The Hardware Hacker
by Andrew "Bunnie" Huang · first published 2017
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Insider look at manufacturing hardware in China: factory visits, what goes wrong, red flags when choosing suppliers, plus open hardware. Suits startup founders, makers, and anyone casually curious about hardware.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
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…http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/ https://hackaday.com/ https://forum.nutsvolts.com/ https://circuitcellar.com/ https://www.eetimes.com/ https://makezine.com/ You might also find this book interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Hardware-Hacker-Adventures-Making-Bre...
on “Ask HN: Communities to learn about creating sensor/hardware products?” ↗…install your own OS, write your own apps, or just download programs that do everything from play music and video to run your Chumby as an alarm-clock. Chumby's co-father is Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, the hardware-hacker virtuoso who broke the crypto on the Xbox and paved the way for all the Xbox hacks that followed (documented in his extraordinary book Hacking the Xbox). Bunnie is a passionate advocate for hardware hackers…
on “Chumby's Chinese Factories (read previous posts too)” ↗The Hardware Hacker by Bunnie Huang. It's great for casual reading and some reference to how electronics are manufactured. UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook. I have an old version but it's also great material…
on “Ask HN: What books do you keep on your desk?” ↗…Niel Stephenson (Very fun! Lots of crazy action while still being almost believable) Seven Eves - Niel Stephenson (Typical Stephenson Sci-Fi. Very interesting take on an Armageddon type scenario) The Hardware Hacker - Andrew Huang (Talks a lot about manufacturing tech in China. Neat to see some of the processes behind the devices we use every day. Also interesting if you like the idea of open hardware.) The Art…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗I just finished Hardware Hacker by Andrew “bunnie” Huang, and I'd highly recommend it. Completely changed my perspective on hardware production, and China's role in relation to it. And for fun he delves a bit into biohacking and how…
on “Half-price Ebooks for Day Against DRM” ↗…the product can quite easily stretch out to many months or even years. This is a huge risk from a shareholder's perspective. To gain some context into hardware manufacturing, I recommend reading: The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware by Andrew Bunnie Huang.
on “Hardware Isn’t Hard, Competing with Apple Is Hard” ↗This is the general mantra of Bunnie Huang's book The Hardware Hacker. He goes into lots of detail on why you need to be on-site, all the things you can expect to go wrong/get misinterpreted, and red flags when shopping factories. It's a really captivating read if you're…
on “Keyboardio Kickstarter Day 1278: A startling discovery” ↗You could read the Hardware Hacker by Bunnie Huang and learn about its history. That might spur more ideas.
on “Gadgets That Refuse to Die” ↗…Reverse Engineering: Mechanisms, Structures, Systems & Materials by Robert Messler. Product Design: Techniques in Reverse Engineering and New Product Development by Kevin Otto and Kristin Wood. The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware by Andrew "bunnie" Huang.
on “Learn electricity and electronics fundamentals without taking a formal course” ↗…help I got was from asking engineers directly, whether electrical/mechanical/industrial. If you're near a big city, I highly recommend hardware meetups or makerspaces. I also found Bunnie Huang's The Hardware Hacker great. Packaging if you mean the box should be easy once you're working with a Chinese factory. They usually have a relationship with packaging suppliers and can get great custom packaging for you with…
on “Ask HN: Is there an electronics manufacturing and packaging community forum?” ↗…learning basic Mandarin before making the trip. Not to mention the WIRED videos on Shenzhen featuring Bunnie [2]. Learning the Mandarin number system made negotiating prices a breeze. I just got the Hardware Hacker a month or so ago. Great read. [1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-gui... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp6F_ApUq-c
on “Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation” ↗Shameless plug for bunnie: the "The Hardware Hacker" book has a fair bit more on the subject, and is, the verall, quite a good read.
on “Intro to hacking MicroSD cards (2013)” ↗I've been reading Bunny's "The Hardware Hacker" and it does make me want to visit. What I find particularly fascinating is that it provides powerful evidence that 'open' is innovative and 'closed' is stifling. Early on in the tech business everything…
on “Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation” ↗…graphic novel about Ada Lovelace and Charlie Babbage. Fun story with loads of research to back it up. Got even better when I got to go the UK and explore the places they worked at in their livetimes 2. The Hardware Hacker - A compilation of storis by bunnie focused on the hardware/maker(ish) ecosystem. Also discusses the Chinese manufacturing ecosystem and answers questions that most people have about it. 3. Technically…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?” ↗A few immediately come to mind: - Garner's Modern American Usage - The Hardware Hacker (I am a huge fan of bunnie) - The Art of Electronics (Horowitz and Hill) I don't really have "reference" books on my desk. Most rotate out quite frequently depending on what I'm researching and writing…
on “Ask HN: What books do you keep on your desk?” ↗