Call for HHV Presentations

[A]

We're going to have a dedication section of the HHV this year with some auditorium style seating and a projector/screen (see the room layout thread for a room layout diagram). Depending on how the room gets set up we should have 30 or 40 chairs.

If you would like to show off your latest project or drop some knowledge on folks, post a reply to this thread. Let us know what you'd like to talk about, who you are, and how long of a block of time you'd like. Also post what times you can or can't present, so that we don't double book you.

I'd like to do 10, 25, and possibly 55 minute long slots so that we can put up a block schedule and have it look all nice and to give 5 minutes between to allow folks to set up. Sell us on how awesome your talk will be and justify the length of time you want to use; the longer the slot, the more awesome the topic needs to be.

Like I mentioned in the room layout post, we're still waiting on a few big dependencies to resolve before any scheduling can be done. Don't hinge you're whole con experience on this, but it should be fun.

If you would rather not post publicly for some reason, go ahead and send me a PM on the forums. I won't reply to you individually, but I'll consider them along with the public posts.

[SmittyHalibut]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

I've got some projects I wouldn't mind talking about. Nothing particularly hacker-y, but I think they're good ways to get peoples' juices flowing on ideas.

Possible presentations:
- DACs, Mixers, and Headphone Amps: Oh My! I have a whole platform that I'm designing I'd love to present and possibly release at DefCon. 55 minutes

- Replacing my motorcycle's speedometer with an Arduino, a GPS and an LCD, and making it AWESOME. 25 minutes

- Solar powered microcontrollers, and other power supply concerns. 10 to 25 minutes

- The Worlds Best Keyboard. Ever. Two halves of a Kinesis mounted to the arms of a chair for a lean-back (instead of a lean-forward) posture. (I don't have any hardware to show for this one yet. Parts are on order, but I can't guarantee I'll have anything to show by then.) 10 minutes

[iharris]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

What do you think of a 25 minute talk on "Serial Communication Protocols: I2C and SPI"? I teach classes to undergrads on embedded systems development and I find serial communication to be an obstacle for people when they try to make a system that is at all complicated. A lot of people can write C code for a microcontroller these days, but the next step is to connect that microcontroller to a set of other non-trivial components (memories, ethernet controllers, DACs, etc.) and control them. Most of these components use I2C and SPI for communication, so its important to understand the protocols.

I would talk about programming Atmel AVR ATmega parts (like what is in the Arduino and Teensy) because that's what I'm most familiar with. I would show people how to communicate with some chip via I2C or SPI. I'm familiar with an Ethernet controller from Microchip that I could use as an example.

I could talk anytime between Thursday at 3PM and Saturday at 4PM.

Thanks.

- Ian Harris

[SmittyHalibut]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

What do you think of a 25 minute talk on "Serial Communication Protocols: I2C and SPI"?

_I_ would absolutely attend that. A: Make him give this talk. :-D

[altman]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

A couple of us from electric imp will be coming to DEFCON, and bringing imps and devkits for people to play with. Partially this is because it's fun to visit DEFCON and wield a soldering iron, and partially because it's one of the most hostile wifi environments around and we're curious to see how the tiny little fellas handle it.

I'm happy to talk about electric imp, or indeed anything hardware related that anyone is interested in. I've worked on scsi cards, mp3 players, phones and even lasertag systems, and own a VAX 11/750, though unfortunately it runs VMS4.3 and not Ultrix. I can solder 0201's as long as there's a microscope around, but just swear a lot when it gets down to 01005's ;)

[bombnav]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

A couple of us from electric imp will be coming to DEFCON, and bringing imps and devkits for people to play with. Partially this is because it's fun to visit DEFCON and wield a soldering iron, and partially because it's one of the most hostile wifi environments around and we're curious to see how the tiny little fellas handle it.

I'm happy to talk about electric imp, or indeed anything hardware related that anyone is interested in. I've worked on scsi cards, mp3 players, phones and even lasertag systems, and own a VAX 11/750, though unfortunately it runs VMS4.3 and not Ultrix. I can solder 0201's as long as there's a microscope around, but just swear a lot when it gets down to 01005's ;)

We would love to have you all give a talk and demo your hardware... can't wait!!!

[Gigs]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

I'd like to do some basic talks. Seems like there's two kinds of people at the HHV, those who are just starting out and those who are pretty high level. Not sure what the ratio is, but it seemed to me to be about 50/50 last year.

So I could do two talks:

1. Melting metal for fun and profit: Soldering 101

Soldering really screws with new people, even though it's second nature for most of us who have been doing it since we were 7. I'd try to go over some stuff that isn't always explained very well when you look up basic soldering tutorials. Iron selection, solder selection, temperature, some basic metallurgy, what flux actually does (I bet some EEs couldn't tell you what's actually happening chemically), etc. I'd try to make it so that there'd be something for most every level, even though it's mainly for newbies.


2. What is electricity?

Most people don't know. What they teach you in grade school is a bunch of bullshit that confuses people when they actually try to do anything with electricity more complicated than plugging something in. This talk would be on Ohm's law, basic electromagnetic theory, a little bit of transmission line theory, Ohm's law, maybe a little bit on transistors, capacitors, resistors, Ohm's law, "static electricity", and probably something about Ohm's law.

I think 25 minutes would be a good slot for either of these, but there's enough there that I could probably fill up a 50 minute with either one of them if you all want me to. If there could be a whiteboard in the presentation area that'd be great. If not, no big deal.

[bombnav]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

I'd like to do some basic talks. Seems like there's two kinds of people at the HHV, those who are just starting out and those who are pretty high level. Not sure what the ratio is, but it seemed to me to be about 50/50 last year.

So I could do two talks:

1. Melting metal for fun and profit: Soldering 101

Soldering really screws with new people, even though it's second nature for most of us who have been doing it since we were 7. I'd try to go over some stuff that isn't always explained very well when you look up basic soldering tutorials. Iron selection, solder selection, temperature, some basic metallurgy, what flux actually does (I bet some EEs couldn't tell you what's actually happening chemically), etc. I'd try to make it so that there'd be something for most every level, even though it's mainly for newbies.


2. What is electricity?

Most people don't know. What they teach you in grade school is a bunch of bullshit that confuses people when they actually try to do anything with electricity more complicated than plugging something in. This talk would be on Ohm's law, basic electromagnetic theory, a little bit of transmission line theory, Ohm's law, maybe a little bit on transistors, capacitors, resistors, Ohm's law, "static electricity", and probably something about Ohm's law.

I think 25 minutes would be a good slot for either of these, but there's enough there that I could probably fill up a 50 minute with either one of them if you all want me to. If there could be a whiteboard in the presentation area that'd be great. If not, no big deal.

Come prepared to do this and come see us when we open.

[l33tbunni]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Would anyone have interest for a talk on LEDs as Input Devices? A friend and I were discussing doing this, but we're both pretty lazy :D If there is some interest then we will probably be give it.

[bombnav]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Would anyone have interest for a talk on LEDs as Input Devices? A friend and I were discussing doing this, but we're both pretty lazy :D If there is some interest then we will probably be give it.

Interesting. I have used LEDs as light detectors... what kind of input? I want to know more.

[l33tbunni]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Interesting. I have used LEDs as light detectors... what kind of input? I want to know more.

Its the same idea really. But this talk would involve basic theory as well as algorithms for using multiple LEDs to create a simple switch. That could be expanded to make a touchpad with the resolution that is very fine. This is achieved by looking at multiple LEDs and seeing their analog values. A digital version could be done the same way, but with a bit less resolution. I am not really sure where the talk would go, just depends on how we feel when its thrown together.

[FirmWarez]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Any interest in "non-classified stuff I've shot out of an M203"? Cameras, radios, lights, microcontrollers. I could touch on PCB design, making your projects robust, and even custom enclosure molding. I could go in to details on certain projects, or do "electronics as systems engineering" -- that is dealing with gizmo, power supply, mounting, etc.

Disclosure: these are personal projects done in my lab, some for fun, some for potential profit.

[bombnav]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Any interest in "non-classified stuff I've shot out of an M203"? Cameras, radios, lights, microcontrollers. I could touch on PCB design, making your projects robust, and even custom enclosure molding. I could go in to details on certain projects, or do "electronics as systems engineering" -- that is dealing with gizmo, power supply, mounting, etc.

Disclosure: these are personal projects done in my lab, some for fun, some for potential profit.

You can have a slot for what ever you want to talk about. I will start firming up the scheduled on Thursday and go from there.

[bombnav]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Its the same idea really. But this talk would involve basic theory as well as algorithms for using multiple LEDs to create a simple switch. That could be expanded to make a touchpad with the resolution that is very fine. This is achieved by looking at multiple LEDs and seeing their analog values. A digital version could be done the same way, but with a bit less resolution. I am not really sure where the talk would go, just depends on how we feel when its thrown together.

Sounds good to me. Hit me up when you hit the Con as the schedule will start firming up on Thursday. (I'm really interested in seeing the LED thing)

[Gigs]

Re: Call for HHV Presentations

Sounds good to me. Hit me up when you hit the Con as the schedule will start firming up on Thursday. (I'm really interested in seeing the LED thing)

I'm going to the shoot Wednesday evening, camping in the desert, and will be at the Thursday morning shoot as well. So I may not be able to catch up with you in person until noon or so on Thursday. Let me know if that's OK or if we need to talk earlier.