Hashdays Badge 2011
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Welcome to the 2011 #days conference.
This page will be updated during the next days.
Old page: Hashdays Badge 2010
Contents |
FAQ
After the conference
- Is there a list of all Eastereggs?
- Yes, here you go: Eggs
- Can I buy a badge?
- We have not decided on that one yet.
- I broke my badge, is there something you can do?
- Maybe, just get in touch with me. See below under Contact.
General
- Can I use the USB connector to power the badge?
- Yes, the badge draws power either from the batteries or from the USB connector.
- My batteries are emptying quickly, help!
- That's the backlight, it uses up to 20 mA when brightness is turned up. We can provide you a second set of batteries, just contact a staff member. Alternatively, the badge will have power, when connected to USB.
- My display has backlight on after wakeup, but just stays black?
- This can sometimes happen, we did not find this bug yet. Just hit the RESET button, and you are good to go!
- My display still stays black, even after RESET switch...
- Either the batteries are empty, or the badge has a hardware defect. Just contact a staff member, or send me an email (see bottom of this page).
- My badge acts weird, often it is white and no texts...
- No problem, that was us programming it incorrectly. Just bring it back to a staff member, we'll try to fix it.
- Why is there a red and a black version?
- The red one is for participants, the black one is for the speakers and the staff members.
- Who is the creator of the badge?
- Check this page: Creators
(more to come...)
Using the badge
- My badge is not recognized on Windows!
- Have you installed the driver? You can read more about it further below on this page. It is unfortunately also possible, that the badge might not work on your USB hub. For instance: It's not working on a newer MacBook Air 13" but working fine on last years MacBook Air 11".
- How can I change my Name on the display?
- First, hold the MODE key for a short while. Then go to the second icon "Name". While the name is shown, press Enter. Then choose your first letter with the Up and Down sensors. After that, press Enter again to get to the next letter. When your done, hit mode.
- Why is the screensaver only flashing shortly?
- That's to preserve battery live. If you want to preserve battery life, turn down the brightness and turn it off during the night. If you connect it to USB later at home, it will stay on.
- Will I loose my settings, when I change the battery?
- No, most of the settings are stored in the EEproms. Though the clock might be off, and needs to be changed after the new batteries are installed.
- Is there a colortable for the color numbers?
- Yes, see in the pictures below. BTW: "Name Color 1" is the first line, "Name Color 2" is the second line. Don't change all colors to black...
- How can I change the screensaver to something else?
- The logic for the screensafer is, that the first of the four items which is active will be used. So if you want to have an Easteregg (need a "HINT"?) as screensaver, then you need to deactivate the "Sleep Name" and activate the "Sleep Egg". Active is 1, deactive is 0.
- Whow, the touch sensor is much better than last year.
- Yes, last year we had resistive sensor, this year we implemented a capacitive touch sensor measurement.
- What are the eastereggs?
- Here's the complete list: Eggs
(more to come...)
Technical
- Can the USB be used as power source?
- Yes, when USB is connected, the display will stay on.
- Can I reprogram the badge?
- Yes, sure. There are no Lock-Fusebits set.
- What about the USB mode?
- With the USB mode, you can actually upload your own BMP picture (130 x 130 Pixel) to the badge.
- Is there an Arduino bootloader for/on the badge?
- Unfortunately no. There might be one in the future. Currently, the used bootloader is a (very) custom one.
- Will I loose my settings, when I change the battery?
- No, most of the settings are stored in the EEproms. Though the clock might be off, and needs to be changed after the new batteries are installed.
- Will you provide schematics, source code or hex files?
- Yes, maybe in the next few days.
(more to come...)
Pictures
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Youtube Time-lapse Video of the manual badge production process:
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Uploading your own picture
There are a few steps involved to get your picture uploaded onto the badge. If you like, we will help you with uploading. We have a Notebook ready for uploading somewhere soon.
- Install drivers
- Windows: Get the drivers from: http://www.recursion.jp/avrcdc/download.html
- Mac and Linux need no drivers, the badge will identify as a USB modem.
- Install Python and pySerial
- Our script is a Python 2.x script, that needs the module pyserial installed. You can get Python at http://www.python.org/ and the serial module at http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/ . If the serial module is working correctly, you should be able to type "import serial" at the Python prompt.
- Prepare picture
- The picture has to be exactly 130 by 130 Pixels in size and needs to be a 24-bit color Windows BMP. The badge can store up to 6 custom pictures!
- Connecting the badge
- On the badge, go to the USB menu icon and hit the RESET button. You should see an orange USB triangle. The badge can now be connected to the computer. It should identify as "BADGE". Use the drivers downloaded above.
- It is possible, that not all USB ports are working with the badge.
- On a windows machine, you should get a new virtual COM port. Identify the comport in the device manager. On Mac and Linux, the badge will be something like this:
- Mac:
- /dev/tty.usbmodemfa131
- Linux:
- /dev/tty.usbserial-A8008i9k
- Uploading the picture
- Download the Python script linked below.
- Change to the directory of the BMP picture and use a command similar like this:
- badgepicture.py picture1.bmp 1 /dev/tty.usbmodemfa131
-
The output will look something like this, it needs to upload 100 blocks: -
$ badgepicture.py mypicture.bmp 1 COM4
<<< Block 100 OK at 0x10d2600 (39,39)
>>>DONE sent.
- Using the picture
- In the settings menu, you can select your user picture as a screensaver by changing "Sleep Userpic" to a value from 1-6. Note: "Sleep Name" and "Sleep Egg" must be 0.
Downloads
Drivers: http://www.recursion.jp/avrcdc/download.html
Python: http://www.python.org/
pySerial: http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/
Upload Script: http://www.smartdesign.ch/hashdays/badgepicture.zip
Technical specification
CPU: AVR ATmega 168 - 16 KByte program memory and only 1 KByte SRAM! Running at 3 MHz, USB mode: 12 MHz.
LCD: A chinese replacement part for a Nokia 6030/6100, obtained for around 3.50 USD a piece. The controller is compatible to a Philips PCF8833
RAM: Atmel AT45DB081D-SSU-2.5 - Serial Flash RAM with a mind boggling 1 MByte of capacity.
Power usage: on average around a few mA. The background LED of the display can use up to 20 mA. Sleep mode: 0.45 mA.
Datasheets
AVR ATmega 168
LCD Philips PCF8833
Flash RAM AT45DB081D
Technical details about the display
Pinout of the LCD
Schematics and Files
I will upload the schematics and other stuff within a few days. Check back again here.
Production process
(more to follow)
Contact
If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me:
Twitter: @hashdaysbadge
E-Mail: badge@smartdesign.ch
