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How a Single University Project Started Everything

If we care to cast an eye over the history of ubiquitous personal computing as we know it today, we might immediately point at the original IBM PC. After all, for most of us our machines share backward compatibility in some form through multiple generations back to that original box from 1981.

But if we look at the things we use today and take for granted, from laser printers to graphics cards to the routers which power most of the Internet, they’re not from IBM at all. At the recent Vintage Computing Festival Berlin, [Michael Engel] delivered a talk naming a surprising progenitor for much of that technology, none other than Sun Microsystems.

It all starts with [Andy Bechtolsheim], famously Sun’s co-founder, when at the end of the 1970s he was a postgraduate at Stanford University. Working on the Stanford University Network — SUN — project he designed a computer to be used as a workstation on the network. The processor of choice then was Motorola’s 68000, but it lacked the MMU that would be required to run UNIX. His design had an MMU implemented externally to the 68000, with a bank of SRAM serving as the page table. This design would form the CPU board of the first Sun workstation.

The story might end there, were it not that many other companies had the same requirement, and Sun could supply them a CPU board. Silicon Graphics, the distant ancestral progenitor of your GPU, was one of them, so the first SGI workstation also had the same CPU as the first Sun. It appeared in the early Imagen laser printers too, as well as commercial AppleTalk to Ethernet bridges. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that because the original Stanford board had also been used as a router, the software for that became part of Cisco’s first product.

The video is below the break, and it’s a fascinating watch.

 

The Trials And Tribulations Of Your First Badge

On the face of it, making an event badge should be an easy process. After all, most of us can hand-assemble a microcontroller, some buttons, a battery, and a screen. But anyone who has been involved in producing one will tell you, the difference between producing one or two, and making sure hundreds or even thousands appear on day one of the event fully working is enormous. [Nicholas Ficara] produced 1750 of his first badge for Canada’s Hack The North hackathon, and he’s shared the full story.

We’ve been involved with the gestation of more than one badge here at Hackaday, so we recognise some of his learning moments only too well. He approached it with a well-planned series of prototype and release candidate steps to catch the problems, which came in handy as there certainly were a few. Wrong footprints, misplaced components, power supply issues, and rotated parts were fixed, and eventually they were delivered in time. It’s good to see that they were well received and well used at the event.

If you’re thinking of doing a badge we can certainly recommend that you give this a read. A few years ago we wrote up the story of another badge whose creators put in some hard work to save it from a more serious part error.

2026 Hackaday Supercon: Workshops are Open!

Supercon is Hackaday’s annual gathering, and you absolutely need to be there.

Today, we’re pleased to announce our lineup of workshops, and it’s more than we’ve ever offered, thanks to moving to a bigger venue and to our awesome community of hackers stepping up to give them. There’s something here for everyone, so if anything strikes your fancy, be sure to book yourself a slot soon. (If you have a ticket already, you sign up for the workshop as an “add-on”, BTW.) Workshops always fill up fast, due to the small and hands-on nature of the beast.

If you’ve never been to Supercon, the short version of the story is that it’s three days of hacking, hanging out, food, drink, merriment, and great talks all rolled into one long weekend. Fridays are chilled out, and simply a great time to get to know everyone and start playing around with whatever hardware hacks you’ve brought along. Saturday and Sunday are filled with talks, activities, and of course even more hob-nobbing with the world’s coolest nerds.

Basically, it’s all the best of Hackaday, made even better by being live and in person. All that’s missing is you.

We have another round of speakers and hopefully a badge reveal coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Josh Martin
Making 3D Images (Lenticulars) and 3D Cameras

In this workshop, participants will learn what a 3D image looks like, the history behind 3D photography, and how to take 3D images using film and digital cameras. The workshop will walk participants through making their own 3D camera with off the shelf parts, a 3D printer, and custom software we have written.

Building on this foundation, the workshop also covers the process of how to take the 3D images captured with a 3D camera and transform them into a physical print called a lenticular.

Everyone will get to take their own lenticular print home at the end of this workshop.

Darcy Neal
Explore the EMF Around You

This workshop explores what EMF frequencies are, where they come from, how we can listen to them, and how to build your own sensing device.

Sessions end with a sound exploration where participants go discover what unique sounds they can find. The EMF Explorer Badge is a hands-on soldering kit that turns the invisible electrical activity of everyday electronics into sound. Walk around, listen, compare devices, and build intuition for the signals hiding in the modern world.

If time allows, we will open the board file in KiCad and learn how everyone can make their own creative PCB designs.

Shawn Hymel
Reinforcement Learning for Robotics

Reinforcement learning is reshaping how robots learn to move: it’s driving breakthroughs at labs like ETH Zurich, Boston Dynamics, and Disney Research, enabling robots to handle environments and challenges they were never explicitly trained for. The good news is that you don’t need a fully equipped research lab to get started. In this hands-on workshop, participants will train an AI agent from scratch to balance a two-wheeled robot, then watch it run on real hardware.

We’ll tackle two of the most common real-world challenges in robotics: how to make an agent that’s actually robust and how to transfer a policy trained in simulation onto a physical robot. By the end of the session, attendees will leave with hands-on intuition for modern robot learning.

Alessandra Noelting
Exquisite Circuit: Exquisite Corpse for Electronics

What happens when a circuit is designed by a room full of people who cannot see the whole circuit?

In this hands-on electronic version of Exquisite Corpse, each participant adds a stage to a shared low-voltage circuit, conceals their work, and passes it to the next builder. Participants inherit standardized power and signal connections – but no schematic, explanation, or design review.

At the end, we reveal the complete creations, attempt to reconstruct their collective logic, inspect them for safety, and apply power from a strictly current-limited supply. Functionality is optional. Surprise is guaranteed.

Bob Hickman and Estefannie
Bling It On: Programming Your Own Generative Art Matrix

This is a repeat of our wildly popular “Bling It On” workshop form 2025. In this intermediate-level maker workshop, you will learn the fundamentals of generative algorithms and apply them using either Circuit Python or C++ to create a dynamic display that can pull data over WiFi from one or more APIs and use the data to visualize some generative art.

The results will be beautiful and practical, and attendees will leave with an amazing 130 mm x 130 mm LED matrix. If you missed out on our sold out workshop last year, this is your chance to Bling It On!

Nathan Jones
Badge Hacking for Beginners

Calling all nerds, newbies, and first-time attendees to the world-famous Hackaday Supercon! You just received your super duper, neato conference badge… now what?

“Badge hacking” is a seminal part of the Supercon experience, but it can feel intimidating to attempt if you’re new to embedded systems. In this workshop, I’ll break down those barriers for you, by explaining exactly how the badge works and what you can do with it.

Then I’ll walk you through your very first badge hacks, one software-focused and one hardware-focused, so that you’ll be able to walk around with your very own, one-of-a-kind, customized conference badge. Maybe I’ll even be able to convince you to show it off during the “Badge Hacking Competition” on Sunday!

Debra Ansell
Powered Flowers and Prismatic Stars: LED Wearables with Illuminated Appliqué

This workshop goes beyond conductive thread and sewable LEDs. Participants will learn how to enhance clothing and accessories with assemblies of discreet 3D printed diffusers connected by mesh fabric and illuminated by addressable string lights. The result is attractive, flexible, durable, and versatile, and the technique can be adapted into different configurations and effects to enhance a wide variety of wearables.

All parts and tools necessary to create, power and animate LED patterns on an illuminated star- or flower- shaped applique are provided, as well as a hat or bag to sew the applique onto. Participants may also opt to bring their own item to decorate. If bringing your own piece of clothing or accessory, please choose one made from sturdy fabric such as denim or canvas that will support an electronics assembly.

An overview of controlling patterns and playlists with WLED will take place at the end, that will cover as much detail as time allows. Participants will want to bring a laptop (easiest) or smartphone to connect to and customize their wearable.

Ayesha Wilson and Alex Lynd
We have TCSM at Home! (Learn to build your own Antenna + Wireless Bug Hunting Tools)

Ayesha will walk you through the fundamentals of antenna design – we use OpenEMS to explore antenna geometry, impedance matching, and S-parameter simulation before importing the design into KiCad for PCB layout. You’ll learn to use a VNA for evaluating your antenna’s performance!

Alex will lead a short lesson on wireless tracking and a foxhunting exercise where attendees will use an ESP32 based console + custom antennas to locate Bluetooth beacons hidden around the venue!

This workshop is beginner friendly and will teach you the basics of wireless intelligence + PCB design, and attendees will walk away with an educational tool that can explore the RF landscape around them after the conference.

Pat Deegan
Tiny Tapeout

In this workshop, participants will get the opportunity to design and manufacture your own design on an ASIC!

Participants will learn the basics of digital logic, the basics of how semiconductors are designed and made, how to use an online digital design tool to build and simulate a simple design, and how to create the GDS files for manufacture on the open-source Sky130 PDK.

You will have the option to submit your designs to be manufactured on the next shuttle as part of the Tiny Tapeout project. (Thanks to sponsorship from ChipFoundry.io.)

 

JawnCon 0x3 Kicks off in Philadelphia this Friday

Philadelphia’s homegrown hacker con returns this weekend, and this time it’s starting a day early to pack in even more talks, demos, and activities. Tickets are still available for anyone who can get themselves to Arcadia University by the end of the week, and as always, students with a valid .edu email address get in for free. The talks will also be recorded for hackers that can’t make it out in person, but of course there’s no substitute for a weekend spent hanging out with like-minded folks.

Now in its fourth year, JawnCon continues to steadily grow and evolve. In 2026, it’s not only getting an extra day, but also a second stage for talks, delivering nearly 30 presentations on everything from board games to modern pager networks. For style points, the schedule is available via HyperCard running on an emulated Macintosh Plus, but you can also just read it off the web page if you insist.

In addition to the talks, there will be exhibits from local groups such as Philly Mesh, PhilTel, and the Open Organisation Of Lockpickers, as well as a dedicated classroom for those looking to study ahead of their amateur radio exams. Attendees can even use a pair of Zebra ID printers to produce custom badges, and we’re sure nothing untoward will happen with them.

[BusySignal] shows off the retro coloring of his printed case. Instagram
Speaking of badges, as in previous years, the organizers drew inspiration from technology of a bygone era. This year’s badge looks like a simple handheld calculator, but it also includes a touch-tone (DTMF) generator, various games, and the ability to link up with other badges.

Powered by an ATmega328P-P, the badge comes in either assembled or kit form and features an edge connector along the bottom of the board, letting attendees slot in their own hardware creations. In classic hacker con style, the badge will be distributed as a bare PCB, but STL and 3MF files to print your own case ahead of time are available.

Stay tuned for our first-hand account of our time at JawnCon 0x3 once the dust settles — or better yet, come out this weekend and see it for yourself.

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