HHV Perspective, post-con

[afterburn188]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

I'd like to get different color boards made to add a little personalization to the kits. I'm aiming in the $20 range, Looks like $4-$6 or so for just the LEDs from an eBay vendor, which alot cheaper than I'd thought it was going to be, I'm used to Digikey prices.

Dr K was approached by a chip provider about sponsoring something for the HHV so we might be able to get some chips cheap or donated. c0re and I were also approached by a potential sponsor for making some kits. As we get more info we'll let you know. I really like KillerSpud's idea of spinning this out to another thread or even a wiki. I previously set up a wiki for the HHV and it was used but quickly abandoned. I have plenty of bandwidth and storage for it if we need it. Let me know and I'll spin one up again. Old one is at http://hhv.udarknet.com. Let's keep this momentum of ideas going and hopefully it carries over to next year!

[DCFluX]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

DCFluX: I've already got a small device that is designed to be a "soldering kit" that could be very easily modified to be a badge (I think an older version of it was a badge for a summer "engineering" camp).

If we can, We should have an assortment of kits. And people could buy them all and collect a set or something.

I told Joe he should score some of those AVR simon kits Parallax has next year, that would be a good beginner board as it looks like it would take 15 minutes tops and it has function.

The one I am working on most people are going to look at the bag of parts and be like "OMFG!" But I am doing it that way because it is repetitive and people tend to get better at a task the more they repeat it.

I'd like to get different color boards made to add a little personalization to the kits. I'm aiming in the $20 range, Looks like $4-$6 or so for just the LEDs from an eBay vendor, which alot cheaper than I'd thought it was going to be, I'm used to Digikey prices.

[bradt]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

I really enjoyed seeing people's projects in the HHV. I got to see a MakerBot for the first time (thanks to Dr. Volts?). The only bummer for me was it kept closing for the night, kicking everyone out.

I'm not sure if that was a conscious decision, forcing people to get out and be social, but every time it closed, I was sad. I think it's just that I miss the steady, communal grind of the all-nighter.

[bombnav]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

I'm volunteering to help as much as humanly possible, but I keep getting the "we're already doing it right -- gah" vibe. I for one can volunteer to spend nearly the entire next con in the HHV if it would help. I know at least one friend I can bring with me who is equally well equipped to help and devoted to helping others learn about hardware.



You can't try to attend something unless you know when and where it is going to occur. It needs to be scheduled (and not on a white board that you have to walk several hundred feet away from the main con area to see). Why not put in the program? Is the HHV the scared, beaten step-child of the con? There's a first time for everything. A page with HHV info in the program would add almost nil to the cost of the program. I will personally do the page layout for the program if somebody else thinks it is such a burden.

Lex, I look forward to working with you next year so make sure to checkin next year with A. Next year there are a lot of unknows due to a new venue... heck we might be out in the open next to the vendor area... who knows... and the unknown is what makes DEFCON great for me.

I usually bring tooo much to the HHV so get with me next year and lets work a public domain parts point for the HHV where we can give out resisitors (I have a lot that Russ brought to the village that will return as well as smt badge parts Joe dropped off) and LEDs to the masses.

I was like you when I started working in the first HHV and have learned that the community sets the stage for how the HHV will be used. But there is always another way to do things and your input will be valued by me so lets keep in touch.

[bombnav]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

We are people who are paying our own money to come out to the conference and try to give you a hand. So please keep this in mind: it's not their job to cater to you at the con (even though some act like it is *cough*Bombnav*cough*).

Hey I am getting better I think I did very well... heck I even had time to learn something and have time to eat this year.

[lexxmac]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

DCFluX: I've already got a small device that is designed to be a "soldering kit" that could be very easily modified to be a badge (I think an older version of it was a badge for a summer "engineering" camp). The code for it is written and several groups of students from middle school through college freshman have built the kit. It uses a freescale microcontroller and a 5x3 array of 5mm LEDs. Its 100% though-hole and costs around $10. I'd be happy to collaborate on it with you.

[KillerSpud]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

HHV Talks:
I think making a hard schedule for the talks 4 months out is a bit optimistic. I don't doubt that everyone intends to attend, but things change and life happens (and somebody might forget while sitting in a track). To remedy this I propose a much more open paradigm, that each talk be written as a group (probably using the wiki proposed earlier) and the actual speaker be selected of volunteered shortly before. The way I see it, any HHV denizen is should be adequately versed on all of the possible topics, even if they are a bit nervous when standing in front of a group.

Kits / badges:
I appreciate DCFlux's enthusiasm in designing a kit for guests to get started with, but by all means, don't keep it to yourself. I have a few ideas to chip in myself (like tonnes of LEDs and the possibility of using them as touch sensors). If you would be so kind, start a new thread and lets have some discussion.

[kampf]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

Looks like it's 6mm.

[DCFluX]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

Anyone know the diameter of the lanyard hole that is on this years badge?

The hardware looks good, but the software could use improvement. Also I am using a microcontroller from 6 years ago, so I might change it to something a little more modern, but I don't know if I can find something with enough I/O pins. I suppose I could do the bus thing but than I need 5 chips instead of 1. and I'm trying to keep component count to a bare minimum.

[kampf]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

The comments and criticism will help for next year, so keep both coming.

[nivin]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

This year HHV did feel less crowded, which was nice for those of us who really just want to play around in there most of the time. While I loved the extra space, I was sad there wasn't more activity. The HHV staff were awesome as usual, but they looked more bored than past years. I understand the kits being sold in the vendor area was for a specific purpose, but I think they should have been sold right there. Last year that seemed to get a lot of people to feel more comfortable diving right in. They encouraged a lot of newbies to learn how to solder, ask what does what, and I know that I made a bunch of new buddies while I was working on mine last year.

I won't go on about the power issue since it's understandable. Plus, I kinda bitched about it to VoltageSpike about it at the Ninja Party in my drunken stupor.

I have a feeling that Rio will be better prepared for our power consumption issues.

DCFlux, I would love to help you with that. I want to contribute to HHV more, but I am no expert. So if you want someone to help test or whatnot, let me know. We were kind of kicking around the idea of a learners kit too since I'm still learning, and helping another newbie at the same time.

[FirmWarez]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

I don't know how "inviting" the HHV needs to be; the whole of DC can feel uninviting at times. That said the HHV was very comfortable to me. But then it's a place where I can plop down, and listen to other folks' issues, and offer help. Yep, soldering to aluminum substrate boards is a pain; we've done a number of high power LED designs and that's the tough bit whether by hand or by reflow.

The one thing I agree would make the HHV would be a vendor or two nearby with parts/kits. Otherwise the vibe is cool, the place is great.

Hopefully next year my travel won't be screwed up last minute and I'll be able to bring my stuff. I'd feel like I could help/do more with my porta-lab on hand. Again, great vibe, was happy to help some folks with the "pulled battery pad and why can't I solder to this thing?" problems, no real complaints. Crowded rooms of people who seem more intent on what they are doing than saying howdy and slightly chaotic schedules of talks and happenings are par for the course at Defcon. It can be overwhelming -- hell I hardly talked to anyone at the forum meet -- but let go of the worries, find a groove that works for you, and do stuff.

[DCFluX]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

I'm working on designing a wearable badge that will teach soldering for next year.

It will take a fair amount of time to construct, 2-3 hours as it will have just under 400 joints on it. The goal is to turn someone afraid of a soldering iron into a hand soldering power house, and there is a certain amount of pride about having something you built actually work the first time.

[TheCotMan]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

You can't try to attend something unless you know when and where it is going to occur. It needs to be scheduled (and not on a white board that you have to walk several hundred feet away from the main con area to see). Why not put in the program? Is the HHV the scared, beaten step-child of the con? There's a first time for everything. A page with HHV info in the program would add almost nil to the cost of the program. I will personally do the page layout for the program if somebody else thinks it is such a burden.

Such information can be added to the program, but it needs to be submitted at least 1 or 2 months before con, and 3 or 4 months is safer. This can be a difficult thing for most anything at Defcon, as people's plans change at the last minute, and then the schedule of things has to change making the information in the program incorrect, causing people to be unhappy that the thing that was claimed to happen didn't happen as claimed.

You could ask the speaker goons about keeping things on schedule, or DT, or Nikita, or nearly anyone that has ever tried to run something at Defcon. Often the chaos is described as something like herding cats with ADD in a treasure room.... "Ooooh! Shiny!"

Bringing order to the Chaos of Defcon is a very difficult thing to do.

You all could look to using a wiki and include a link to the wiki in the event description submitted for addition to the program, or twitter announcements of any number of other things.

The really good news for the HHV, is it sounds like you are really interested in volunteering and it is good to see such a positive attitude towards contributing to make things better at Defcon. Good luck with your interests in helping the HHV.

[lexxmac]

Re: HHV Perspective, post-con

The volunteers who had planned to do it were too busy.

I'm volunteering to help as much as humanly possible, but I keep getting the "we're already doing it right -- gah" vibe. I for one can volunteer to spend nearly the entire next con in the HHV if it would help. I know at least one friend I can bring with me who is equally well equipped to help and devoted to helping others learn about hardware.

I don't know if scheduling this in advance would be any good but I really don't see this going in the program.

You can't try to attend something unless you know when and where it is going to occur. It needs to be scheduled (and not on a white board that you have to walk several hundred feet away from the main con area to see). Why not put in the program? Is the HHV the scared, beaten step-child of the con? There's a first time for everything. A page with HHV info in the program would add almost nil to the cost of the program. I will personally do the page layout for the program if somebody else thinks it is such a burden.