A tribute to alt.hackers

Once upon a time, long long ago, before web browsers and online discussion boards, there was Usenet. Usenet consisted of thousands of text-only discussion forums called “newsgroups”. This web page commemorates the once-great newsgroup alt.hackers (started by one Jef Poskanzer) by archiving some of its better posts.

This is a news archive of articles posted to the Alt.hackers newsgroup from January to November of 1995. This archive is not complete; it only has articles I felt were important enough to save at the time. The reason I have put this archive online is because a number of articles from this era were never indexed by DejaNews, and therefore are not available in the Google archive. Additionally, the Google archive does not have the full headers of these articles; as a result, certain fun messages hidden in the headers were lost.

Sam, January 24 2003 (formatting updated June 16, 2011 and May 12, 2013)

Here is the index. Go to the bottom of each article to follow the thread.

Re: fork bombs (was Re: cat in 69 characters, what can you do?) 1 article
Re: Test w\ obhack 1 article
Re: C/C++ tricks 1 article
Re: First Post Attempt 1 article
Re: How can I deal with a food stealer? 2 articles
Re: <ad> GUARANTEED CREDIT REPAIR BY LAW FIRM 2 articles
Kevin Mitnick 3 articles
AV HAck 1 article
Re: Backwards Message Hack 11 articles
Another Person's First Post 1 article
Re: Help!! VGA -> TV ? 1 article
Re: First Post 1 article
Re: Backwards Message Hack 2 articles
Serial / PS/2 Mice 1 article
Re: Grumpy modem hack.. 1 article
I am so bored 3 articles
Re: How can I deal with a food stealer? 1 article
Re: Please Ignore - BILL'S TEST POST 1 article
Re: How can I deal with a food stealer? 4 articles
Re: Login masking? ..DC Toaster?? 2 articles
Re: Backwards Message Hack 1 article
Re: YKYBPMTLW 2 articles
Re: <SPAM> GUARANTEED NEWSGROUP DAMAGE BY FLAW FIRM 1 article
Re: I'm a Bozo. 1 article
Sendmail security holes.. 12 articles
Re: Login masking? 1 article
Re: A few requests (and, of course, ObHacks) 2 articles
Hacking your boss :) 1 article
Almost a test 1 article
Backwards (was: Need Help With Phone Pranksters) 1 article
(17aug93) Welcome to alt.hackers - automated posting. 1 article
Lucky hack 4 articles
Re: TEST 2 articles
Need Help With Phone Pranksters 11 articles
First Post 1 article
Re: (17aug93) Welcome to alt.hackers - automated posting. 1 article
Car battery hack 3 articles
Annoying alarm Hack 2 articles
Term 3 articles
Hidden functionality in consumer electronics 1 article
serverless http connections 5 articles
Hacking Story 1 article
Kevin Mitnick dead or escaped? 1 article
Re: How can I deal with a food stealer? 5 articles
(17aug93) Welcome to alt.hackers - automated posting. 1 article
Re: Grumpy modem hack.. 2 articles
Printing Hack 4 articles
first post 1 article
Any suggestions? 1 article
Construction light hack 1 article
New harddisk 1 article
Quick Postscript Printing Hack 1 article
Pathetic Stereo Hack 1 article
"unfixable" Car Stereo 1 article
OK, I need some help on this one... 3 articles
getsatan 1 article
Re: How can I deal with a food stealer? 3 articles
First Post ? and of course - a hack 1 article
Another first post. 3 articles
Very cool (IMO) news hack 7 articles
Re: Need info on connecting pager to pc. 3 articles
Construction light hack 1 article
Worm Hack 1 article
Hacking camcorders? 1 article
First ObHack 1 article
Mickey Mouse XClock 1 article
Finally Root 1 article
Speaker hum 2 articles
Lame first post 1 article
a lamo hack 2 articles
test post 3 articles
Is 1 gig spam back? 2 articles
How to fix a Mac PowerBook 1 article
Re: No User Servicable Parts - was Re: A Breach of trust with a laptop 1 article
Re: executing interrupts from C...? 1 article
SB314 1 article
Auto pgp-sign news 1 article
Phone Pranksters: Caught 'Em! 2 articles
Just Testing 1 article
What is the problem with Finger? 15 articles
VAX email 1 article
auto lock hack 3 articles
usenet still out there? 2 articles
Simple Hack 3 articles
Re: Sorta Lame mini-tower hack 1 article
Re: Any suggestions? 2 articles
IRC and related bumpf... 1 article
Re: IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY 1 article
NEED AUTODIALER SOFTWARE 2 articles
cmsg newgroup comp.misc.microsoft.sucks 1 article
perl program question 1 article
Re: IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY 1 article
Power out hack 5 articles
Fake Mail FAQ 2 articles
whackers 3 articles
First post 1 article
Snow free editing for VHS without flying erase heads 2 articles
Drive swap 1 article
Tape player hack 1 article
Re: also WANTED: VMS info 3 articles
c00l hack 14 articles
First Post 2 articles
Timed rup 1 article
Help Me I need a Netnews address 1 article
This hack kicks ass! It rules! 1 article
Re: Printing Hack 1 article
Re: //c hack 5 articles
Lame Xmas lights hack 1 article
first post 1 article
Hacker FAQ (revision 0.01) - RFC. 1 article
Re: Tell me 1 article
First Post/Microcontroller Hack 1 article
test hack 1 article
Tell me 1 article
underground 2 articles
Floppy Drive hacks 1 article
Making 2 programs communicate 1 article
Call-ID -> announced calls 1 article
April Fools day crap... 1 article
Ethernet hack 1 article
OBHack... 7 articles
Hacker FAQ (please comment and help fix) 39 articles
Test message 2 articles
Something that shouldn't be a hack, but is... 1 article
Evil Post!!! 2 articles
hrm.. 2 articles
Think I finally got it... 1 article
Test Post 1 article
Getting AIX root access 4 articles
Re: Electronic Highway Signs, Q about VCL 2 articles
Re: also WANTED: VMS info 1 article
Re: 4K Dual port RAM 1 article
Electronic Highway Signs 6 articles
Strange posting problem. 1 article
Eric Hughes' Perl Remailer? 1 article
Really Lame (but neat) hack 1 article
FTP and other ObHacks 1 article
Re: Hacker FAQ (please comment and help fix) 1 article
Just Do It 1 article
Re: Proposal: alt.hackers.aol :) 5 articles
File I/O hack... 2 articles
Re: Minesweeper solver 2 articles
This won't work... I know it.. 3 articles
It can't be THIS easy 3 articles
testing moderated posting 1 article
Re: Can it be this easy (a test ) 1 article
Re: ToneLoc 2 articles
clueless-l 1 article
Re: Hacker FAQ (please comment and help fix) 1 article
Hacker FAQ? 1 article
I'll just try it... 2 articles
at ease 1 article
DOS FDISK and it's hoops. 2 articles
My first 1 article
just testing 1 article
guy who I can finger for NNTP servers 1 article
testin' a theory 4 articles
Minewsweeper solver 13 articles
Re: Minesweeper solver 1 article
Re: Did I get in? 7 articles
boredom 1 article
Re: Hacker FAQ? 1 article
Re: Can it be this easy (a test ) 1 article
Im a new lamer, testing 4 articles
First Post 1 article
Environment variables under Windows (how to use them!) 1 article
Connecting a PC to a car's onboard computer 1 article
WebMineSweeper 2 articles
Re: Can it be this easy (a test ) 1 article
Testing (w/ ObHack) 1 article
Re: Did I get in? 1 article
TMRC Dictionary? 1 article
A challenge for UNIX wizards 10 articles
Re: 1st post and general query 1 article
ignore. 2 articles
1st post and general query 2 articles
NeXTstep login manager 1 article
token ring tools 4 articles
Disk Serial Numbers. 3 articles
Don't ya just love kids 1 article
Bresenhams line on 6502 1 article
Re: sendmail bug 2 articles
Re: Boolean Grep? 5 articles
Dial-back SLIP ? 3 articles
Did I get in? 1 article
OBPostHak 8 articles
Re: sendmail bug 1 article
Lame Newbie 5 articles
Boolean Grep? 2 articles
Windows write format? 1 article
News grepping 1 article
Broken Light Bulb Base Removal Hack 9 articles
Unix Time Crossed 800,000,000 2 articles
little calendar hack 5 articles
First Test Posting... 3 articles
assignment hack 1 article
Mac Schemtics... 2 articles
Xyzzy 3 articles
What would happen ? 1 article
Fisrt Go 2 articles
OrCad 3 to bitmap 1 article
Is your Radio Shack like this? 5 articles
How to make people back off... 2 articles
Is my address showing? 2 articles
Web browser as (even more) general purpose TCP/IP client 1 article
test 3 articles
Re: MAKE MONEY ON THE INFO-HIWAY!!!!!!! 2 articles
WWW proxy hack 1 article
a small hack 1 article
ObHack: Telephone 2 articles
This is going to be interesting.... 1 article
Re: Re: testin' a theory 1 article
testes 1 article
Hacker Awards? 1 article
Re: Is your Radio Shack like this? 1 article
Re: POP2/POP3 holes? 1 article
Bootstrap code 1 article
You know ... 1 article
Re: Just the hacks, ma'am 1 article
Re: Novell -> Unix Mount 1 article
Help with a tcsh hack 4 articles
NNTP set-up hack 1 article
Re: rlogin revealed 9 articles
Re: rlogin revealed 1 article
Re: Novell -> Unix Mount 3 articles
DO NOT READ 2 articles
Printing with Linux... 1 article
Hacking VMS 1 article
Re: Forged Post 1 article
hey, Susan! 1 article
What is this System? Help! 4 articles
Re: No Posts 1 article
Re: alt.hacker ???!?!?!?!??!??!? 1 article
Re: No Posts 2 articles
Like son, like father ? 1 article
AOLers in alt.hackers 4 articles
Keyboard case hack 4 articles
Re: alt.hacker ??? 1 article
Fixing 3 1/2" drive 1 article
alt.hackers.d ? 4 articles
Mail systems on AOL 3 articles
Re: Mail systems on AOL 1 article
Re: HR-1555 1 article
Re: Mail systems on AOL 1 article
Serious Linux DOSEMU security hole 1 article
Re: Serious Linux DOSEMU security hole 1 article
AOL's mailsystem, lies and videotape 1 article
Vinyl record hack 1 article
Smallest Unix Shell 5 articles
Re: Broke for good (was Re: ports?) 2 articles
cmsg newgroup alt.hackers.discuss moderated (booster) 4 articles
cmsg rmgroup alt.hackers.malicious 4 articles
Re: Free Spam Program, Does it Work?? 1 article
O.J. Mute-O-Matic (tm) hack 1 article
"Hackers", the movie 14 articles
Re: ports? 1 article
A useful .COM proggy: 7 articles
Re: Broke for good (was Re: ports?) 1 article
Re: ports? 1 article
fun with ROMs (was Re: Video Fader) 1 article
I love this group.. 1 article
Re: "Popular WWW browser" hacks UPDATE 1 article
Post-canceling protection. 1 article
ATL.2600 are steeling are ObHacks. 2 articles
Windows DDE hack 1 article
Re: Netscape Hack (first post) ALSO: S-VHS hack 1 article
Re: ! A A*** ATTN: MASTER CRACKERS! EARN ETERNAL FAME *** 2 articles
boy do we need the automoderation back (was Re: Hacking info etc... E-mailed to you for a small transfer fee.) 1 article
Re: alt.hackers unmoderated? 2 articles
Mini-shell, hackers, HD disks 8 articles
Re: Newsgroup mimicry 1 article
humorous yet weak 1 article
Re: Newsgroup mimicry 2 articles
calculator hack 3 articles
Test post 1 article
ObIHateCarsHacks 1 article
Re: First time - this better work 8 articles
signature programs 1 article
Re: Need help with Internet 1 article
Hacked AIX 3 2 articles
Topten help! 4 articles
Re: How do I begin a hacking career 1 article
New privacy threat, or just paranoia? 1 article
Re: How do I begin a hacking career 5 articles
Posting in the Future 1 article
Re: Hackers vs. Crackers - the survey. 1 article
How far did this get? 4 articles
Shell game, and ick 3 articles
Bicycles and perculiarities of System V's "mesg." 1 article
Re: Femdom In Search of Naughty Boys 1 article