We have just opened up registration for Hackaday | Belgrade — a hardware conference on April 9th. Get your ticket now and make arrangements to visit Belgrade this Spring. Tickets are inexpensive, travel costs from other parts of Europe are very reasonable, the weather will be beautiful, and the all-day madness that we have planned will make you wish it were a week instead of just sixteen hours. These tickets will sell out so please share this post with your friends so they are not left ticketless.
Packed with Amazing People
Hackaday is a global community and that is what makes Hackaday | Belgrade spectacular. We are still accepting proposals for talks through February 15th but haven’t yet made all of the decisions regarding presenters — you should submit a proposal! We’ll publish an article about all of the presenters once we have wrapped up the call for proposals. Expect to hear back about this around February 22nd.
One thing I am very excited about is that Mike Harrison will be at the conference. His talk will cover his exploration of an absurdly expensive and complicated relic which was used in the 1950’s for large-format video projection. Mike’s ability to unlock understanding of complex (and awesome) electronics is quite amazing; this talk is not to be missed. But Mike is just one of a dozen presenters from all over Europe. Several members of the Hackaday crew will be on hand and the venue will be packed with hundreds of fellow hardware hackers. You won’t want to miss this.
You Will Hack This Badge
This is the first Hackaday event where we have an active electronic badge. Voja Antonic has been hard at work with the design and just published the first details a few days ago.
The central feature of the badge is an 8×16 LED matrix driven by a PIC microcontroller. It’s running a USB bootloader which will let you flash your own custom code without needing a programmer. We were speaking with some of our friends over at Microchip regarding the bootloader and they offered to supply all the microcontrollers for the badge, an offer we were happy to accept.
Voja has already programmed the first demo application seen here, it’s Tetris written in assembly language. Impressive!
We were overwhelmed by the popularity of badge hacking at the Hackaday SuperConference last November. You can bet that badge hacking will be one of the most popular activities at Hackaday Belgrade. I have written a hardware emulator to work on some animations. It uses the SDL2 library to display the LED matrix and take three button inputs (the final badge design will have four buttons arranged in up/down/left/right configuration). Our hope is to host a demoscene competition that is open to anyone, whether you can attend the conference or not. More on that later.
Live Music and Hacking
As the evening sets in and the talks wind down, we have lined up bands and DJs to take the stage and carry us well into night. You won’t have to stop the badge hacking or anything else that you’re into, but you won’t have to solder in silence either.
As you can tell, this conference goes way beyond talks. This is hardware culture and you’ve just got to be there. Running from 10am until 2am, there’s more than enough to keep you occupied for one day. But make sure to hang out on the event page to get inside information on other non-formalized social events that will happen the night before and the day after. See you in Belgrade!
Plane tickets not as cheap as I hoped. Vilnius – Belgrade – Vilnius 168€
From Amsterdam is about the same price, but hotels are pretty cheap, so I decided to stay a few extra days.
168 EUR is enough to buy food for two months (eastern Poland). No way I’m going to wase that amount of money on some nerd meetup in a war-torn country.
Its not even in European Union.
war-torn country ??? Man you are late with news …. Serbia looks better than most of country’s around.
Check video blogs of people traveling to this area. I know people who go there only for food experience.
@amsetrdam: try wizzair from Eindhoven … if you go 5-9 april its 130eur now
I’m going with a friend who has a test on friday, so unfortunately Wizzair from Eindhoven wasn’t an option. Now we’re flying with Lufthansa and Austrian.
with an modified payback icon lol https://shopping.payback.de/
https://jaxenter.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1f99aa1b-a6fc-4563-80f4-41605a1b2a68.png <-
Have you invited @bruces & co?
Excellent point! They’re almost local ;) We’ll make sure to extend an invite. Thanks!
OK, guys, for those coming in, here are some useful addresses in case of emergency: There are three main hardware hackers’ “watering holes” (plus some spare parts shops which are not as widely known). Staffs are not guaranteed to speak good English, but they should understand a written bill of material. If any available, bring your fellow local geek with you to communicate with them.
All in all, don’t expect too much, we can’t survive only on them, but as I said: “in case of *emergency* … “, should you need something very basic, like common passives, DIP sockets, prototyping boards, LEDs, linear voltage stabilizers, 5V logic … even some AVRs and PICs. Check parts availability online, some items could be ordered, but are not stocked.
COMET electronics (Yes it’s COMET from Bulgaria):
http://www.comet.rs/en/ , weekdays 8AM-4PM, Saturdays closed
MikroPrinc
http://www.mikroprinc.com/ , weekdays 8AM-8PM, Saturdays 9AM-3PM
Kelco
http://kelco.rs/ , weekdays 9AM-5PM, Saturdays 10AM-3PM
Generally, COMET lists the most interesting ICs and low priced microcontrollers, development tools, but the availability is somewhat left wishing for … many of the things has to be ordered from main depot in their HQ, Sofia, Bulgaria, to arrive next week.
MikroPrinc and Kelco are stocked with similar stuff, but MikroPrinc has greater choice of tools and cheap lab equipment (and superior work hours, for us wage slaves) and is within a 15 minute walking distance from the conference place, while Kelco (formerly “Radio Klub”) has, in most cases, better prices for components, better selection of LCD display modules than MikroPrinc, and a long tradition in supplying beginners kits. Back then, many a geek in Serbia grew up on RK kits and accompanying books.
I must also mention “Kanibal” cable shop, the go to place for best deals on cables, connectors, adaptors, e.g. in case you need a laptop DC adapter cloverleaf connector to local mains (we use DIN “Schuko” standard mains sockets) cable:
http://www.kanibal.co.rs/ , weekdays 9AM-8PM, Saturdays 10AM-3:30PM
Best comment ever, thanks salec!
Thanks! Do you also know a place where we can buy local SIM cards with about 1GB of data? And what type of provider/plan to get?
You can buy prepaid SIM at almost every kiosk, and then top up with Internet addon – in total shouldn’t exceed 15EUR for 1GB. Speaking of providers, both MTS and Telenor have decent coverage, I believe.
SIM card and 1GB of data should be around 5€ with MTS provider. Just make sure to ask at the kiosk to set you internet promotion or you can dial *100# and find what you need (“kupi” means “buy”). :)
Now to book a hotel, and buy plane tickets!
Any ideas of where to get the cheapest Brussels>Belgrade (and back) deal? Tried Luftansa, Alitalia, Air France, but I’m convinced I can get cheaper alternatives!
Cheapest I could find for you is Alitalia (Or austrian if you find a >12h layover acceptable :P).
Does it have to be Brussels? There are low costers flying from Eindhoven.
If you are up for combining plane and train, you can take Wizz air to Budapest (around 35€ round trip) and grab the 8h train to Belgrade (26€ round trip). That’s the best alternative I could find.
REMOVE KEBAB!
can’t wait
I was trying to think of a way for people to attend this event without actually being there. Huh?
Many people can’t go because they can’t afford it. Many have other valid reasons too. So it’s only 2-weeks away and no one can design something elaborate in such a short period of time. However, if HaD can spare some cheap computer hardware, spare janitorial utilities, and a warm-body (a project shepard), maybe this quick & dirty idea might work: http://oi66.tinypic.com/2la98cj.jpg
Let me know your comments.
P.S. – The power supply should be left in with an extension cord plugged into the closest power outlet (probably NOT 110VAC in Belgrade!!! It’s 220-240VAC and the plug shape is different from USA/UK.
Recommended that the HaD shepard walk around the rented space (at Dom Omladine Beograda) mapping out electrical outlets putting duct tape over the single outlet with a photocopied sheet saying “Reserved for HaD Rover” (English and Serbian). Also he/she should map out wi-fi dead zones after the event staff turn it on before the event. Make sure they have the WEP etc.credentials too.
This would make for a great utility cart if you can’t get one like the one I pictured. There might be one in DOB janitor’s closet too.: https://www.schooloutfitters.com/resource/images/v20160325/norwood_commercial_furniture/nor-nsc.jpg