Retro cracking and art underground

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Defacto2 is a website committed to preserving the historic PC cracking and warez scene subcultures. It covers digital objects including text files, demos, music, art, magazines, and other projects. While a seldom-discussed subject, this element of the underground computer subculture could be lost and forgotten without a preservation effort. The nature of digital piracy, with its high churn for participants, means it is a community that is not well documented nor explained. Learn more…

Unfortunately, some files have inappropriate or harmful comments or imagery—a possible consequence of the era and the ages of the people involved, often kids.

Scene milestones

In the early days of modern computing, the terms microcomputer and personal computer were interchangeable. This site defines the PC as the Intel-compatible x86 architecture known initially as the IBM PC but evolved to MS-DOS and Windows. All other personal computer platforms get referenced as microcomputers.
These milestones are for the PC underground and cracking scenes. They are not definitive but are based on the digital artifacts collected.
The more notable communities on other microcomputer platforms are seldom mentioned here, including the famed Apple II, Commodore 64, and Commodore Amiga communities, which were often poorly imitated by the underground communities on the PC.

1971

October

The Secrets of the Little Blue Box

Esquire October 1971

Ron Rosenbaum writes the first mainstream article on phone freaks, primarily kids who'd hack and experiment with the global telephone network.
The piece coins them as phone-phreaks and introduces the reader to the kids' use of pseudonyms or codenames within their regional groups of friends. It gives an early example of social engineering, defines the community of phreakers as the phone-phreak underground, and mentions the newer trend of computer phreaking, which we call computer hacking today. November 15

The first microprocessor

Intel 4004

Intel advertises the first-to-market general-purpose programmable processor or microprocessor, the 4-bit Intel 4004

1972

April

The first 8-bit microprocessor

Intel 8008

Intel releases the world's first 8-bit microprocessor, the Intel 8008 Early 1972

Blue boxes

Inspired by The Secrets of the Little Blue Box article, Steve Wozniak and a teenage Steve Jobs team up to build and sell 40-100, Wozniak-designed blue boxes to the students of Berkeley University. The devices allowed users to hack and manipulate the electromechanical machines that operated the national telephone network.

1974

April

The first CPU for microcomputers

Intel 8080

Intel releases the 8-bit 8080 CPU, its second but more successful 8-bit programmable microprocessor. This CPU became the processing heart of the earliest popular microcomputers, the Altair 8800, the Sol-20 and the IMSAI.

1975

January

The first popular microcomputer

Altair 8800

The worlds first popular microcomputer appears on the front cover of Popular Electronics in the USA, the Altair 8800 by MITS running an Intel 8080 CPU. February

The first commercial microcomputer software

Altair BASIC

Paul Allen and Bill Gates program and sell Altair BASIC for the computer they first saw a month prior. BASIC (Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was a programming language conceived by John Kemeny and Thomas Jurtz of Dartmouth College in early 1964 to be as approachable as possible. 5 March

The first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club

While many technology clubs of this type for sharing ideas were common, this Silicon Valley, Bay Area group became famous for its numerous members who later became industry figures.

1976

January

Software piracy

An Open Letter to Hobbyists

Bill Gates of Micro-Soft writes a letter to the hobbyists of the Homebrew Computer Club requesting they stop stealing Altair BASIC. March

The first commercial software for x86

Microsoft BASIC-86

1980

August

The first operating system for x86

Seattle Computer Products QDOS

Tim Paterson worked on a project at Seattle Computer Products to create an 8086 CPU plugin board for the S-100 bus standard. Needing an operating system for the 16-bit Intel CPU, he programmed a half-complete, unauthorized clone of the CP/M operating system within four months. He called it QDOS (Quick and Dirty OS), and it sold few copies. December

PC-DOS

Seattle Computer Products sells 86-DOS, an almost finished update to QDOS. It is available under an OEM license and sold to Microsoft for a flat fee. Under a non-disclosure agreement with IBM, Microsoft rebrands it as PC-DOS on a non-exclusive, per-copy royalty agreement.

1981

August 12

First IBM Personal Computer

IBM PC 5150

Built on the 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor, 16KB of RAM and Microsoft's PC-DOS, this underpowered machine heralds the PC platform.

August

First published PC game

IBM's Microsoft Adventure

A port of the text only Colossal Cave Adventure

1982

August

Initial release of MS-DOS

Microsoft releases the first edition of MS-DOS v1.25, which is readily available to all OEM computer manufacturers. All prior releases were exclusive to IBM.

The first set of games gets released on the PC platform that IBM does not publish
Some early publishers include Brøderbund, The Avalon Hill Game Company, Strategic Simulations, Inc., Windmill Software, Orion Software and Spinnaker Software

1983

Earliest cracked PC game

Atarisoft's Galaxian broken by Koyote Kid

1983

Some major arcade and videogame publishers of the era release on the PC
Atarisoft, Infocom, Datasoft, Mattel and Sierra On-Line

March

First popular IBM PC clone

Compaq Portable March

PC/MS-DOS v2.0 with ANSI.SYS is released

Includes for the first time a device driver to view ANSI text May 12

Earliest unprotect text

Directions by Randy Day for unprotecting SPOC the Chess Master
SPOC.UNP

Unprotects were text documents describing methods to remove software copy protection on floppy disks. Many authors were legitimate owners who were frustrated that publishers would not permit them to create backup copies of their expensive but fragile 5¼-inch floppy disks for daily driving. 10 November

Microsoft Windows annoucement

In hindsight, this premature announcement aims to keep Microsoft customers from jumping to competitor graphical user interface software.

1984

Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega and MicroProse Software (Sid Meier) publish on the platform.

August

First 16 color PC game

IBM's Kings's Quest

For the IBM PCjr, a short-lived PC line with custom hardware October 17

Earliest information text

Zorktools 1.0 (for Infocom game titles) by Software Pirates Inc

Early releases rarely included accompanying text files unless they were complicated tools or software utilities.

1984

October

EGA graphics standard

Earliest demonstration on the PC

Fantasy Land EGA Demo by IBM

Earliest PC groups

Against Software Protection (ASP)

Software Pirates Inc (SPi)

1985

May 26

Earliest text loader

Bally Midway's Spy Hunter by Imperial Warlords

Text loaders and ANSI art offer similar results but are different in execution. Text loaders are binary programs that display text mode characters and colors. ANSI text required the ANSI.SYS device driver included in PC/MS-DOS 2+ to convert plain text files into onscreen animation and color.

20 November

Initial release of Microsoft Windows

Expensive hardware requirements and a lack of purpose lead to lackluster sales. It will take a decade and multiple releases before Windows becomes dominant.

1986

Earliest "DOX"

Dam Buster* Documentation by Apocalypse BBS
DAMBUST1.DOC

DOX is an abbreviation for documentation, which are text files that provide instructions on playing more complicated games. These titles often relied on printed instruction manuals included in the purchased game box to be playable.
*Accolade's The Dam Busters

IBM PC clone sales pickup in Europe

Olivetti M24 Amstrad PC1512

March

First 16 color EGA game

Accolade's Mean 18

1986

June

Earliest PC loaders

Loaders were named as they would be the first thing to display each time a cracked game is run. These screens were static images in the early days and sometimes contained ripped screens from other games. Some users found these annoying and a cause of file bloat.