Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Am I the only person that is (not really of course!) tempted to put on official-looking clothing and confidently walk in with a laptop and Cisco console cable, nonchalantly telling the librarian their "Internet box" "needs a service upgrade".

And then quietly replace it (after dumping the config and replicating the configuration) with a $100 half-depth Supermicro server bought off Ebay, running OpenBSD?

And then walk out, like the Grinch after he artfully puts Cindy Lou Who to bed, with a nice new 3945 for my own use?

EDIT: forgot to mention, I need a CF card reader also to get the config off the Cisco flash.



If you then sold the router on the second-hand market and gave the money to the library to spend on materials that they actually needed, your plan could do some real good.


At least you'd be creating some value with those tax dollars.


Thinking the exact same thing -- there are plenty of libraries to choose from...


Considering you're talking about pulling the config off flash, which is where the OS and not the config is stored, I'm not too worried about what you plan to do.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: