouldn't it? To have a purpose, or joint purpose?"
        * Not "good" just means not "clear positive political implications":
            (but is something like that ever even possible?)

    * True hacks ought to be sublime:
        as are nature, art, love and rock & roll




Existing lists, conceptions & resources
LoL

    * http://hackaday.com/ :
        techicised view of hacks
        also see https://hackaday.io/projects

    * 🔗hacker-tools !
also dcht00🔗+++workflow, as "tactical software"

    * "life hacks":
        little tips to increase productivity, decrease waste, increase leisure, ...

    * https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/
!!! #cleanup
#scifi #popsci #numerics #RS
#hacking / #lowtech:
    * https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/05/ditch-the-batteries-off-the-grid-compressed-air-energy-storage.html :
        #batteries #solar [!]
        """
Small-scale CAES systems with high pressures give the opposite results. For example, a configuration modelled for a typical household electrical use in Europe (6,400 kWh per year) operates at a pressure of 200 bar (almost 4 times higher than the pressure in large-scale CAES plants) and achieves a storage volume of only 0.55 m3, which is comparable to batteries. However, the electric-to-electric efficiency of this set-up is only 11-17%, depending on the size of the solar PV system. [9]
[...]
At the moment, there are no commercial products available, and setting up your own system can be quite intimidating if you are new to pneumatics
[...]
However, if you’re patient and not too unhandy, and if you are determined to use a more sustainable energy storage system, it is perfectly possible to build your own CAES system. As the examples in this article have shown, it’s just a bit harder to build a good one.
        """
    * [...] ###
#representations / #numerics:
    * https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/05/the-status-quo-of-electric-cars-better-batteries-same-range.html
    * [...] ###

     * https://github.com/protontypes/open-sustainable-technology

    * https://www.tindie.com/:
        a sales place for kits !

    * map @ https://wiki.hackerspaces.org

    * map @ https://www.atlasofinnovation.com/

    * https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Product_Hacking
!!! check this

    * https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities---threats/9-coolest-hacks-of-2015/d/d-id/1323648 :
        (interesting security hacking picks, 2015)

    * https://wiki.fuz.re/doku.php?id=communaute:hackfacts
<lomanic 20211030 0200

    * [...]

(methodology for adding here):
    Source will be noted.
    Hacks will be copied over.
    Value system will be minded.
__________________
Ties to:
    * #antirelease (and release vectors) !
    * 🔗non-shitty
    * end2end / lim0
    * #gamut
    * [...]






→→→ APPROVED

    GNU - a general free computing system
see → 🔗workflow & 🔗hacker-tools
(+) thinking is good & free computing enhances it
(-) co-opted by silicon valley startups
(+) destroyed Microsoft
(-) made Google stronger
(?) empowered today's shitty internet
(?) year of the linux desktop

    P2P file sharing, youtube-dl, etc
(+) distribute knowledge and culture
(+) fuck streaming
(+) directly support small cretors, not big industries

    radical open access: libgen, sci-hub, z-library, anna's library, etc
#openknowledge #openscience

https://sci-hub.tw/
"""
Sci-Hub is a website that provides free access to millions of research papers and books, without regard to copyright,[3] by bypassing publishers' paywalls in various ways.[3][4][5]
"""

https://gen.lib.rus.ec
"""
Library Genesis (Libgen) is a file-sharing website for scholarly journal articles, academic and general-interest books, images, comics, and magazines. In part, the site enables free access to content that is otherwise paywalled or not digitized elsewhere.[1] Libgen describes itself as a "links aggregator" providing a searchable database of articles, books, and images "collected from publicly available public Internet resources", as well as uploaded "items from users".[2]
"""

http://annas-blog.org/putting-5,998,794-books-on-ipfs.html
https://twitter.com/AnnaArchivist

Can't connect? Try tor, or a VPN from a country where they're not blocking, or check, if the domain name has changed.

    civic hacking, open data
(+) brought positive social change?:
    <--- best examples? check with +OKFN
(?) lots of cool-aid

    OpenSourceEcology
(+) systematic new way to inhabit and build stuff

    Grid Beam / Box Beam
### gridbeam
:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIMESt9iLYg&feature=youtu.be
        http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Grid_Beam

also see:
    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStructures
    * ###

    hackbases
🔗hackbases
also see → 🔗hacking-housing
(+) gave, gives subsistence to some people
(+) developed some semi-adopted general systematics
(?) not really picked up
(-) inspired some reactionary co-optive actors

    Hexayurts
(+) great and inspirational technical design
(+) will probably find its time
(-) used by yuppies for vanity value on burning man
(-) lacks legal clearance ... also → 🔗hacking-housing
(?) not really used that much

    MagicShifter light-synth
fun, open exercise in supply chains
a light/POV synth <wizard:
    magicshifter
http://magicshifter.net/

    eotl.supply
https://eotl.supply
"Radically sustainable logistics"
"EOTL is a collective of people working together to create massive systemic    change with how we as humans are living and constantly producing trash which    is harming the planet and society. Time is running out, there is no Planet B. "

    TV-B-Gone
by Mitch Altman 
(+) mindblowing you can do something like that
(+) fuck TVs

    IPFS
(+) proved itself in Catalonia protests?
(+) positive version of non-ISP dependent internet
(-) apparently leaks metadata

    collapseOS
https://collapseos.org/

    Freifunk (& community mesh networks)
https://freifunk.net/
more: guifi.net, wlan-si.net, [...]

    Guerilla Translation
https://www.guerrillatranslation.org/

    repair everything!, repair cafes, ...
Pattern of community-assisted meetings, to fix stuff rather than throw it away.
https://ifixit.com :
    https://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto : "IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT, YOU DON'T OWN IT"
[...]

    LibreFlip
Open source page turning book scanner.
(+) free all knowledge
(+) advance hypertheory
http://libreflip.org
https://twitter.com/libreflip

    self-hosting servers

LibreHosters:
"""
Librehosters form a network of cooperation and solidarity that uses free software to encourage decentralisation through federation and distributed platforms.
Our values connect transparency, fairness & privacy with a culture of data portability & public contributions to the commons.
"""
    https://libreho.st/
    https://talk.libreho.st/


    The Debt Resistors' Operations Manual
"""
Lifehack: If you default on your student loans and never answer the phone eventually your debt is put in limbo as the predators who bought your loan can't get the certification they need and no one has the authority to report your outstanding loans to credit agencies, so you end up with good credit.
The Debt Resistors' Operations Manual was by far the best thing to come out of Occupy. https://archive.org/details/TheDebtResistorsOperationsManual
"""


    Food Hacking Base (fhb)

https://foodhackingbase.org/
"""
We are the Food Hacking Base (fhb), a bunch of hackers from all over the world who share the love of experimenting with food and beverages. We have been promoting these concepts for nearly a decade by now at some of the world major hacker events, for more info well check these pages. We are building tools, trying out new techniques, paying attention to the wisdom of traditional societies. Merging this ancient knowledge with today's scientific understanding and technology are some of our areas of interest. 
"""


    Smart Citizen Kit (Fablab Barcelona)

https://fablabbcn.org/shop/smart-citizen-kit
"""
As no other solution in the market, the Smart Citizen allows people to easily measure and collect data such as air and noise pollution from their environment, and visualize it while sharing it with everyone on its dedicated platform. All of these, while being completely open source and customizable to your needs. Built by communities for communities.
"""


    HeaterBloc (DIY isoprop heaters)
#HVAC

$7 (in bulk)
https://twitter.com/heaterbloc?lang=en
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7nd5x/anarchists-are-building-diy-heaters-to-keep-unhoused-people-warm

<----------------------------------- (new) GOOD ↑↓




    _____
:
    * x220 backpack, as imagined in Berlin

    * CCC rgb adapter mode "inducer"

    * Build cheap thermal camera (spot IR sensor + 2x servo), visit people with badly insulated flats, help them save on heating

    * "technological disobedience" concept

    * "La Cura" , a brain cancer diagnostification, by Salvatore Iaconesi & Oriana Persico:
        http://la-cura.it/ (IT)
        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27442192/
        https://www.artisopensource.net/projects/la-cura/ (IT)
        ###








→→→ SKEPTICAL


    Security/Privacy R&D
(?) don't use computers
 <-- #cryptonihilism
(-) sucks all the air out of the room
(?) delays authoritarian state capacity, into a now-time where it's actually and separately coming into being
(-) security hacks for lulz & "neutral" political goals


    Exploits scene
(-) a huge distraction
(-) weaponisable
(-) businesses-pampering skillsets
(+) ... or as white-hat protecting the population or whatever
(?) tactical potential for change, however when's the last time it was used that way?


    3D printing

https://twitter.com/theavalkyrie/status/1336524602059726849
"Alright, look, we've got good open-source 3d printers. Can y'all take a step back and make some good open-source 2d printers now?"

(?) fails to live up to its hype
(-) a distraction
(-) generally and bizarrely uncommitted culture to anything but playing
(-) yoda heads
(-) gimmicks
(-) 3d printing 3d printers
(+) pandemic-time hacks
(++) technical prototypes for new tools (especially medical or custom)
(+) truly-custom objects
(+) adapter parts (intermediating where standards failed)


    Blinkenlights ("blinky stuff")
(-) distraction
(+) looks nice
(+) kids


    ___


https://twitter.com/FauthNiklas/status/1242064388300947456
Ventilators.
"But this respirator crisis isn't about cost, anyway. It's about your health systems mismanagement. And that can't be solved with Arduinos either way."



<----------------------------------- (new) MEH






→→→ NO


    iphone jailbreaks
(-) fuck Apple
(-) don't encourage people to use thatt shit
trash Apple -> 🔗graph-postapple


    "growth hacking"
#cooption


    corporate "hackathons"
#cooption


    demo scene
waste of much needed ability



    ___

<----------------------------------- (new) UGLY








↓↓↓ new & unsorted

* "Rep Rep" / 3D printers

* Mitch Altman's psychedelic glasses

* drone stabiliser @ TechInc ?

* Arduino:
    enabled a whole generation to ... play with electronics?

* Audio synths @ Casper Electronics, Ljudmila:
    http://wiki.ljudmila.org/Theremidi_Orchestra#Gadgets_and_Devices_.E2.99.A5

* LED cube:
    (seen at cccamp2019, got telegram contact of guy)

* hyper-pi

* irc channels & decades of community learning/support

* the LED gyro cube by cccamp2019 guy

* https://www.pine64.org/ :
    also for #lim0 !
    PineBook Pro (LAPTOP) and PinePhone
    also PineTab possibly !!!

* DIY hydro:
    https://www.gofundme.com/f/open-source-eur40-hydroturbine
    Tristan Copley Smith
    Daniel Connell
    http://www.coactlab.org/ @barcelona

* some nice projects here:
    https://medium.com/@joseramos_30450/cosmo-localism-tech-trend-post-capitalist-commons-transition-or-something-else-4dc0202dd732

* right to repair / repair cafes / DIY etc:
    * http://repair.eu/smartphones/
    * https://www.techrepublic.com/article/broke-your-smartphone-right-to-repair-rules-just-took-another-step-forward
    * [...]

* #repurpose (in global south):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9FgEHWAX5w (making knife of care tire bearing)

* DIY COVID-19 hacks, like:
    * https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-71FJTmI1Q1kjSDLP0EegMERjg_0kk_7UfaRE4r66Mg/preview#
    * [...]

* open computers / disaster computers:
    * https://hackaday.io/project/18491-worlds-first-32bit-homebrew-cpu
    * https://hackaday.com/2016/09/08/review-the-rc2014-z80-computer/
    * collapseOS

* SDR next gen : radars, bean forming, etc:
    https://hackaday.com/2018/09/10/direction-finding-and-passive-radar-with-rtl-sdr/

* hospital gear:
    http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com/

* precious plastic

* CCC badges enable & disperse new tech exploration:
    r4adio SDR (2015)
    card10 watch/biohacking (2019)
    ... though it does cost money to get there

* Wikileaks etc ???

* Precursor: "Mobile, Open-Hardware, RISC-V System-on-Chip (SoC) Development Kit"
https://twitter.com/bunniestudios/status/1307335008084869122
https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor
(2020/09)

* MNT Reform: "The open source DIY laptop for hacking, customization, and privacy" (2020)
https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform

* nice lora communicator:
    video explains lora, lorawan, BATMAN, etc
    https://www.reddit.com/r/socialistprogrammers/comments/gzsjbl/good_easy_option_for_establishing_cell_tower/

* Chrono's NinjaSSC
(energetics / DC voltage regulator / solar / wind)
2020 update: unknown status

* Mist showers
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2019/10/mist-showers-sustainable-decadence.html

* postmarketOS (Linux distro for Android phones)
https://postmarketos.org/
"Over 200 Booting Devices"
"""
We are sick of not receiving updates shortly after buying new phones. Sick of the walled gardens deeply integrated into Android and iOS. That's why we are developing a sustainable, privacy and security focused free software mobile OS that is modeled after traditional Linux distributions. With privilege separation in mind. Let's keep our devices useful and safe until they physically break!    
"""


https://mcudev.github.io/trezor-dev-kit/
openhardware cryptocurrency wallet


fairphone !
(and assorted free mobile stuff)
also:
    * purism
    * pinephone
    * [...]

https://small-tech.org/
https://github.com/small-tech/domain
... interesting?
<palkeo

https://anyma.ch/research/udmx/
interesting case of
"buy it now or build it yourself" is cool as well
#multiples

https://eco.kde.org/
also https://opensource.com/article/22/1/linux-sustainable-os
linux as "sustainable OS"

GPL
----------
and its consequences, such as
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpnpb/the-famous-router-hackers-actually-loved


Disaster communication (with LoRa)
https://disaster.radio/
"""
This website is about disaster.radio, a disaster-resilient communications network powered by the sun. For the website about Disasteradio, the FUN MUSIC /      FAST MUSIC solo band from New Zealand, visit disasteradio.org instead.
disaster.radio is a collaborative project between Sudo Mesh and Secure Scuttlebutt, with additional support from the Internet Society and Institute For the Future.
"""
------------------
also
https://www.hackster.io/news/off-grid-wireless-communication-with-the-armachat-762b1cc966e5


https://konekansa.net/stove/
"""
The purpose of these manufacturing instructions is to enable industrial scale production of inexpensive wood burning emergency heaters. Stove is designed to be produced by laser cutting, bending and welding.
"""

<--------------------------- (new)+ UNSORTED HACKS ↑↑↑







Protagonists

People & groups working on projects.

Also see → 🔗alike !

:
    * https://c-base.org/
    * Open Source Ecology (OSE)
    * Telekomunisten
    * PublicLab
    * akiba / hackerfarm.jp
    * https://imvec.tech
    * https://dyne.org
    * SparkFun & affordable kits (?)
    * CHT hackbase/Totalism.org
    * [...] !!!






*** PAD



"What is hacking?"

[...]


Offensive vs Defensive activism

Not *exclusively* focusing on "crypto"/"netzpolitik", facilitating "safe spaces", and "playing with technology", it seems important to go further than that.



+ckohtala @p2p-left

→ encourage build→regular use→maintenance!
→ if built symbolically/experimentally, research&map further positive steps:
    (to assist counter-junk):
        * pre-imagine, or pledge to discover, path to deployment:
            minimum - keep next steps
            commonize "works in progress" (common spaces, like hackerspaces, can help with this)
        * encourage interpassivity ;-):
            build → document → discourage 
        * pass-it-on
        * [...]
→ we should resist the idea that creating junk is an acceptable end-result

________________

https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/jeremy-bonvoisin
"""
I could suggest following what Jeremy Bonvoisin is looking at - previous project 'Open! - Methods and tools for community-based product development' and current project 'Open_Next: Company-Community Collaboration for Open Source Development of products and services' https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/jeremy-bonvoisin 
also what Jenny Molloy is doing / researching. 
what interests me re: Precious Plastic is how used the tools are once they're built.
I see examples of the machines all over the world but often not in use. would be useful to study why they don't get taken into routine use. if they are built as a symbolic effort, this can be important, but also important to know why they remain symbolic. (and who actually uses them regularly.) 
the same around plastic melting / extruding filabot type tools. there is also an ecosystem of accessories and use-instructions around them because it's quite hard to extrude good, consistent filament that's re-usable.
I suspect many of them end up sitting on a shelf at the back of the fab lab. 
for machines-that-make-machines, I suggest Daniele Ingrassia's and Jens Dyvik's work. 
"""
"""
I agree Cindy, so much of the maker scene conjures these gadgets "because it's cool", prints the yoda head, only to then fail to deploy them in any meaningful way or maintain them at all. Worse of all, this is then somehow considered by some as being the spirit of "maker" or even "hacker" culture.
"""


Sector67 space rebuilds building
Roof Lift to Spancrete Grout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDkwwHb02Sg
http://www.sector67.org/blog/
"""
Sector67 is a non-profit collaborative space in Madison, WI dedicated to providing an environment to learn, teach, work-on, build, and create next generation technology; including software, hardware, electronics, art, sewing, metalwork, apps, games, etc.
If you’re in southern Wisconsin feel free to get involved; come by for a tour on Fridays, sign up for meeting announcements, or check the calendar for upcoming events.
"""



[!!] rename to "hacks"

rewrite the top with a "what we consider hacks", etc


<------------------------------------ ((new))