Mark Hoekstra has passed away
Dear visitors of geektechnique.org,
As friends of Mark, we figured you might appreciate an update on things. It took us a while to find/hack our way into his server (which should be no surprise to you), but we finally managed. We hope you will forgive us for trespassing.
On Saturday September 20, 2008, Mark Hoekstra passed away.
Mark suffered a heart attack on Wednesday the 17th while on his bicycle. He was admitted to the hospital and kept in a coma. Friday night he was pronounced braindead. In the spirit of his open source thinking, his family agreed to a donor procedure for which Mark was kept alive. He finally passed away on Saturday morning. Mark had just turned 34 on the 12th.
Marks Death Notice as sent out by his family
The text in the notice reads:
“So many plans, an unstoppable stream of ideas,
Such an open and creative mind,
We will never again be able to enjoy it,
So strong once and now knocked down,
So sudden and much too soon,
Bye dear Mark”
Mark will be cremated coming Thursday, in Groningen.
Marks family and girlfriend are in our thoughts continously during this difficult time.
With Marks passing away, the future of this site has become uncertain. While we are sure the site will remain online for a considerable time to come, we are looking for a proper way to honour Mark and his assembled works. Please leave your thoughts in the comments, or send us an email at lykle [at] nieuwegarde.nl.
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I give all my condolence to family and friends of this very great person. Even if I discovered his website just today, I feel really connected with Mark. It really hits me when a person die so young, with so many projects left to do, with a new girlfriend (and us geeks know how difficult is to find a woman that can appreciate us). I… can’t believe it. a second you are biking, the second after you struggle on the floor for the last seconds of your life. God can’t be so cruel. It’s the third time I cry today, I can’t accept this reality. Reading his past posts I see that he has been a great guy, a wonderful person, and I’m sure that if heaven exists, he’s there with tons of gadgets to play.
I would donate a little sum to keep this site alive, tell us if you know the password of his paypal account or if we need to use another one. For what it’s worth, I will try to replicate some of his experiments with 3D glasses.
I don’t know if it is a good idea for you, but maybe you can sell some of his stuff on ebay with a charitable cause, maybe of something in wich he was involved.
Condolences again to all the family and friends, I will pray for you all.
Cristiano
Good Bye Mark!
You were a greatly inspiring human being.
You had the rare ability show and send your enthusiasm to many others.
Thank you very much!
Joerg
Good Bye Mark.
Thanks for everything.
Maurizio
Goodbye
Oh no, that’s terrible news. A vital and creative mind and a wicked sense of humour. Mark will be missed all over the world.
Perhaps a weekly collection of the best DIY projects, or a single top pick of the week? Mark had something new nearly every week, so that seems appropriate.
I was really shocked to learn of his death; the internet & DIY culture has lost a very inspiring and influential member.
and I was still hopeful that hackaday pulled some really sick kind of joke with the sad news…
condolences to everyone
Good Bye Mark. You have been a great hacker. I will not forget you.
We will miss you, condolence to family.
Mieru
Hi Mark.
I’ll miss your cleverness and your inspiring ideas.
Rest in peace.
You made me better for knowing you, Mark.
Maybe the community can host mirrored versions of his site in case his hosting contract comes to an end?
I would like to express my condolences to Victoria and Marks family.
Mark, have a good journey.
And happy hacking.
You will be missed.
Again, HIP Mark! Like many others you’ve never met, you’ve inspired me with your hacker spirit.
Rest in peace my friend, i will miss you, it’s hard to belive that’s happened
You still had so many dreams.. It’s too bad you won’t surprise the world any more with them..
My condolences to the family.
rest in peace. so sad, so suddenly…
This is terribly sad. The tech hacking community has lost a great mind and a great friend.
Mark and his family will be in my thoughts.
Any idea if there is a family chosen charitable cause we could donate to in his name?
RIP Mark. Thanks for everything.
Sam
I thought maybe a joke, he would joke so much before, but no. This is awful. I wanted to throw up reading this horrible news. Thanks for everything, mark!
I’m really sorry to hear that, and my thoughts go out to Mark’s family.
This was very unexpected news to me. I really enjoyed reading Marks works. I’m thankful that you will keep the site going for a least some time to come.
Goodbye, Mark.
I’m really sorry to hear this. All my condolences to the family and friends.
Requiescat in pace Mark. You will be missed.
Goodbye friend. Although we have never met, your work was always personal and sincere. You will sorely be missed. My condolences to the family and friends.
I can’t believe this. I am still in denial. Mark, I have been following you and your site since you started with the server hosted in your friend’s apartment. You were so inspirational and this will forever be a devastating loss in the hacking community.
Rest easy good friend.
I’m shocked and deeply saddened by this. Mark’s family and friends will be in my thoughts.
I`m still in shock about this….. Bye Mark, R.I.P.
It was Mark’s spirit that got me into cracking open iPods and computers and taking huge risks with such things.
This is really sad that this happened. Things were going really well for him, and then this.
You will be missed…
As for the future of the site…I don’t know about that, but even though this blog may no longer be updated anymore, I’ll still keep it on my blog’s links and in my bookmarks bar as a homage to the great Mark.
Wow I thought this was a clever joke, but something like this is a total train wreck. It was Mark’s projects that made me learn about Linux. I wish the best for Mark’s family and Friends. R.I.P.
I will always keep this site bookmarked to remember him.
What terrible and shocking news.. Mark was such a great inspiration for me, I always thought of him and his great blog very often – even when I wasn’t online.
I discovered his blogf more than 2 years ago and I’m so sad to found this “news” today in my RSS-Reader.. With only 34 years he passed away..
This is a day of mourning for all of us geeks – geektechnique was always one of my favourite Blogs to have in my RSS-Reader. My thoughts are with his family and friends.
I don’t know what to say.. it’s like a good friend of mine passed away even when I never really talked to him. Rest In Peace Mark Hoekstra, I will keep geektechnique bookmarked and in my gReader. Thanks for all you have done to the Open Source community.
Finally I want to thank Lykle de Vries for sharing the information about his death with us – I can imagine it wasn’t easy to hack your way into his server.
Thank You
— a reader and fan of geektechnique from bavaria, germany
My deepest condolences go to Mark’s family and friends.
Mark was such an influential and inspiring person to so many, and he accomplished more in his short life than most people ever do. His memory will inspire others to go on to achieve greatness.
Good bye Mark.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your life with us.
Condolences to friends and family.
(a faithful reader from spain)
I have been reading Mark’s blog for 2 years and eagerly awaited every post. I was shocked and greatly saddened reading today’s post.
Mark will be missed by all who have read his blog and those who have not read it have missed out.
My thoughts go out to Mark’s friends and family. We will miss you Mark.
I’ve been reading this blog for two years, and this is my first comment (so this’ll probably end up in Akismet/Moderation Queue), but can I just say how shocked I am at Mark’s death. He always entertained & enlightened me, and really wrote about geek techniques in a manner that I understood.
RIP Mark, and my thoughts & prayers to your family.
I just added this blog to my bookmarks…
Rest in Peace.
Mark will be sorely missed.
I was shocked at the news, and thought it must be a horrid joke.
I won’t forget you Mark.
To friends and family, my condolences.
Could someone please remember to take care of Bates.
A true inspiring character, will never be forgotten.
The Hacker community will keep your spirit alive, as long as there will be an human on this earth.
My deepest condolences go to Mark’s family and friends.
I was so shocked I had to read the post twice. It’s a sad day.
I too have been reading this site for several years, and enjoyed it very much. I felt like a lot of Mark’s personality came through in his writings and his creations.
I am deeply saddened for the loss to Mark’s family and loved ones.
Peace to all from the US
SteveO
Hack your way to paradise, Mark. We will miss you
no words
we miss you so much
“life is nothing without friends” cicerone
I thought it was a stupid hackers joke in first view, but now…
Mark i will miss Your sense of humour, ideas, postive thinking…
We have never met in real world, but You are one of my friend.
Thank You!
Condolences to family and friends.
Pawel from Poland
Even though I know it’s true, I prefer to keep on thinking it’s just a stupid hacker’s joke, and you’re just posting somewhere else.
Bye
Max
Its such a great loss to his family and DIY community. I discovered this site only a few weeks ago and started following it avidly. Such a tragedy :(
I still can’t believe this. When I first discovered Marks blogs I was amazed to find someone whose interests and antics were so close to mine. Mark inspired me to test and hack my gadgets to the limit.
I enjoyed reading his blog and never failed to follow each entry.
May he rest in peace,
Peter (Scotland).
R.I.P Markie. Hopefully a suitable memorial can be thought up to commemorate Mark’s creativity and resourcefulness and his passion for sharing these things with the world in a humourous and unpretentious manner. How about a yearly hack/pecha kucha day?
I’m having trouble actually believing this.
Been reading this site for quite a while. I’ll miss Marks enthusiasm and creativity. My condolences to his friends and relatives.
-Dave (NL)
Man, tough tough news. Prayers for his family and friends. He will be missed dearly.
-Scott (MO, USA)
I’ve been reading this blog for quite some time now, and was always looking forward to new posts, pictures, funny captions and cool things Mark hacked together.
Although we’ve never met, I considered him a friend. I even cried reading the devastating news. It is sad that a enthousiastic person, with a lot of ideas and ongoing projects, has to die so young.
After reading the title of the post, I was curious what would be the catch. Maybe his server died, or something else, but it wasn’t a joke, sad enough.
My condolences to Mark’s family and friends.
RIP Mark Hoekstra, you will be missed.
Dieter (Belgium)
Goodbye Mark. And thank you for bringing creativity to such a bleak and unoriginal world. You will never be forgotten.
Mark-
Thank you for all the inspiration and for the laughs. I have followed your blog and your pictures in flickr for several years. You will be sorely missed.
My thoughts and most sincere condolences go with his family and friends.
May you rest in peace Markie.
Going to miss him, Loved his website. Loved all his ideals, hacks, and projects. So young to go. RIP Mark.
Increible… simplemente increible.
Mantengan este sitio con vida.
Mark nos vemos en el otro lado, voy a extrañar muchisimo leer tus proyectos.
UN GRAN ABRAZO.
I loved to follow Mark’s hacks. His ideas on open source will guide us in years to come.
Thank you.
Condolences to the family.
Terrible loss, we’ll miss you Mark.
fabien.
mark i loved reading eveything you did
hack with the gods
sad news
my sincere condolences to his family and friends
Unbelievable…… shocking, sad!!
I still see you standing at my department
With a big smile on your face.
An when I asked, you start talking very enthusiastic about the project you where working on.
You where a great colleague, always in for laugh
I will miss you,
My thoughts and condolences go with his family and girlfriend and friends.
Erik Nauta
He die Mark,
Ik hoop dat je in het hiernamaals internet hebt. Je zult ongelooflijk genieten van al die websites die over je schrijven en al die honderden berichten van mensen die zijn geinspireerd door jouw werk.
Het is prachtig om te zien wat voor indruk het resultaat van jouw bezieling, creativiteit, humor, gevoel voor stijl en doorzettingsvermogen heeft gemaakt op mensen.
Het ga je goed. Ik zal je missen.
Je vriend, Rinco
So tragic.
Rest in peace, friend.
My deepest condolences to Mark’s family, girlfriend, and close relations.
The whole geek community is mourning one if its masters today…
RIP Mark.
You’ll be missed. A lot.
Thibaud. (France)
niet te geloven…. wat een schok.
Ik ken Mark niet persoonlijk maar was een regelmatige lezer van dit weblog en zal de artikels missen.
RIP
Good bye Mark. You inspired me a lot. We lost a great member of our community. Good bye.
Good bye Mark, thank you for everything.
RIP
Good bye Mark.
Thank you for all the hacking inspiration.
I will miss your crazy projects and comments.
R.I.P.
mark, you didn’t know me. hell, i didn’t know you. but you taught me a great deal, and inspired me in ways I hope to retain. Rest in peace you amazing human.
It’s been 2years or more that I know that blog and enjoyed a lot to read all the article, I don’t know him but that’s sad to go that early
rest in peace Mark
I can’t believe it. Rest in Peace Mark.
I’m willing to donate to the “Mark Hoekstra Foundation” if that keeps this site online…
This news came as a shock to me.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Mark personally, because I’ve worked as an intern at the same company. We shared an office.
Mark, it has been great knowing you, and altough we didn’t keep in touch after the internship was over, I always checked your website.
You were always so enthusiastic about your website (which I started to visit on a regular basis when you told me about it) and your projects. Still remember you talking about it, with that big smile on your face. (” Wanna know what I did this weekend?”)
Mark, rest in peace. Your spirit lives on!
P.S. What’s going to happen with Bates? Please find him a good home.
Wow, a shock. I was about to ask you out for a drink again… It has been a while.
It was good to meet you again at the supermarket when you introduced your girlfriend. Such a nice sight to see you happy with someone.
I will miss your great mind and friendship.. I’m sorry about not havin’ that drink…
John
Inspiring and funny, as your website: I hope that the your friends will take your site and run after you. It would be a marvellous way to remember you.
Your ideas and your creations, small or big as they can be, stay with us.
Mark, you were the best geek ever ! I followed most of your projects, and all of them always brilliant! We just lost one of the most inspiring geek in the world. We have to keep the spirit up !
Keep the website alive !
Mark has been / will be a great source of inspiration for all the geek and hardware hackers.
Warranty voider by default
Repose en paix
will sadly miss the geek and his hack’s
my deepest regards to Mark’s family and girlfriend
i miss you so much
Dear Mark,
I hope they have a lot of inventions to discover in the other world,
You where a very nice person to know/work and to break with, and a refreshing mind in the computer society.
deepest condolences to family, girlfriend, and close relations.
R.I.P :-(
Marco
Dear Mark,
I’m sure that, wherever you are, you will always be Mastering the Stuff around You!
So long, my friend….
Friso
I’ve been reading this blog for a couple of months now and came to found out he passed away. DAMN! Well, to his family and friend, Mark was a brilliant blogger full of passion.
Good Luck!
Even though you don’t know me, I’ve followed some of his work on the net and would like to give his family my condolences. I will miss his updates.
A truly inspiration for all of us, even those who never had the hability or the determination he always had.
R.I.P.
Thanks, Mark.
My condolances for marks family and friends, I hadn’t spoken to mark in a while but I always read about his projects. It’s a shame such a interesting person isn’t with us anymore.
Thanks for making us laugh mark!
I just met you today Mark, i wish i had known you earlier. The world has suffered a great loss with your passing. May you rest in peace.
Mark, you literally have me crying for the emptiness us hackers now have.. you will forever remain in our Hearts and bookmarks, as for this site.. i know i for one would and many others too would raise there hands to host it on his behalf, because like many.. we truly learned of your projects, I for one loved your Mac synthesis, and will always be one of my personal Favourites! Please take care dear friend, and i hope your family is coping alright, as well as your Girlfriend, she lost someone truly Special.
Farewell Friend,
Karl Kloppenborg
Australia.
The world has lost a great and creative mind.
Thanks for all the inspiration over the past load of years. Rest in peace Mark.
Lieve Mark,
Ik weet eigenlijk niet goed wat ik moet schrijven. Ik zat nog eens de reacties die jouw dood hebben losgemaakt, te bekijken. Het is echt onvoorstelbaar. Eigenlijk net als jouw leven…
Ik vind het ontzettend knap dat je onder alle omstandigheden altijd zo positief bent gebleven. Die positieve energie zie je in al jouw werk terug en ook in de reacties van anderen. Ook vandaag bij de crematie. Je hebt andere mensen echt geinspireerd. Het is nog steeds moeilijk te begrijpen. Vandaag kwam er wel een stuk berusting. Het is echt zo. Na alles wat jij overwonnen hebt kun je dit ook overwinnen je blijft voor altijd onder ons.
Jurjen
Thank you for teaching us the ways and for sharing your excellent knowledge and sense of adventure.
You are missed!!!
I will miss your ideas, your hacks. Rest in peace :(
Goodbye Mark, 1 w!|| |\/|I55 µ 2.
Mark – you won’t be forgotten.
Please, keep the site alive.
Mark’s wonderful geeky old mouse music player tutorial has been in my Firefox links toolbar for months. I only clicked it again now, though I didn’t think I’d find the time this week to try it, just to see it again.
I never met Mark, but his blog and his creativity inspired me.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends today.
;_; Goodbye… We’ll miss you… Bates will too…
PS: I hope the people that are at that email address can read english.
The works of Mark have been a real treasure of the internet. and not did he always do great things but you could also always see, what a nice person is standing behind this blog.
Thanks For everything and may god have some hardware for you to hack in heaven.
Johan from Germany/Berlin
PPS: This site must be kept open! It must never close!
I just don’t know what to say…
It happen now when he met a girlfriend, and he was so happy with it.
He left a big gap in a geek culture.
I will miss you Mark, Rest in Peace.
Mark from Poland
so sad
condolences to family and friends
Mark,
Vandaag ben ik uitgekomen bij het bericht dat jij niet meer bent. Op de een of andere manier wil dit echter nog steeds niet doordringen. Helaas heb ik door onwetendheid je afscheid niet bij kunnen wonen. Via deze comment poog ik dan ook je nog iets mee te geven.
Mijn reacties op je, naar nu blijkt, laatste e-mail van 17 september 2008 om 12 minuten voor 10 ‘s ochtends heb je waarschijnlijk niet meer gelezen, Zeker weet ik wel dat ze onbeantwoord zijn gebleven en zullen blijven.
Of je leest wat de wereld nu over je schrijft weet ik eveneens niet. Tijdens onze “standaard” vrijdagavond afspraken of in de talloze e-mails waarin we filosofeerden over de open source gedachte en de magie rond Cisco, Sun en SGI hardware hebben we het nooit gehad over wat je nu overkomen is. Ik weet wel dat als je, op de een of andere manier, ervaart wat je los hebt gemaakt op jouw medium internet, je nu geniet met een “big smile”. Het crue van deze “big smile” is echter je verlies dat hier onlosmakelijk mee verbonden is…
Mark, ik ga je missen en ik hoop dat jouw invulling van de open source gedachte, waar uiteindelijk Geektechnique.org ook uit is voortgekomen, voort blijft leven. Een geruststelling is dat een Google search op Mark Hoekstra hiervoor een goede basis laat zien.
Rest mij iedereen, maar in het bijzonder Victoria en de directe nabestaanden heel veel sterkte te wensen met het verlies van Mark…
Tot een volgende vrijdagavond afspraak, waar die dan ook moge zijn.
Groet,
Asim
I also was shocked to read about Marks death. We are the same age.
His adventures and excitement in hacking were always a joy to read.
My condolences to his family and loved ones.
Gareth.
Tasmania, Australia
To say that I am in shock at this sad news is quite an understatement. I’ve known Mark online for the past several years (from IRC) and remember when he first registered this domain. I always found him to be a humorous and intelligent guy with quite a knack for making what most would have thrown out long ago into something useful, entertaining and educational.
My condolences to his family, both on- and offline. Retro-geekdom just won’t be the same without you.
Good Bye Mark. My first and last post on your blog.
Goodbye.
I’m shocked. I’ve visited Mark’s site for a couple of years after chancing across it… Mark seemed an amazing character. A rare talent. He’ll be missed.
And you died only a few days after celibrating the 5-year anniversary of GeekTechnique! ;_;
I saw the first post on here… Never thought I would see the last post here…
Mark, you have inspired me and I will miss you though i never knew you! The world will miss you!
At first I though what sick kind of hacker joke this is!
My condolences to the family and all close friends of Mark! The world has lost someone really inspiring and different. This is just so shocking, I’m sad. I don’t know what to say more. :(
You’ll be missed.
mark… u were a true friend… u will be missed… please someone in groningen take care of bates, ur place will feel so empty… una luz por ti!!!
I’m reading this blog for about two yeasr now. It was always a pleasant surprise when i see something new ans started reading immediatly. But this time was not so pleasant.
Mark, you were full of energy and always looking to do something new. I ‘ve never met you, but it’s as i’ve lost a friend… godspeed to you!
I hope this blog stays online to keep your memory a live.
Innige deelneming aan de familie van Mark.
As an avid reader of this site, it really pains me to see Mark pass away so young. Truly an inspiration to many hackers. Goodbye.
We’ll miss you Mark, adieu…
Soemone, please take care of Bates, we don’t want to see Bates out on the road or get put down!
I never knew you, but you felt like a freind to me.
PS: I always think of something else to add on after I post a comment.
Mark,
It takes a special person to create such sparkling projects and do all the stuff you did. I followed your blog for the past two years or so and I enjoyed the clever hacks you did and the inspiration that it gave me and countless of others.
Your passing comes as a shock. It’s sad and upsetting that a person as old – how old can one be if you’re in fact always young in mind – as us leaves us way to soon.
I’m hoping your legacy is preserved on line for all those others that one day come to appreciate the genius of Mark Hoestra.
My condoleances to everyone close to Mark!
Matthias
Wow, I am blown away by this. I have been reading Mark’s writings and hacks for a while now but always just seeing what he’s been doing. I almost thought this was a joke when reading the RSS feed. Mark had some great ideas and always seemed to be working on new projects, everything seemed to be going so well, and even some personal tidbits on the site lately.
He will be missed by the hacking community.
RIP.
I’ve found the joy of assembling my own diy stuff because of your inspiration.
Rest in peace.
My thoughts are with you and your loved ones.
I really miss him.
He was who started me to hack.
RIP
Elaborate attention seeking hoax
shut up. you’re almost as bad as Air was. This is not a hoax, this is REAL LIFE. Have a good day, linuxlove.
Condolences to the family and freinds.
Mark…. we zullen je missen
Familie heel veel succes
Mark…
Lang geleden dat we elkaar hebben gesproken. Blijkbaar helaas ook voor het laatst.
I’m so shocked and saddened by this. Though I don’t keep up with all the latest posts, this is one of my favorite blogs. Thanks for all your beautiful documentation of your hacking projects. You were an inspiration to many.
I’ve been reading this blog for some years.
Mark seemed a very nice and interesting person. though i don’t know im personally, i’m very sad.
all my thoughts go to his girlfriend and family.
So long Mark, you’ll be remembered
I’ve visited his blog many times over the past few years and I always felt inspired after reading. Although I have never met Mark, I feel like I have lost a close friend. He has taught me so many things and I will continue learning thanks to great hackers like him. I will always remember the technical knowledge and the humor he always had to offer. I offer my condolences to his friends, family, and all his loved ones. I just know that he is hacking in heaven.
Mark,
I didn’t know you personally, but I thought we would definitely get along well. I came to the site to tell you about a really geeky project I just finished. I guess I should’ve made an effort sooner.
Rest in peace, Mark.
I’ve been reading your blog for years, this is my first and last reply….
Sad, so sad news. My condolences.
rust in vrede
Frederik, Belgium
Good Bye Mark! i’ll miss you so much
:( .. he’s my idol :(.. why god take a good man away
Last week, I said myself that I may send a mail to the creator of this blog witch I discover few months ago and tell him how I find his ideas.
I just love his way of living.
‘Hope he could read all the coments.
I will miss you… rest in peace Mark
RIP Mark. You were one of the good guys. Thanks for your support and comments on my blogs. I learned a lot!
Condolences to the family and friends…
Just discovered the website but felt linked by spirit. Condolences to his friends and family.
Cry him do not…
Miss him do not…
He is now 1 with the Universe, maybe God’s iPod run out and He decided to get the Best Geek ever to, not just fix it, but to improve it =’)
Life is shuffle, but your memory, your knowledge and your improving spirit will be always a tune in “Repeat One” in our heart’s player. Heaven must be in eternal joy for receiving back such a beautiful essence. Seems like a broken iPod is not just an earth issue, Heaven must be full of them too !!!
And Mark is going to kick ass fixing all of them, Thanks for everything dude…
Sad :(
I just read this today. I’ve been reading this blog for a long time, and dreamed of meeting Mark, I haven’t logged on in a while. Sad :(
wow, that hit me like a shock. I really enjoyed Marks projects. I’m pretty certain that he is in hacker heaven now.
My condolences to family, girlfriend and friends.
Rest in Peace Mark,
Hans
wow shocking stuf…
Rest in peace Mark.
Goodbye Mark and rest in peace. I hope your page stays online for ever.
My condolence to his family, relatives and girlfriend.
It has been a while since my last visit to this website and it was a BIG shock when I read the news.
We’ve lost a great person with creative mind.
The site can keep on going and manage by other person but the creator will never be replaced.
Last but not least, RIP Mark.
I can’t belive it. Mark was an amazing person.
Rest in peace.
I just heard. Can’t believe it. My thoughts to Mark’s family & girlfriend.
Blue skies and rest in peace Mark..
dude, why? I cant believe that.. Its so sad.. I’m shocked at the moment.. there’s gonna be a big hole in the internet, without you..
Rest in peace, we’ll never forget you..
Holy crap… I was away from this site for a while, and I just read the news that Mark has died. He was a real hacker at heart, and it was his article on turning hard drive-based iPods into flash players with a simple CompactFlash card that first grabbed my attention and drew me to this site. Since then, I’ve been reading many articles on his blog non-stop. The man was truly a genius.
Rest in Slack, fellow hacker. May the lasagna continue to fly, and praise “Bob”!
I hope that Bates has a good home now, either with his family or with his girlfriend. Her master is gone now, and she deserves a good home.
I have been visiting this site for many years and have corresponded with mark through both geektechnique and flickr. I must say I am deeply shocked and saddened by this news. Mark has been an inspiration and an extremely creative force in the world. I extend my deepest sympathies to Mark’s friends and family.
G from Toronto
I stumbled upon Mark’s site a while ago and have visited it from time to time. His ingenious doings were a great inspiration to me, I wish I could hack a tenth of what Mark could do, what a terrible loss. Dude you are awesome. RIP
-Bionicboingo, NYC, USA
Very sad, I loved his work.
Rest in peace, Mark.
RIP, Mark.
I am your blog reader from Malaysia, you are really a great guy.
Dear Mark,
during the past years I have enjoyed your posts to this blog, and you have inspired me in so many ways. Bringing the oldskool back to the iPhone, almost literally lighting your iBook on fire to reball the graphics chip, genius!
People from all over the world will remember you as one of the brightest DIY tech/design bloggers/creatives the world has known in the past decade.
My thoughts are still with your family and friends.
Rust in vrede.
Mark,
You are truly missed! I am a blog reader from the States and really loved everything you did! Every hack you had really went into great detail.
I wish I could have had the luxury of talking to you or chatting just once to get a glimpse at a genius!
People all over the world truly do remember you as one of the best!
My Condolences,
Chris Smith
very sorry to read this – my condolences to the family. From Mark’s postings, one has the sense of a generous person. I only found this site because I was impressed by his postings to a Mac problem.
RiP.
What.
Rest in peace, Mark.
Cielos, me apena muchisimo tu perdida :-(, seguiras siendo simplemente el mejor hacker humano e inspirador que jamas haya sabido.Me duele no haberte conocido.
Descansa en paz.
Saludos.
Manuel Bencomo.
Valencia-Venezuela
Zo nu en dan ouwehoerde ik met Mark op lastfm, zelf druk geweest met andere dingen en nu ik Mark’s profiel bezoek zie ik tot mijn schok dat hij is overleden. Doorgeklikt naar deze site en het is echt zo. Ik ken hem niet en we waren zelfs niet close, maar dat neemt niet weg dat het veel te jong is voor iemand die op mij overkwam als een aangenaam mens vol ideeĂ«n. Ik wens familie, vrienden enzovoort veel sterkte toe.
Sippy
I didn’t know he reached Turing in the sky, until yesterday when I pointed a guy toward the name Mark Hoekstra to help him mod his iPod; and he reported back that Mark died. And it took me a while to understand why I was so upset… I met him only once at CCC2007. But I didn’t have much to say; so I went to sleep. And since I wake up this morning I couldn’t take out his death from my head. So I spent the last hour watching and watching the video interview I made to him there … to understand why I was so upset… and I think my sorrow for an unknown guy is beacouse he was a rare shining star… soft with humans, hard with machines… a thing that is easy to think, hard to put in practice. Many fail to do it; he could do it. That’s what I’ll remember of Mark. Condolences
I found this site recently because of a random search for iBook fixes. I found Mark’s ingenuous fix (the tea light burning on the graphics chip), which should resolve my laptop’s problem. Then I noticed the headline off to the side announcing that he had died several months ago. I watched the tributes and learned what a cool guy he was, and how much living he had crammed into a short period. He embraced his geekdom, made many friends, helped many strangers, made his contribution and checked out. I was moved and inspired, as well as saddened. RIP Mark.
Holy crap.
I feel touched.
Just was so happy about reading this blog, minutes before (for hours) and now i see this part of the site.
It gives me really weird feelings, because like others said before, i felt spontaneously bound to that spirit mark lived.
I’m sorry for all those who knew him
...and sorry for those that will never.
H.i.P.|it’s 42
I hadn’t visited this site in some time and was shocked to hear of Mark’s passing, it saddens me greatly. He truly was a kindred spirit to all of us and he will be missed always. He inspired me to learn and try new things, to push the boundaries of what i can do with technology (i built my own U60 powered dual bridge just to do it and learn more about networking, sun hardware and solaris). RIP Mark, we love you man!
Like so many of the other people leaving messages of condolence on this site I stumbled accross Marks How-to on the iPod CF card conversions, got all exited about it (I’m in mid convert as I type) and then read the entries at the bottom of the page only to discover his passing – months before i had even heard of him.
My condolences to his family and friends – his enthusiasm for new and exiting things to do with tech was very obvious from his blog and although i have no claim to any familiarity with him – I still felt hugely sad when i read about his passing.
The world feels just a teeny bit smaller & darker without his enthusiasm and curiosity in it.
I just completed the iPod Mini CF mod following Mark’s instructions and I know it will put a big smile on my wife’s face. This is thanks to you Mark, your smart and generosity. Well done and good luck.
My deepest condolancies to his family and friends.
P.S. I could not find an indication of whether the PayPal account is still active. I would love to donate something, either to keep the website running or for a charity in line with Mark’s spirit.
Mark is who inspired me to buy an broken ibook g3 and fix it (i did), after all the projects he did on his i had to get one. Thanks for everything.
see you later Mark.
How sad this notice… really… a long time ago that I didn’t visited his page and now I see this sad news.
One of my favorite page,Mark a really cool guy who always was hacking something, every week with a new idea and challenge.
Mark, keep with your hackings wherever you are.
Surprise us with something as always you did.
A virtual friend and reader from PerĂş.
QuĂ© tal noticia esta, despuĂ©s de mucho tiempo visito su página y me encuentro con esta desagradable y penosa noticia, Mark un tipo con una empatĂa envidiable, siempre haciendo algĂşn hack por diversiĂłn y siempre tratando de reciclar algo, pensĂ© por unos instantes que estabas de “vacaciones” pero no habĂan cambios en tu página, veo mas abajo que “alguien (el jefe)” necesitaba de tus servicios….y te mandĂł a llamar, seguro algĂşn problema con su PC.
Un amigo virtual desde PerĂş.
A true maverick and pioneer of independent thinking. Only the bold and brilliant, can set fire to a motherboard and fix the hoaky apple logic board issue that many have encountered. Coming from a man who is severely OCD and did not stop until Mark’s apple method worked, I can say that his ideas were truly unique and genuine.
If I could speak to his family, I would say, death is only the beginning. May his spirit rise from his ashes and inspire others in this age of silicon ingennuity. Definitely a man to be admired and a great source of inspiration to those of us who just have to fix and comprehend what others wish to charge us an hourly rate for.
Thank you for your wisdom and for your inspiration.
Maha Muniyah
“Great Master”
A true maverick and pioneer of independent thinking. Only the bold and brilliant, can set fire to a motherboard and fix the hoaky apple logic board issue that many have encountered. Coming from a man who is severely OCD and did not stop until Mark’s apple method worked, I can say that his ideas were truly unique and genuine.
If I could speak to his family, I would say, death is only the beginning. May his spirit rise from his ashes and inspire others in this age of silicon ingennuity. Definitely a man to be admired and a great source of inspiration to those of us who just have to fix and comprehend what others wish to charge us an hourly rate for.
Thank you for your wisdom and for your inspiration.
Maha Muniyah
“Great Master”
R.I.P. :-(
Thanks Mark for all your great work here, I hope for you you’ve done your mains things here and you’re happy where you are.
Thank you for this great Blog, I just started to write you an E-Mail with questions about your Indy MP3 Player, but then I read this Post :(
Ruhe in Frieden
Months have passed. I don’t know why, but I still come here every day…..a stream of magnificence, stopped.
5 years of reading this blog and after months I can still hardly stomach this sadness…I weep every time I am here. I did not know Mark in person, and he never knew me…but he still feels like a friend.
Rest in Peace, Mark. Every project I start, every bargain PC I grab, I will dedicate it to you.
I keep coming here….I just wanted to refresh my condolences.
Whatever is not shared is lost.
So, live forever on the Universal knowlege of us ALL
You WILL NOT be forgotten…
Keep rockin!
I’m shocked.
The first time I stumbled over geektechnique.org was in 2007, looking for some info on the Ipod Mini. Following Marks great “HowTo” i was able to repair my own Ipod mini by replacing its harddrive.
Apart from that I really love to read all the things he did with old hardware.
“Only the best die young” unfortunately seems to be a true word.
I just read the ipod to cf card article and really enjoyed marks work. I now know he died last year, but still feel a tinge of saddness. People like Mark make this world an interesting one. Good luck with the foundation.
I was just about getting excited with the prospects of his ideas on how to give life to an old device such as an old 4G iPod when I read that he passed away last year.
Sad to have a marvelous thinker leave us.
I am sure he is missed even by those who knew him via his site only, what more by the people around him.
God bless his soul.
I’m so sorry to hear this horrible news, Mark inspired me to breathe new life into my old ipod and it is devastating to think that a creative mind like his was lost at such a young age.
I hope Mark’s family appreciates the number of people Mark has touched from all over the world
RIP from Australia
I am so shocked with this news.
Thank you Mark for shared what you knew.
My sincere love and condolenses to his family.
as we said in spanish. que en paz descanse (rip)
thanks for the great ibook video fix, mark. i hope you’re in a better place.
A raw-model that wont be forgotten,
I can’t believe it, such a shame . As a follow on from the iPhone Rainbow Home button I was going to link this to you:
Hope you like it.
Samuel, UK
sorry…
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/06/nice-white-iphone-4-mod/