Interview
Handle:
King Fisher
Reach me at:
Linus.Walleij@ecs.ericsson.se
triad@df.lth.se
Homepage
Triad Homepage
How did you come up with your alias?
OK I've kept it secret for a long time, but I guess I can tell you nowadays: Iinvented that handle before I got into computers. I just wrote it on a desk atcompulsory school during a boring lesson. I think we were looking at someboring video or something. Perhaps "Fisher" comes from the actress CarrieFisher, known as princess Leia in Star Wars, as I was a SW fanatic at the time.I didn't consciously make that connection however.
City / Country:
At the moment Lund / Sweden. But my hometown is Ljungby, and I love that town.
Born year:
1972
What was your first computer and when did you get it?
I played around with ABC-80 computers in the early 80ies, but didn't get my owncomputer until I attended an electronics-course at the age of 14, in 1986. Ibuilt a computer called "ELFA-Datorn" (ELFA being an abbreviation forELektronik F"r Alla) running on a 1802 processor with 128 bytes RAM and afrequency of max 3,2 Mhz. You programmed it by flicking switches and punchingin the instructions one bit at a time. You also had to adress the memory usingswitches. If you wanted to study it's operation in detail you could slow itdown (to VERY low speed) or execute the instructions in single steps. I stillhave it around, and it still works! However I got into "real" computers verysoon after that.
How did you get into the Scene and what groups have you been a member of?
I got into the scene in 1987. A friend of mine, namely TDM / Triad, got his C64and started playing games. I didn't like games that much, but another friend ofmine had a C64 with a 1541 (!) and even a machine code monitor! I did somesimple demos and cracked some easy game. I got in touch with some people hereand there but it wasn't until early 1989 I joined Byterapers as a cracker andcoder. After some fast happenings in the Swedish Scene as I passed through Mute101, Royalty and Rebels, then finally teamed up with Triad. (And I'm gonna staywith Triad forever.) And I guess I am still "in" the Scene somehow.
What was the proudest moment in your career?
Gosh, guess it's the one I haven't experienced yet! But I must admit thatreleasing the first C64-trackmo "Red Storm" really was a great event, both dueto it's success and that working together with Alfatech while developing it wassuch a great thing. See, we think the same way about coding!
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered?
I don't know really. Perhaps for "Red Storm"? Or for my cracks? Or for beingboth a cracker and a coder at the same time and during a short period of timeappearing on both coder and cracker charts? (Something VERY few c/c ever did.)But I mean the Scene of course. In real life, the things that I will beremembered for is ahead of me.
What would you like to be remembered for?
Someday, in the mist of time, when they ask you if you knew me, please smileand say you were a friend of mine. (I want to be remembered for who I am/was,not the digital debris associated with me.)
What made you stop the Scene activity? (and do you remember when?)
I haven't stopped Scene activity, period. I still code on the C64, whereas notas intensely as before. Neither do I generally like the thought of dividinglife into discrete steps to which you are "prior" or "past".
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
There are no mistakes in life some people say. I'm one of them.
What was your favourite...
GAME(S):
Pacman & Tetris
DEMO(S):
Demos with harmony
PROGRAMMER(S) OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S):
1001, Judges, TMC (Charles Deenen), The Clumsy Creepers, Kaktus & Mahoney to name but a few.
CRACKER(S) OR CRACKING GROUP(S):
Yak Society, Eaglesoft Inc, Scousers, Ikari, Fairlight, Teeside Cracking Service... Triad...
COMPOSER(S):
Hubbard, Galway, Tel...
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S):
I don't know their names nor authors, sorry.
EVENT(S) (EG COPYPARTY):
Releaseparty for "Red Storm", Cottage meeting with Royalty, Alvesta Party '88.
MEMORY(IES):
71C256-A 32K chips that I plugged into my 1764 RAM expansion unit,ripped from PC Hercules cards! (Eh?)
Favourite drink?
Cola, Schweppes Russchian. I hate all kinds of alcohol.
What are you doing nowadays?
Lots of stuff! I left my technological academic career and turned tohumanities. At the moment I'm studying research policy. I maintain the TriadHomePage on Internet and engage in the fight for civil rights in cyberspace. Iam also politically radical on the left wing and I will stay Red to the day Idie. However I am more of an anarchist than a socialist I guess. (It's a fineline.) I go to raves and clubs without taking drugs (believe it or not, youreally can go there without tripping) and as I wrote a book on hacker culture Ican also regard myself an author of some kind. I also work 35% as a computerteacher.
What are you doing in your spare time?
All the stuff mentioned above, plus sleeping or perhaps, when I can't sleep,playing the guitar and being generally depressed and cynic, driking tea withfriends in cafes or just thinking of what to do, playing Greateful Dead andTrance-techno records whilst burning some incense or just poping in at variousplaces.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admirers)?
(This one is quoted from the manual to "Gnylf" a text conversion freewareprogram I did a while ago):
I do dislike all attempts to limit the freedom of programmers and people ingeneral, and in case you feel like hearing some horribly politically incorrectstatement today, here you have one:
It its RIGHT to crack and distribute copyrighted software to your friends.Software, like all other kind of information is an extension of the human mindand intelligence, and thus copyrights limit your mental freedom. As long as youare not making money from your deprotecting and swapping, I really think it isOK to do just that. If you think I am being naive, then so be it, becauseINFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE MOTHERF*CKER!!
I have heard a lot of "the American Way"-bullsh*t from stupid geeks on the Netlately, the most common objection against my anti-copyright policy being anaive belief in market forces and overall justification of the capitaliststate. Let me tell you one thing once and for all: I will take no such crapfrom white males living in a world where youths live in the street, fightingand dying in pointless gangwars, where colored people and women are oppressedby the same capitalist state, and which YET has not abolished capitalpunishment. Capitalism is inherently racist in that it put the weak in societyhead to head in order to maintain the power control from above. Freedom undercapitalism is the freedom of making as much money as you wish, and almostNOTHING MORE.
Oh, and while I am at it: your government obviously feeds you with completelies every day, making you believe incredibly stupid things using a techniquethat was old before the second world war. But I guess you knew that already,didn't you?
And by all this I probably want to say that the way you think about the worldis influenced by the way you think about computers and programming. The two arenot entirely separable as some may naively believe.
What is the meaning of life?
Keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb.