Month: March 2006

Returning to fUSION Anomaly, the site also features an Anomalog, and I found this great tip, that I want to pass on, courtesy of fUSION Anomalog: The tip first surfaced on the web-site of Manu Cornet PCJacking.

Quoted from the article PCJacking on the fUSION Anomalog, http://fusionanomaly.net/anomalog/node.php?id=1809 (accessed on the 1-Mar-2006):

PCjacking is sticking Linux Live CDs in computers located in popular department stores, to let the customers know that something other than Windows exists. If you think it’s an useful thing to do, try it yourself ! PCjacking is totally safe for the hijacked PC, and leaves it completely unaltered.

[…]

Here’s how to do it :
1. Get a Knoppix CD image, or another Linux Live CD [added by Kim Bach: e.g. Ubuntu], and burn it to a plain CD-R. Make as many copies as you need to perform your pcjacking.
2. Write something on the CD so that people working in the store understand what this is for, and how to get their Windows back.
3. Take your CD and a camera to a popular PC seller, and look for your prey. It can be a desktop or a laptop, but you need to be able to access its CDROM drive, and hopefully, its keyboard.
4. Before inserting the CD, take a look at the screen resolution in Windows settings. Set the sound volume to its minimum, so that the Windows “byebye” sound won’t be heard in the whole store. Then put the CD in, and reboot the computer.
5. When the Knoppix startup screen appears, you need to let it know the screen resolution it should use (this might not be necessary, but I found that using the default boot options sometimes leads to a “out of range” message on the screen, the guys at Knoppix need to raise the default value or provide a better detection of the screen). For example, type “knoppix screen=1024×768”. Careful if you don’t live in the US : the keyboard layout is the US one here. Then press enter.
6. Go a few meters away. You’re safe now, even if somebody notices, they won’t know it was you. Wait one or two minutes for the system to boot, then take out your camera and take a few shots at your masterpiece. Who knows, maybe you don’t have anything to do with this, but you happen to know Linux, and you found it funny to see it running there, so you just wanted to take a few pictures 🙂 Leave the CD inside the PC, and leave the store with an innocent face.
7. Put your shots on a web page somewhere, and send an email to pcjacking@manucornet.net to let me know, and I’ll link to your pictures from this web page.
8. Enjoy having made the Open source world advance, even if only a tenth of an inch !