So here we are, it’s 2021, Def Con is hybrid this year, and we procrastinated long enough. We wanted to put together a badge for last year, but with the con being fully virtual, we lost motivation. There’s something about the idea of being in person for our first badge presentation that appeals to all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except Kevin, who hates crowds. And I get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we were still on the fence until the org made the announcement and we decided to push forward. Then it became, “oh shit, do we have enough time to put a badge together?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer became “fuck yeah.” Despite the fact that none of us has ever created a badge before. We’re just a bunch of nerds with a #badgelife fetish and some audacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The badge is based on the Raspberry Pi Pico. It will likely be released as a locked UF2 firmware compiled from MicroPython with some secrets and challenges in it. The artwork is shaping up to be sufficiently attractive to sit proudly in any #badgelife collection. And because the base is the Pico, it will be easy to update firmware, either with future releases from us or with your own cool ideas. I won’t spoil the artwork now, but certain subcultures might be very interested in the design functionality and I suspect some will find their own uses with their own code. I hope when this happens that they feed it back to us through our Github so that it can be shared with the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We currently have two needs for the badge: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(1) I would love for someone with #badgelife or other PCB design experience to help design a Lipo charging circuit for the badge. According to the datasheet, it should be able to charge through the existing USB port and power the badge accordingly. If we don’t get this reliably resolved, we’ll use battery holders and 2xAA batteries. Power usage is minimal on the Pico, even with neopixels and an SSD1306 OLED display. I just started testing powering the circuit by battery today, and at this moment I’m at nearly 7 hours of runtime, and that’s before we optimize power usage. For this test, the screen is always displaying or scrolling something, and 10 LEDs are cycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2) Looking for someone with graphic design experience to come up with a lanyard design which fits the theme of the badge. Without spoiling the badge, there is a bit of an occult theme to the badge artwork, it would be great if that theme translates to the lanyard as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sorry, no spoilers until the final boards arrive. First prototype should arrive this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So here we are, it’s 2021, Def Con is hybrid this year, and we procrastinated long enough. We wanted to put together a badge for last year, but with the … <\/p>\n