The world of hacking has always been portrayed as a secretive, dark world restricted to the elite, but MIT graduate Andrew Huang defies all stereotypes.

Huang has an extensive CV, with achievements ranging from hacking the original Xbox (and writing the subsequent book!) and creating an open-source, customisable gadget called the Chumby, to participating in the design of graphics chips and robotic submarines. We spoke to Huang about his humble beginnings, lawsuits and the corporate world.

Hadlee Simons (HS): What drew you to hacking/modifying electronics and homebrew?

Andrew Huang (AH): When I was very young, my father got a clone of an Apple II computer from Taiwan. It came as a kit and had no case. So I got to watch him build it and set it up, and since it had no case it just sat nailed to a piece of particle board, open for me to see.

I was drawn in by the aesthetics of the circuit board, the glossiness of the chips, and the colourful bands around the resistors. I didn't know what these components did, but the fact that it was open for me to see kept me curious.

I soon discovered that the Apple II came with a set of schematics and source code, and from these documents plus some articles in Byte magazine, I was able to pick up enough to build my own peripheral card for the Apple II; the card added a voice synthesizer and a data converter to the computer, so I made a talking multimeter out of it. Since then, I've been hooked.

HS: Why would anyone want to hack or modify their electronics?

AH: The same reason people decorate their home, or upgrade their cars. It's a matter of modifying your environment to suit your tastes. As the world becomes more and more connected and electronics become a bigger part of our lives, I think people will desire a more personal experience.

Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves, for some people, they can express themselves through the way they customize their personal electronic environment.

HS: How long have you been involved with taking things apart and putting them together and what devices have you worked with?

AH: I reckon I've been at this since about the age of 8, so about 26 years now (did I just give away my age?). I've worked with lots of devices... starting back from the Apple II, I've played with almost every mainstream computer technology, most of the popular consoles, home appliances, and everything else in between.

HS: What skills are necessary to start modifying devices and developing homebrew?

AH: Curiosity, courage, and the resolve to keep at it, even when it doesn't work the first time. Even though it seems it, I wasn't born with a soldering iron in my hand. I had a part-time job in college fixing circuit boards for grad students, which is where I really learned how to solder. And I was playing with transistors long before I even understood how they worked on the inside. Maybe you've heard about the book, 'The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind'. He's the ultimate homebrewer.

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