
GCK#1        ,s"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""s            
             $                                     $
             $  s$$$$$""$$  sS""$$$$$s sS  sS$$$s  $
             $  $$$$$$  $$  $$  $$$$$$ $$  $$$$$$  $
             $  `$$$$$$$$$  $$  `$$$$' $$$$$$$$$'  $
             $          $$  $$         $$  $$s,    $
             $  s$$$$s  $$  $$  s$$$$s $$  $$$$$s  $
             $  `$$$$$$$$'  `$$$$$$$$' $$  `$$$$'  $
             $                                     $
             `"sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss"'


 Founded December 9, 1996 By Dark_Soul and the DemoGroup Gecko 

 Gecko Issue  : #1
 Release Date : 5 January 1997
 Subscribers  : 87




 (---xX Introduction Xx---)



Welcome to GCK newsletter issue number #1

Hi

GCK is a new newsletter for all those who are interested in free
speech.
We will have articles about : Coders, Hackers, Trackers,
Phreakers, Musicians, and Graphic artist's.
But we will also have the latest reports from Demo parties and
interwievs with famous scene people.
If you have comments bad/good don't hesitate to send a mail
to : Calu@algonet.se
We are currently looking for reporters so send a mail if 
you are interested.

If you have an article you want to publish in our newsletter
then the text must be readable and understandable and mailed
in plain ascii text.   

GCK is aimed for a big audience.
We will have everything in our articles from help
for new composers to coding for advanced persons in 
Assembler PMODE.

In our first article about hackers we will give you some
basic information about how hacking really works.
In our coming issues we will give you some information how to
hack "good" and some hacking examples.

We hope that you will enjoy our newsletter. And find it
interesting.
If not,then give it time!

//Dark_Soul



      
 (---xX Table of Contest Xx---)
      

 GCK

   1. GCK
   2. Current Member Staff
   
 
 General Articles

   3. Interwiev with Lizardking
   4. About Mods/s3ms
   5. Report from The Party 6
   
  
 Miscellanious

   6. Mail corner
   7. How hackers (realy) work 
   8. After words
  



 [ 1 ] GCK


GCK is available anonymous via FTP from:
Hl.cafeet.pp.se  
maindirectory  /gecko
subdirectory  /gck
 
To subscribe, send mail to : Pcman@beerchan.irc.pp.se    
Put the following text in the subject field : Paper add   
   
If you want to see the latest information and pictures from
parties then look at our new page on the Internet :
Http://hl.cafeet.pp.se/~gecko/GCK.html
Itīs probably down right now but will soon be up.

You can also reach us on IRC (efnet) on the European side, on the 
channel #Gecko
 
 


 [ 2 ] Current Member Staff


This is the Staff of GCK newsletter

Updated January 12, 1997              



Editor/Publisher  .... Dark_Soul ... Calu@algonet.se 

Resp./Mailist     .... PC_Man    ... Pcman@beerchan.irc.pp.se 
   
Reporters         .... Narfy     ... Jattard@execulink.com
                       flare^flu ... 
                       D-Luxe    ... D-luxe@algonet.se
                       Metronome ... Metro@hem.passagen.se
                       _6502_    ... Agriff@ix.netcom.com
                       Piglet    ... Markus.hamburger@mbox300.swipnet.se
                       Byron     ... Byron@gw.cybalink.com
                       Sneaker   ... Jonas.linngard@voxnadalen.ovanaker.se
          
Ascii Contributor .... Barv      ... 




[ 3 ] Interview with Lizardking

Dark_Soul meets Lizardking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Hello Lizardking!
We are very glad that you took the time to give us this interview.
      
Ok let's start with some simple questions ...

Q: What do you do when you don't track music ?

A: Oh, lots of things...   Especially since I don't spend too much time
in tracking nowadays. (Oh, don't you worry, I am making new tunes all 
the time!)
I do of course spend time in making 'real' music, with Cubase and MIDI
stuff, for example our new CD coming out..
Then misc other music projects..  When still talking about the computer
I like playing strategic games, such as Warcraft or Panzer General,
expecially with other human players.. Also, I spend a lot of time with
internet roleplay, on MUSHes. If you want to know where and all that,
just peek at my homepage (Mentioned later in this interview.) When coming
to non-computer things, the array becomes wide..   I spend time with
friends of course...
And I like going out. (We have a lot of parties)..

Q: We have heard that Triton are going to release a game
called Into the Shadows. What will the game be like ?

A: It is like a fighting game, Virtua Fighter or alike. NOT like
doom/quake. But it's still not a fighter game like that.. You use Erik,
your character, to save your pretty sister from the clutches of the evil
sect that keeps her in their castle to use her for a sacrifice...
The tory isn't  finished, but that's general..  Now, you use Erik to
explore the castle. You have to fight your way through all the baddies,
using different weapons and even spells to reach your goal.. The graphics
and sound is without boasting  among the best available anywhere,
especially since it's realtime stuff.

Q: When will it be released ?

A: Good question, but I can't answer that for the moment however, as there
are some current problems causing the project to a halt.

Q: Do you have a contract with any gamedeveloper ?

A: For the moment we are working for Scavenger.

Q: So ... whatīs next for you and Triton ?
Any other new stuff coming upp ?

A: Oh, a special Win95 Crystal Dream is on the move I think...
Into the Shadows and most likely new, fresh versions of the Fast Tracker.

Q: Do you have a tip for new composers that want to be
big on "the scene"

A: Make sure to be seen and heard everywhere!  Make mostly the kind of 
music you like to do, but also follow other people's advice..  Be seen
and heard everywhere -without- being annoying ;)
Develop your personal style!  That's very important..  Even if your music
sound very good technically, it won't be enough.. There are numbers and
numbers of musicians that are simply
great!  But without the personal touch it won't get there..     
Make sure to get your stuff released!   Don't hold on your stuff like a
protective hawk, let people copy your finished stuff when asking, and not
asking for that matter... 
And most often, no one gets famous over one night.  It took me years, so
be patient :)


Q: And last of all. Could you please make a list of the
top ten tunes made by you or other composers ?

A: I would prefer not making any 'lists', since music varies so much in
style. It wouldn't be fair by my opinion..  And I don't really have and
favourite tunes, I don't listen much to tracker music, more to 'real'
music..  But I do of course have a few favourites, like 
'Overload' by Tip/Mantronix,  marvelous work by Mantronix, still being
geniously composed and performed..  
Another very good tune is 'Banana Split' by Dizzy..    


Thank you very much Lizardking and good luck with Triton.
 
- Oh, thank you, too..  Now I had a chance to babble away some of my
- thoughts :)  




 [ 4 ] Article about Mods, S3Ms


Author: Narfy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't really know how to start off, so I'll just introduce myself.
I'm Narf Brother, part of Mediak and LlamaTekk. I compose s3ms, do graphics
and game designing. I met Dark_Soul on IRC in #trax and I volunteered to
write about some of the composers of 1997, and some of the gossip going
around about FC and other things. Please remember these are only rumours
and may very well not be true.

I've noticed that there hasn't been any FC productions/releases since
About 1993.. and I also noticed that they aren't answering my e-mail, and
their homepage is lacking a bit. What happened ?? Did they just disappear?
I was told that at a certain age, people from Finland (where FC originates
from) must enlist in the military services. This age was reached by half
of the FC members at the same time, and basically, the group dissipated.
Which is too bad because I always felt that FC was the best group around,
with the best music. Hopefully FC will gather itself together and start
producing things again because I miss their work.

I've also noticed the increasing amount of XM/IT files. Could it be that
the ever popular Scream Tracker ]I[ (future crew) is being outshined by
all the new gadgets in Fasttracker II (triton), and Impulse Tracker ? Well
there are some ways of proving this. I still use ST3 because I always have
liked it and I have had no reasons to move to FT2. But some people prefer 
FT2. There are lots of advantages.. it has a built in Sampling editor, it
has the ability to have samples over 64k, you can use up to 32 tracks, it
has mouse support and supports more soundcards. Best of all, it has a built
in "Nibbles" game which can supply you with hours and hours of fun!!
XM files do tend to be bigger in size, just because of the bigger samples
and more tracks, but that doesn't really make much of a difference. Myself,
I have never needed to use any more than 16 tracks to write a song, and
usually my songs range from 6-12 channels. I also don't like using the
mouse. It's slow and bothersome, and it breaks down all the time. Also FT2
will NOT run in Windows 3.11 or Win95. FT2 is a good program and I like it.
I just like ST3 better :)

Impulse Tracker on the other hand, is something different. I love
this program. It's Scream Tracker, with all these little gadgets plastered
onto it. It has all the same keys, and effect charts as ST3, so it doesn't
take long to get used to. It also allows up to 64 channels, which I think
is sort of excessive, but hey why not. It has some new effects which sound
interesting, and will load and play almost any format and play it
beautifully. Unfortunately, I don't need any of these things. :) S3M's can
be played on almost any program/tracker, and I just don't need all these
new thingies. Way to go Jim, you've done a good job, but I'm already
hooked on ST3 :)

Well... I just noticed I spent most of my time talking about tracking
programs.. so.. I'd better start talking about music. I like any sort of
music. Jazz, Metal, Techno (sort of.. I guess.. kinda).. etc.. and I just
wanna go through the best composers.. Purple Motion is an Excellent Techno
composer, as well as Moby of Mindscape. Metal, I don't see these often and
you can get them from me! Necros is a well-rounded composer and I don't
know what you would label his music. Aside from "bugs in my head" and
"mystic" I think his music is excellent. Timelord is my favourite for
ambient songs with "affliction" and the "Mystique series." Jazz, I would
have to go with either Moby, with Elekfunk (I love that one) and faithful
Dr. Awesome. Skaven of course, is excellent in orchestral music, my
favourite being Catch That Goblin. Mind you I haven't heard everybody, but
these are my favourites so far. As far as I know, Maelcum took part in
writing music for Star Control 2, one of my favourite games on this planet.
He did a good job on that, along with another person whom I have yet to
identify. Eric Berge ?? He was good..

That's about all I have to say.. if you wanna mail me, or hear my
music mail me at: jattard@execulink.com
Website at: http://www.execulink.com/~jattard/narfy.htm
Bear with me, my website is not very updated or good.. I would advise to
mail me :)
You may also find me on #trax either on UnderNet or DalNet

Thanx a lot




[ 5 ] Report from The Party 6

Author: Metronome
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Party 6 was held in Aars, Denmark, 27-29 dec. This was the last
The Party forever. The text "The end of an era" was typed all over 
the party place. :) Or, "The end of an error", the way that I think...
I had an awful trip to the party, I live in southern of Sweden,
so it was a bit difficult to reach Aars, a little town in northern 
Jutland.
It was held in "Messecenter", a huge place, with three big halls.
There was a lot of people, about 3500. I thought is was hard
to get a table, since it was overbooked, but there wasn't any problem
with that... After we had "uncompressed" our computers, we realized we 
needed power. And, there wasn't any! The organizers said we had to wait
for a  while, because they didn't have power enough... except for the 
big  hall of course. After two hours of waiting, the power did show up
somehow...
X-cal discovered an outlet under the table... The outlet that Mooseart 
absolutly didn't see for two hours ago. Well, after a bit fighting 
with Mooseart, we decided to test the network. It didn't work at all...
After a couple of hours, it actually worked! Amazing.. :) But Internet 
didn't work. We hadn't expect that either.. :) 
We were supposed to send network-radio, but the lousy Windows NT didn't
let our packets trough... Damn... And the organizers didn't care a bit.
"Fix it yourself", they said. Sure, you needed a truck to get up to the 
bridges in the roof. So, we had brought four computers for no use.
Nice. Talking about getting pissed off. I tried to calm down with a 
soda. I went to the café and tried to pay with swedish money. Yeah, I 
had to  pay 45 swedish crowns for a 1,5 litre soda.
Then we were hungry. We tried to get a slize of pizza 21:06. Yeah, 
"We don't do anymore pizza after 21:00". The service was REALLY lousy 
at  this place. 
And the sleeping hall, wasn't any sleeping hall... It was just a
wood-wall in the third party hall. Very quiet.. :) Sleeping under the
table, as usual. :)
We wanted to do a fast intro for the fastintro-compo, but, there weren't
any fastintro-compo. The Party 6 sucked. Really. We coded a intro in 4
hours, and competed in the real democompo. Hehe. Well...
Somehow, I managed to get on the Internet. Our 10Mbit connection to the 
net was 3 times slower than a 28k8 modem. Yeah. 
After a while, the democompo was running. Of course, 2 hours after the
real start, but it worked. :) It was the only compo I was interested in,
and the only one I watched. There wasn't any real superdemos, so it was
a bit boring. But, the organizers fucked up 7 of the 32 demos, that was
a bit fun anyway. :) 
And, of course, our demo bugged as hell, so we came at 9:th place.
Then it was time for vote. It was done trough a http-page, the only smart
thing the organizers had done. Again, I just have to say:
THE PARTY 6 SUCKED!

All the contributions and result-list can be found on:
ftp://ftp.arosnet.se/demo/demo/tp6/

The Party 6 homepage:
http://www.theparty.dk

Hang on for report from The Gathering '97, in Norway!

//Metronome of Goto10.
Metro@hem.passagen.se




[ 6 ] Mail Corner

This section is made for the readers.
Send us a mail if you have something on your heart.
Something you like or dislike, want to start a discussion or
want to inform people of a new event coming up.
Or why not make commercial for some new stuff you have released
or will release.
We canīt promise to publish all e-mails. 
Send a mail to : Calu@algonet.se


Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:09:11 +0100
To: Claes Lundin <calu@algonet.se>
From: Peter Stuge <stuge@kuai.se>

-----------------------------------------------------------------
  > >  C o m e D Y   invites YOU to   T h e  H y p e  ' 97  < <
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Hype '97 is a demoparty that's going to be held in central
Malmoe in Sweden , on the 14th through the 16th of February.  It will
feature this: (and more!)

  *  800x600 7m diagonal bigscreen
  *  700W sound output
  *  Compos:  * Combined Demo/Intro for all platforms/machines.
              * Music, 4-32 chns
              * Graphics, Lores (80x25)
              * Graphics, Hires (320x200 -> 800x600)
  *  Microwave ovens, toasters and coffee-machines at partyplace

The low-low price you have to pay to take part in this specta-
cular event is only 100.- SKR if you pay in advance, we want your
money before the 31st of January, on Postal Account (PostGiro)
6172803-6, made out to Peter Stuge.  If you can't make your way
to a Postal office to pay in advance, you have to pay 130.- at
the door.  Save the reciept, it's your entrance ticket.

(This is a shortened version of the official infofile, please be
sure to download the original version (it's in Swedish) from:
http://www.funcform.se/hype/Hype97.txt
or
join #hype97 on EFNet or IRCnet and type !sendinfo in the channel
or
(also on EFNet/IRCnet) type /msg Hype97 !sendinfo.

Feel free to contact me/us if you have any further questions
concerning The Hype '97, the number ONE demoparty held in Malmoe!

                                                 -- CareBear\

CareBear\ : stuge@kuai.se : Peter Stuge : +46-705-783805
univerz   : univerz@hotmail.com
YdO       : ydo@gim.net

irl:Peter Stuge    irc:CareBear\
tel:+46-40-914420  GSM:+46-705-783805




[ 7 ] How hackers (really) work  

Author: Lord Byron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                               
                        ------------------------
                        HOW HACKERS (REALLY) WORK  
                        ------------------------              
                    


                          author: Lord Byron
                          date: January 1997

        
DISCLAMER:

This is only an informative article. None of the technics described
here should be used to break into servers that are not properly secured.


INTRODUCTION:

"Hackers broke into CIA server", "NASA hacked"... Every day news!
Have you ever thought how hackers do this? What are the technics they
use to brake into servers and change that WWW page or whatever? Sure,
you`ve seen the movies but it`s nothing like that in reality...


HACKERS ENVIRONMENT:

The (computer) environment of hackers are terminals. This isn`t no fancy
Windows, OS/2, etc. environment with million colors graphics, but plain old 
ASCII few colors graphics environment.

It`s like good old DOS. You type the command and press enter.

So when you see those fancy screens in "hacker movies" remember -
the producers don`t have a clue about hackers, hacking or computers.

If you want to see how terminal environment looks like, download some of
the free terminal programs from the Internet and connect to your local
Internet Service Provider with it or to any other server.

Real Hackers use Linux or Unix. Linux is a freeware operating system and
it`s a clone of UNIX. It looks like DOS (enter the command, hit enter).
UNIX is the OS (operating system) which is installed on most servers. So
when hackers work on they`re Linux they learn how the OS (they gonna hack)
works.
Linux is also used to run programs called security tools (this programs
scan the server for bugs and improper setup). You can also download Linux 
and security tools from the Internet.


HACKING TECHNICS:

Basics:

To understand hacking technics you must first understand a few basics. 

Servers are (big) computers used by Internet Service Providers, Universities
and others. They are usually connected to the Internet.

These servers run OS`es like UNIX, VAX, WINDOWS NT (only lame ones!).
Servers have doors called ports. Port 21 is FTP port, 25 sendmail port, 79
finger port, 80 www port, etc. When you enter an URL address in your
Navigator you connect to a server with that address via port 80. When you
connect to FTP you connect via port 21... If you would connect to a server
via port 80 on a terminal you would only see the HTML code of the page (if
the server had an URL address). When you send your email, your email
program connects to your internet service provider via port 25 (sendmail).

ROOT is the main system operator. He has the power to do anything. It`s 
like sysop on BBS. 

ROOT is an account. You also have your account on your Internet Service 
Provider`s server. Every account has it`s password (not always). Your 
password is your accounts password. If the system runs UNIX passwords 
and accounts placed in the directory of /etc/passwd. Passwd file 
is an ASCII file that has encrypted password in it. This password can be 
uncrytped by programs that are available on the Internet (cracker jack, 
etc.)

Bugs are errors in program code that make programs do strange things.

Exploits are technics used to use bugs to do even stranger things, like
getting passwd file, crashing machines, etc.

Shadowed passwd file has no encrypted password in it. The real encrypted 
password is somewhere else on the server. All the latest ver. have this 
automaticly installed.

Connection to ports is made by telnet command (telnet www.server.net 
25 (end) where 25 is the port number).



Technics:

Hacker usually starts by scanning the ports of the server he will hack. He
can do that manualy or with some program/script (like SATAN). Then he
continues by checking the versions of programs that are waiting on
ports. Most hackers first check sendmail version. Sendmail is a
mailing program (port 25) that has had a lot of bugs (older versions)
and still does. If a hacker finds a sendmail ver. that is reported to have
a bug, he can try exploiting it.
If there is nothing interesting on port 25 he can check FTP
(port 21). Some FTP`s have passwd files available to everybody
in etc/passwd file! So if there is an unshadowed password available,
the hacker could download it, and start cracking passwords with
cracker jack, or whatever. The hacker checks all programs that
are reported having bugs. The information on bugs is available from
cert.org (most hackers get they`re bugs info right here) and other
groups on the Internet that are collecting bug reports. (cert is not an
underground group!).

If a hacker does not find any bugs he can try using more expert
technics that are not desribed here due to they`re size (but if you are
interested there is a paper called "Improving the security of your
site" written by Dan Farmer available on www.trouble.org).

When a hacker get`s the root (or any super-user) account on the attacked
system he can alter the files. He can for example make a HTML file 
with Netscape Gold (or any other tool) on his home computer and then upload 
it on the attacked server replacing the existing one (contrary to the
public belief that the hacked page is made on the attacked server).


                               THE END



[ 8 ] After words

We don't know when our second issue will hit the streets, but
we do know that it among many things will contain these following
articles :

Interwiev with Karl in Nooon 
SubPixel rasterization
History and future of Scene Musicians
Hacker Tips 
Mail Corner ... And more

We hope that you are looking forward to it.
 
We support the Blue Ribbon Campain!

Since this is our first issue there are so many I would like
to thank for making GCK come true.
In coming issues we wonīt have any greeting list. 
Greetings goes to following in no particular order :
 
Thanks to ...
 
* Everyone that work with GCK. Reporters as ascii artist.
* Dyron for writing for us in such short notice.
* Psibelius (Gene Wie) for publishing my add in the
  educational and interesting magazine Trax :)
* Many IRC people. If you would start to write nicknames
  I will just forget some one.
* All members in the Demogroup Gecko.
* PC_man for putting up this mailist. Well .. When is our
  server up ? :)
* Lizardking .. sorry if I bugged you with all my mails :)
  I hope you will reply some day ;)
* All members in the #öl crew :) ... nice to see you 
  again [-DAViD-] :)
* Cosmo .. Damn you are a good composer .. but where are you now ? :)
* Rubbzy for letting us have our homepage on your server! 
* Vader for helping me look for ascii artists :) keep that
  good Ansi coming :) Well I supposed that he would like to
  make commercial for his nice Graphic group BaT on www.acc.pp.se/bat 
* Since im making greetings for groups right now why not take
  the opportunity to thank Comedy for aranging a demoparty i Malmoe.
* And last of all thanks to everyone I have forgot

//Dark_Soul
//Dark_Soul "Dakke" Organizer of Gecko
Gecko the new demogroup have made a newsletter.
This newsletter contains articles about :
Coders, Musicians, Graphic Artists, Hackers, Crackers
And other free speech related articles.
There will also be gossip and interwievs with famous
scene people.
Give it a try and subscribe today !
Send a mail to : pcman@beerchan.irc.pp.se 
with the following text in the subject field : Paper add


