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In 1964, after taking some college courses, Mr. 'At least someone was listening to me.' He acknowledges he can become obsessive but denies the idea there's anything wrong with him. 'He absorbed this stuff like a sponge.' Ron Draper says his parents briefly sought psychiatric treatment for his brother when he was a child for what they said was a 'chemical imbalance. 'Our father didn't understand what John needed, which was a constant supply of education and resources,' says Ron. Draper says he hated his parents' smoking and felt aggrieved by their refusal to stop. John threw tantrums when his parents smoked, says Ron, a piano teacher. John was not an easy child, often bucking under the authority of his sometimes-distant father, who is now deceased. His younger brother, Ron, recalls John rummaging for electronic parts on military bases where the family lived, on one occasion building a radio station in his bedroom. Air Force engineer and the family moved frequently. Who runs an independent film company and has chronicled the evolution of Silicon Valley. Bengel, 61, designed an electrohydraulic machine tool and says he has worked for several Silicon Valley companies. He lives in a trailer without electricity in the Santa Cruz mountains. Roy Kaylor, 68, built one of the first electric cars in the early 1970s and contributed to a government-supported effort to develop the technology. In recent years, he's lived on the floors and couches of employers he was last seen hitchhiking in the desert outside Las Vegas. Steve Inness, 47, helped develop touch-screen cellphone technology and does programming work for startups. Draper calls aging veterans like himself part of an 'off-the-grid' community. 'Then I learned what he has done and was blown away.'

Draper to do technical work for his new Web entertainment company. 'When I first met him, he was toothless, wearing ripped jeans and looked like a hippie,' saysĪ music producer and computer programmer in Las Vegas who recently hired Mr. Draper once did $10,000 worth of Web-site design and other computer work for a Bay-area therapist in return for physical therapy on his back because he lacks health insurance. Draper was a regular in the rave scene, where people gather in remote locations and dance through the night to electronic music. Until a fall at a conference in Istanbul aggravated a back injury, Mr. A court-appointed psychiatrist once found him to be 'psychotic,' although another found nothing wrong with him. Draper spent three stints in jail in the 1970s for tampering with the phone system. Draper, sporting a straggly beard, stood to contribute a story, causing the room to break into applause. At a recent celebration ofģ0th anniversary, Mr. He receives invitations to speak to foreign governments and international conferences. Draper developed one of the first word-processing programs as well as the technology that made possible voice-activated telephone menus. Draper now lives on the margins of this affluent world, still striving to carve out a role in the business mainstream.Īlthough his appearance and hand-to-mouth existence belie it, Mr. Once tolerated, even embraced, for his eccentricities, Mr. THEN THERE is 'Cap'n Crunch,' part of an aging community of high-tech wunderkinds. Draper worked with, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, have gone on to become wealthy members of the business establishment.

Draper gained fame for his hacking skills as a 'phone phreak' - he once claimed to have gotten then-President Nixon on the phone - Silicon Valley has aged and matured.

Captain crunch whistle phone hacker free#

He set about preparing the meal - obtained free from a Whole Foods worker who leaves outdated products near a dumpster at a prearranged time.