Related:

• wirehead /wi:r'hed/ n. [prob. from SF slang for an electrical-brain-stimulation addict] 1.
  A hardware hacker, especially one who concentrates on communications hardware....
• wizard: n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who {grok}s it)
  esp. someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency....
• WIZARD n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware work
  omeone who can find and fix his bugs in an emergency....
• ofty: [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware.
  -- The AI Hackers Dictionary...
• phreaking: /freek'ing/ [from `phone phreak'] n. 1. The art and science of cracking the phone network (so as, for example, to make free long-distance calls).
  2. By extension, security-cracking in any other context (especially, but not exclusively, on communications networks) (see {cracking})....
• fried: adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure
  burnt out. Especially used of hardware brought down by a `power glitch' (see {glitch}), {drop-outs}, a short, or some other electrical event....
• phreaking /freek'ing/ n. [from `phone phreak'] 1.
  The art and science of cracking the phone network (so as, for example, to make free long-distance calls)....
• wizard n. 1. Transitively, a person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it)
  esp. someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency....
• wetware: /wet'weir/ [prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker] n.
  1. The human nervous system, as opposed to computer hardware or software....