Releasing free PDF of “Hacking the Xbox” in honor of Aaron Swartz

No Starch Press and I have decided to release a free ebook version of Hacking the Xbox in honor of Aaron Swartz. As you read my book, I hope that you’ll be reminded of how important freedom is to the hacking community and that you’ll be inclined to support the causes that Aaron believed in.

Apologies in advance if there are any hiccups in the distribution of the free copy. The primary host is a server in my flat, which only has a 100Mbps up-link (currently pushing >30Mbps one hour after posting).

20 Responses to “Releasing free PDF of “Hacking the Xbox” in honor of Aaron Swartz”

  1. Love this book… I own dead tree version as well. Really sparked my interest in computer engineering. Will be nice to have an excuse to read it again.

    Any chance this is available in ePub format? I’d pay up for it…

  2. tayken says:

    Read the dead tree version but lost it during the THS move. It is nice that I’ll have a copy to keep.

    Bunnie, will it help you to create a torrent file for sharing? It can lower your server load.

  3. scriptkitz says:

    thx……..

  4. Mr. Reposter says:

    Thanks for this Bunnie – A meaningful memorial to a man who could do shits with a higher IQ than Ortiz and Holder combined.

  5. Tux says:

    My dead tree copy is one of my favourite books. It is very coffee stained and slightly solder-burned. :) It sparked my interest in console modding and homebrew. Let me second that it would be really great to have an ePub copy to read on my Kindle.

  6. I have to agree with Tux, my physical copy of the book is still one of my favorite EE books ever. Your book re-ignited my interest in hardware hacking when it came out, thanks for that! :)

    P.S. I would pay/donate to get it on the kindle.

  7. anonymouse says:

    I love how your flat has “only” a 100 mbit uplink. I think it might be time for me to move to a civilized country that has normal internet speeds.

  8. Thegeekiestguy says:

    Thank you for this valuable book, thank you for taking the time to write it years ago, and thank you for rereleasing it free to the public…
    I still have my hard copy and I love it.
    I also thank you for shedding light on Aaron’s story, the people need to know, and you are a great/reliable source that people will listen to…
    What will your next book be about?

  9. george says:

    Thank you Bunnie,
    It is indeed a meaningful gesture. I read your book a while ago and had the feeling (definitely unlike most other technology books) that you wrote it because you had something to communicate which was of interest to other hackers and not because you wanted to make a quick buck about a subject you “happened” to be familiar with.
    If you ever consider writing another book, one about how you developed your test jigs (for Chumby and other projects) would fill a huge void on the subject.
    In one of your old posts here you wrote shortly about a test jig around a Lenovo laptop and that you had problems bringing it into China, you said you will write a story about that, but probably never came around to do it – still waiting to read that story.

  10. hello says:

    I think there might be a typo on page 92: “Removing the FLASH ROM in a manner that preserves the integrity of its fine-pitched pins simple if you have the right tools, and nearly impossible with the wrong tools.”
    IMO it misses an “is” before the word “simple”.

    Thank you for the great book!

  11. Gaz says:

    Hey Bunnie…thanks for the free ebook…much appreciated and helpful indeed!

  12. Halfwalker says:

    I’ve had my paper copy since it was first released – one of my favorite books. I think I’ve read it through at least 3 times over the years, and only ONCE lent it out, with great trepidation. I did get it back :) I’m an AVR hacker from 2313 days …

    A mobile format version would be excellent. epub or mobi, easy enough to convert.

    Thanks again for a great resource.

  13. Stephen says:

    Thank you for releasing this book for the world to see. Although I have a hard copy already, I’ve downloaded the pdf to share with others and use for research on the go. The forward about Aaron Swartz is a touching part discussing the things you went through and the affect current trends in freedom are taking in the United States and around the world.

  14. Zaid Pirwani says:

    just found out about the book now, looks and sounds GREAT…

    100Mbps… seriously… here we have 1Mbps feeling like the Flintstones

  15. Zaid Pirwani says:

    bought an Xbox for this book

  16. Tom Chiverton says:

    If anyone makes an epub version, do chime in. Calibre always makes a hash of auto converting for me…

  17. yogurt says:

    i came for the pdf

    yes … i … came.

  18. ravi says:

    i wana hacking book for learn it

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