🚀 go-pugleaf

Chris Farris (chris@ravenloft.stucen.gatech.edu) wrote:

:                           Announcing the Atlanta
: 				2600 group.

 Ummmm... excuse my ignorance, but what is a "2600" anyway?
Just curious...
-- 
Sam Stuhlman                          
The Ion Group, Inc.                                             

stuhlman@netcom.com

In article <3sv7s4$rc8@felix.cc.gatech.edu>,
Joe Wetzel <jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
: stuhlman@netcom.com (S. Stuhlman) writes:
: 
: >Chris Farris (chris@ravenloft.stucen.gatech.edu) wrote:
: 
: >:                           Announcing the Atlanta
: >: 				2600 group.
: 
: > Ummmm... excuse my ignorance, but what is a "2600" anyway?
: >Just curious...
: 
: It's a group dedicated to the survival of the Atari 2600.   :^)
: 
: No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
: frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
: ago.

Actually, it's the name of a quarterly technical magazine based in New
York.  From it spawned the worldwide monthly 2600 meetings, which a group
of techo-enthusiasts (sometimes including journalists and feds :) gather 
to share information, chat, and have a good time.  It isn't really a
hackers group.

e.
-- 
Yu-cheng "eugene" Liu                   [] A mind is a terrible thing to taste.
Georgia Institute of Technology         [] If you want something real bad
Internet mail: gt5762b@prism.gatech.edu []   then set it free...

stuhlman@netcom.com (S. Stuhlman) writes:

>Chris Farris (chris@ravenloft.stucen.gatech.edu) wrote:

>:                           Announcing the Atlanta
>: 				2600 group.

> Ummmm... excuse my ignorance, but what is a "2600" anyway?
>Just curious...

It's a group dedicated to the survival of the Atari 2600.   :^)

No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
ago.

Joe  (who's afraid he will now have a CIA file for knowing too much
     about this group)
 
-- 
Joseph William Wetzel (jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu)

"Gozar the Traveller... he will come in one of the pre-chosen forms.  
During the rectification of the Voldrani, the traveller came as a large 
moving Torg!  Then during the third reconcilliation of the last of the 
meketric supplecants they chose a new form for him--that of a giant 
slur!  Many shubs and zools knew what it was like to be roasted in the 
depths of the slur that day I can tell you!"

Vince to Egon in _Ghostbusters_

jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu (Joe Wetzel) writes:
>> Ummmm... excuse my ignorance, but what is a "2600" anyway?
>>Just curious...
>It's a group dedicated to the survival of the Atari 2600.   :^)
>No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
>frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
>ago.
>Joe  (who's afraid he will now have a CIA file for knowing too much
>     about this group)

ahhh...don't worry bout it joe...

if they did it on what info on espionage and destruction techniques we know
mine would be a mile long...

but it's only a couple pages...well i think...

but you shuold watch out around here...never know who will find the next
trick like that someday and then we'll have a great time exploiting it :)

**MiChAeL
(who really should be workin on school work and not on demolishing a house :)
-- 
KoNfUzEd                 |Please don't|  When you find yourself on the
vaps2ms@prism.gatech.edu |think I say |  side of the majority, it is time
___~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|anything for|  to stop and reconsider.
\X/                      |  Ga Tech.  | 		--Mark Twain

You EVIL HACKER!

I DESPISE HACKERZ!
They are all up to no good- those meddling kids!

Down with Cyber Rights!
All hackers should have their fingers chopped off is what I say.

Gail
-- 
Gail Rosen
Georgia Institute of Technology: gt2504a, empress@techwood.org
"Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance"
I speak for no one but myself... and sometimes not even.

Gail/Empress/Technobum (gt2504a@prism.gatech.edu) wrote:
: You EVIL HACKER!

: I DESPISE HACKERZ!
: They are all up to no good- those meddling kids!

: Down with Cyber Rights!
: All hackers should have their fingers chopped off is what I say.

Actually, I think you're referring to "crackers," not hackers _per se._
Crackers are the illegal nuisance ratfaces.  Hackers are, well, not.  While
hacker is harder to define, the term might include serious programmers,
people for whom computers, computing, and other branches of technology
are a hobby bordering on a passion.

One might, in fact, refer to some of them as "technobums."  ;)

bye----
Wes

-- 
Wes McRae                                    gt7783b@prism.gatech.edu
"If it can't kill you, it's not a Sport!"

         Smoke          *          Noise          *          Fear 

In article <3sv7s4$rc8@felix.cc.gatech.edu>,
Joe Wetzel <jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
>frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
>ago.

I thought it was/is the frequency of the dial tone.
--
Mike Mitten - gnome@pd.org - Atlanta, Georgia, USA  Straight but not narrow.
DoD #522 - DoDHS #2 - AMA - ACLU - AHA - NRA        Irony is the spice of life.
Bianchi Sika  '82 Suzuki GS850GL
"The revolution will not be televised."

I'm still searching for a stolen green Bianchi bicycle, serial number BS050851,
with front fender, rear rack, and other commuting accessories.  Any information
will be deeply appreciated.

In article <stuhlmanDAxzAH.LEM@netcom.com>,
   stuhlman@netcom.com (S. Stuhlman) wrote:
>Chris Farris (chris@ravenloft.stucen.gatech.edu) wrote:
>:                           Announcing the Atlanta
>: 				2600 group.
> Ummmm... excuse my ignorance, but what is a "2600" anyway?
>Just curious...

Technically, it refers to 2600Hz.  A while ago, you could play
a tone of that frequency, and the phone would give you a free
call.  It's been a while, but I think that a young girl also had
the vocal ability to scream in that range - ie.  Get you kid sister 
to scream high pitched into the phone, and you could get a free 
phone call.  I think nowadays, it sets off a few bells and whistles
and the phone co. calls you back and gets pretty pissed off.

2600 also refers to a magazine (and a newsgroup - alt.2600) that deals
with all sorts of technological things...such as how data is encoded
on the back of a credit card, how telephones, switches, and PBX's work 
(and how they sometimes fail in "interesting" ways.)  Basically, it is
an example of free speech.  Most of the stuff that I've seen in there is
stuff that some people don't think that everyone should know (how to
pick locks on soda machines, how to get free phone calls, how to do IP
spoofing) because it has potential "bad uses".

It bills itself as "The Hacker's Quarterly".  In a way it is - it's full
of people that just wanna know how things work.  Though I'm sure more than
a good bit also wanna know how to make things work to thier advantage.

Most of the articles are well written, and have a good bit of info.  And
the letters page is full of 13 year olds telling how they changed thier
grade in the school computer because the secretary would leave the password
in the drawer.  And then there are the "k001 peoplez who can't SpElL, and like
to uze all sortZ of wEiRd spellingZ and cApS to showz how little of a life
they have."

Overall, it's pretty interesting stuff, most of which anyone can figure out
doing the proper research, this just does it for you.

Worthy to note: A similar 2600 meeting in the Washington DC area (in a mall) 
was raided by mall police (because of loitering) and by the Secret Service,
even though no one was doing anything wrong.  I don't remember the outcome
of the case, but I don't think it went well for the SS, much like when they
raided Steve Jackson Games.


--
Dan Newcombe                    newcombe@aa.csc.peachnet.edu
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"And the man in the mirror has sad eyes."       -Marillion

In article <3t0rr7$dus@cssun.mathcs.emory.edu>,
Mike Mitten <gnome@pd.org> wrote:
>In article <3sv7s4$rc8@felix.cc.gatech.edu>,
>Joe Wetzel <jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>>No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
>>frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
>>ago.
>I thought it was/is the frequency of the dial tone.

No, a dial tone is 440Hz and 349Hz.  440Hz is the A below middle C in
the normal Western musical system.  If you have a pretty good ear, you
can tune a guitar or even a whole piano just by picking up the
telephone (a good piano tuner doesn't need an electronic tuner - he just
needs a couple of tuning forks).

2600Hz was the frequency a pay phone emitted when you put a dime in.  If
you could make that frequency, the system thought you had put money in.
The greatest cereal box toy ever made was the Captain Crunch whistle - a
perfect 2600Hz!
-- 
Chris Adams - cadams@HiWAAY.net
Simulations Director & Team Leader
United States Space Camp/Academy - US Space & Rocket Center
Abandon all hope, ye who PRESS ENTER here.

Joe Wetzel (jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu) wrote:
: No... it's really a hackers group, named 2600 because that's the
: frequency of the tone which could get you a free phone call years
: ago.

AKA blue boxing.  

jkau@wc62.residence.gatech.edu

I think you are thinking of the whistle that came in Cap'n Crunch for
a while that was close enough to 2600hz to trigger the off-hook state.
I would think anyone could whistle or scream higher pitched than 2600hz...
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Like Blue Velvet,Dune,Twin Peaks,PJ Harvey,The Elric Saga/Hawkwind,Blade --
-- Runner,or Nina Simone??? http://wc62.residence.gatech.edu/coop/home.html --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>Actually, I think you're referring to "crackers," not hackers _per se._
>Crackers are the illegal nuisance ratfaces.  Hackers are, well, not.  While
>hacker is harder to define, the term might include serious programmers,
>people for whom computers, computing, and other branches of technology
>are a hobby bordering on a passion.

>One might, in fact, refer to some of them as "technobums."  ;)

Really Wes?
Tell me more.  This is so fascinating.

Gail
-- 
Gail Rosen
Georgia Institute of Technology: gt2504a, empress@techwood.org
"Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance"
I speak for no one but myself... and sometimes not even.

gt7167a@prism.gatech.edu (geoff menegay) writes:

>Dan Newcombe <newcombe@aa.csc.peachnet.edu> wrote:
>:of the case, but I don't think it went well for the SS, much like when they
>:raided Steve Jackson Games.

>My role-playing days are long gone, but what would they hope to gain
>raiding STeve Jackson Games? Has this company changed since the last time
>I picked up one of their games?
>-- 

Steve Jackson Games was going to put out a supplement for one of its
game systems based on hackers and cyberspace a few years ago, and the 
Secret Service ransacked their offices and took all copies of the 
manuscript for the game.  I _think_ SJG got the material back after
a lot of time and trouble.

Joe (Who for anyone keeping records of who is in this conversation will
    not be at the 2600 club meeting and is not in the organization.)

-- 
Joseph William Wetzel (jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu)
		      (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/home/jwetzel/)
"Gozar the Traveller... he will come in one of the pre-chosen forms.  
During the rectification of the Voldrani, the traveller came as a large 
moving Torg!  Then during the third reconcilliation of the last of the 
meketric supplecants they chose a new form for him--that of a giant 
slur!  Many shubs and zools knew what it was like to be roasted in the 
depths of the slur that day I can tell you!"
                      Vince to Egon in _Ghostbusters_

In article <3t29io$m4s@acmex.gatech.edu>,
Brian "AGENT GORDON COLE" Atkins <gt4722a@prism.gatech.edu> wrote:
>I think you are thinking of the whistle that came in Cap'n Crunch for
>a while that was close enough to 2600hz to trigger the off-hook state.

Actually 2600hz placed the phone ON-HOOK.  If is/was called SF or supervision
frequency. If you had a call attempt up (mainly a toll call) and you sent
a burst of SF, your local line would remain connected up, and the toll
trunk would go on-hook then off hook.  You could then dial back out on the
toll trunk using MF (similiar to DTMF of Touch-tone, but different)...



-- 
Mike - mikemc@macshack.com
 /---------------------------------------\   My opinions belong to me, 
| Visit us at http://www.macshack.com     |  myself and I, not my employer,
 \......................................./   the government or my wife...:)

Gail/Empress/Technobum (gt2504a@prism.gatech.edu) wrote:
: Really Wes?
: Tell me more.  This is so fascinating.

Ah, dang . . .
I really hate it when I get suckered in . . .  :)


Wes
-- 
Wes McRae                                    gt7783b@prism.gatech.edu
"If it can't kill you, it's not a Sport!"

         Smoke          *          Noise          *          Fear 

Dan Newcombe <newcombe@aa.csc.peachnet.edu> wrote:
:of the case, but I don't think it went well for the SS, much like when they
:raided Steve Jackson Games.

My role-playing days are long gone, but what would they hope to gain
raiding STeve Jackson Games? Has this company changed since the last time
I picked up one of their games?
-- 
                                   ._._                            
                           _  _  _ |,|,  ._ _  _ ._  _  _  _.  .        
                          (_](/,(_)| |   [ | )(/,[ )(/,(_](_]\_|             
                          ._|                          ._|   ._|

gt7167a@prism.gatech.edu (geoff menegay) wrote:
>Dan Newcombe <newcombe@aa.csc.peachnet.edu> wrote:
>:of the case, but I don't think it went well for the SS, much like when they
>:raided Steve Jackson Games.
>
>My role-playing days are long gone, but what would they hope to gain
>raiding STeve Jackson Games? Has this company changed since the last time
>I picked up one of their games?

A couple of other people have responded to this, but you can find more
info than you ever wanted to know on ftp.eff.org about this case.

jwetzel@cc.gatech.edu (Joe Wetzel) writes:

>Steve Jackson Games was going to put out a supplement for one of its
>game systems based on hackers and cyberspace a few years ago, and the 
>Secret Service ransacked their offices and took all copies of the 
>manuscript for the game.  I _think_ SJG got the material back after
>a lot of time and trouble.

I think the reason they were actually raided was that an EMPLOYEE ran
a BBS that was suspected of having pirate stuff; that employee happened
to use WWIV.  SJG also happened to use WWIV.  The government, known for
it's intelligence, decided SJG's BBS must be the one with the illegal
stuff on it, and raided the place - taking everything from the furniture
to work in progress - totally screwing SJG.  SJG had to sue and wait YEARS
to get SOME of the stuff back. 

And that, folks, is what you get when you vote for Demopublicans and 
Republicrats.

-- 
"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
 reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
 the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
 independence." - Charles A. Beard

In article <3svp12$r5l@acmex.gatech.edu>,
No one in particular <gt7783b@prism.gatech.edu> wrote:
[regarding hackers & crackers:]
>One might, in fact, refer to some of them as "technobums."  ;)

Funny, I never felt like a bum until after I stopped hacking :)

Allen (or would that be "cracking"?)
-- 
"If this place had any more character, it would be an ASCII chart." - me
 allen@cc.gatech.edu

>Funny, I never felt like a bum until after I stopped hacking :)

Well.. this is how I define it...

Technobum- Someone who is proficient at technology but uses it for the
facilitation of Slack.  
Examples: Me- I sit in my dorm and Netscape, newgroup, play on my midi
keyboard, Email, look for endless amounts of Depeche Mode material, and
waste endless amounts of bandwidth doing useless activities.

My friends back home:  Their house is full of more electronic equipment
and computers than found in most households.  Old spare parts such as hard
drives are used as refrigerator magnets and paper weights.  They sit
around finding new ways to fix their old Commodores and make them do weird
things.  One friend made an operating system for his TI calculator.

As you can see, in all these cases, none of the computer use is
constructive or for a REAL goal.  Technobums spend loads of time, energy,
and thought using the technology, but not for any purpose- just so they
can say... "Hey! That was cool! My disk drive can sing! huhu huh uhu"  

Always will be a technobum,
Gail

-- 
Gail Rosen
Georgia Institute of Technology: gt2504a, empress@techwood.org
"Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance"
I speak for no one but myself... and sometimes not even.

Also.. I have to put a disclaimer on the -Technobum- word.
It was first coined by my friends back home and I.

We were talking about what exactly the word Cyberpunk meant.  When I think
of a cyberpunk, I think of someone is so awesome at technology and can
do anything with computers, and someone who spends most of their time
finding new and better ways of using technology and computers.

We all agreed, we dont really find new or better ways at doing things..
but pretty much bum around with computers.  Thus the word Technobum was
coined.

It is meant to be the Cyberpunk counterpart.

Gail

-- 
Gail Rosen
Georgia Institute of Technology: gt2504a, empress@techwood.org
"Electrical Engineers do it with less resistance"
I speak for no one but myself... and sometimes not even.

In article <3tclhn$33k@acmex.gatech.edu>,
>Technobum- Someone who is proficient at technology but uses it for the
>facilitation of Slack.  
>Examples: Me- I sit in my dorm and Netscape, newgroup, play on my midi
>keyboard, Email, look for endless amounts of Depeche Mode material, and
>waste endless amounts of bandwidth doing useless activities.
>Always will be a technobum,

Ah...now I know what I am.

I wonder if this is how Lewis Grizzard felt after Mayor Jackson said the reason
the Mondale campaign wasn't going so good was because it was being run by a bunch
of Smart Ass White Boys.  :)

	-Dan


--
Dan Newcombe                    newcombe@aa.csc.peachnet.edu
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"And the man in the mirror has sad eyes."       -Marillion

Mike McCammant (mikemc@macshack.com) wrote:
: Actually 2600hz placed the phone ON-HOOK.  If is/was called SF or supervision
: frequency. If you had a call attempt up (mainly a toll call) and you sent
: a burst of SF, your local line would remain connected up, and the toll
: trunk would go on-hook then off hook.  You could then dial back out on the
: toll trunk using MF (similiar to DTMF of Touch-tone, but different)...

Thankfully someone got it right, but as there seems to be so much
misunderstanding of this, I figured I would clarifiy.... Blue Boxing...
On older electronic switches the 2600 tone was used to demark a trunk that
was on hook. Your phone is connected to a switch, which is connected to 
a bunch of trunks which are connected to other switches. When you place a 
long distance call, you pick up your phone and issue commands to your switch
(i.e. dial the number) at the prompt (i.e. the dial tone). The switch then
finds an open trunk which goes to the switch in the town you are calling,
and issues commands to the distant switch telling it to ring the other guy's
phone. If the phone is ringing, your switch send you the "ring" signal. (I am
simplifying a little, the switches are really hubed and there are differnet
layers of intra and inter LATA phone calls.) If the other guy picks up
you are connected through. On older switches, if there was no call on a
trunk, the switches would blast 2600hz (an annoyingly high pitched tone
chosen because it is easy to identify even on bad lines). Phone Phreaks
could (and still can, though it isn't easy anymore) call a long distance
800 number, and then once connected, blast 2600. The local switch would
ignore the 2600 as it wouldn't be listening to your side of the call until
you hung up. However, the remote switch would grab the 2600 and assume you
hung up the phone. Then you kill the 2600 tone, and the switch thinks your
switch is going to place another command. You now have control of the
switch. You can access internal operators and test numbers which cannot
normally be reached. You can tap phone calls, start conferences, make free
calls, or route your phone call through switch after switch all around the
world until you can't hear the other end anymore. It was a whole world to
explore. However, it cost the phone companies a fortune, and they evolved.
There are now a bunch of different tone systems it many different
countries, MF, ccitt, the french system, etc.... You CAN get in and play
around, but it isn't easy, it's risky, and it the only thing you
want out of it is free phone calls, there are much easiser ways. 
There are only a few people who still do this, and most of them live in
east-block time nations. Its done for the adventure and the technical
interest. In the US it is, for the most part, impossible (barring BFE
UTAH where you can still find SxSs!!!!). Now the switching is done    
out of band for the most part. The reason music sounds flat on the phone
is that the frequency range of a phone connection is very small. It is
limited to the normal speaking voice frequencies of humans... Most of the
cool sounds in your new acid-jazz album are probably way out of the freq
range. They cut off the freqs for conservation of resources. They can
stack a bunch of calls on one wire with frequency divison multiplexing
because the actual bandwidth of a phone line is far beyond that small
freq range you are allowed to use. They can also do out of band
signalling. What was 2600 is now 3380 or something, way out of the human
voice range. Also, you hear about high pitched screams or Captn'Crunch
whistles, you need alot more than just a 2600 tone to blue box with. You
need an MF generator. The MF matrix is different from the DTMF matrix,
although DTMFs often work inside the network, and MFs often work outside
the network. You also need the KeyPress MF which initiates commands, and
the STart MF which executes commands. Anyway, if you ever get a call from
Costa-Rica and after your friend from the international house hangs up,
there is a short, high pitched, bleep, you just heard a 2600 tone. The
remote switch was hanging up on you. Also, lemme just though something in
here. Hacking isn't about getting free phone calls or formatting hard
disks. Its about technology. Its about studying, experiementing, and
playing with fascinating new technology. If you found the above
interesting you should check out 2600. There is always something that will
get your mind buzzing with ideas. (This IS an engineering school, right?) :)
Tom  
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tom Cross AKA The White Ninja / Decius 6i5 */^\* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=- TWN615@mindvox.phantom.com  GT7508B@prism.gatech.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=
=- "Government is not a reason, not an eloquence; it is a force. Like fire, =-
-=- it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington -=-=