Next SoutHackton meetup, 7.30pm Tues 24th Jan

We are a community of makers, tinkerers and artists. Our aim is to share skills and tools to allow anyone to create something amazing, regardless of experience. We want to start a Hackerspace in Southampton, where people can come to work on their various projects and can get the resources they need and can share knowledge and ideas. If you always wanted to make something but don’t know how then our members will be more than happy to help you.

This event is a general meetup for existing members or anyone else who wants to get involved, along with general discussion about hacking, making and coding… and coffee. It’s free, but donations to the Arthouse are always appreciated.

The facebook event page is public so feel free to invite anyone else along. http://www.facebook.com/events/325294290835392/

This event is at the Art House: http://www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk/

Next SoutHackton meetup – Wed 7th Dec

Our next meetup is 7:30pm until 10:00pm Wednesday, December 7, 2011.

Let us know you are coming on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/316444395051818/

This event is a general meetup for existing members or anyone else who wants to get involved, along with general discussion about hacking, making and coding… and coffee. It’s free, but donations to the Arthouse are always appreciated.

The facebook event page is public so feel free to invite anyone else along.

This event is at the Art House: http://www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk/

We are a community of makers, tinkerers and artists. Our aim is to share skills and tools to allow anyone to create something amazing, regardless of experience. We want to start a Hackerspace in Southampton, where people can come to work on their various projects and can get the resources they need and can share knowledge and ideas. If you always wanted to make something but don’t know how then our members will be more than happy to help you.

Southackton Ubuntu workshop – Wed 2nd Nov, 7.30pm at Southampton Art House

The next SoutHACKton meetup will be a Ubuntu workshop at the Art House, Southampton at 7.30pm

Bring a laptop and a USB stick (2GB is a good size, or if you bring 4GB or larger then you can save settings and data back to it and use it like it was installed).

We will get you up and running with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, without installing anything on your laptop, so you won’t lose any data.

More information about Ubuntu, and linux, is available at: http://ubuntu.com/ubuntu

This facebook event page is public so feel free to invite anyone else along.

This event is at the Art House: http://www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=301712219840154

Next meetup, 7pm on Tues 20th Sept at ASpace, Tower House

The next southackton meetup is at ASpace at 7pm on Tuesday 20th of September at Tower House.

When you arrive, ring the doorbell and I’ll let you in .. probably best to use the entrance on Winkle Street. The office is v near to the Platform pub and the City Council Archaeology Museum.

Address: Tower House, Town Quay Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 2NY

Google Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=so14+2ny&hl=en&ll=50.897248,-1.402828&spn=0.006361, 0.017885&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=24.546102,73.256836&vpsrc=6&t=m&z=17

Southackton @ The Art House, 8th June 2011


A good time was had by all, we looked at a unique Snowboarding location, altitude, axis and temperature tracker that had recently been tested in the field, although the hardware and software worked well the low temperatures were a challenge, the group discussed a range of options from heat pumps, wicks, peltier devices to phase-change materials as used in the magic metal coffee beans!


David showed us his progress on an in-system programmer for AVR micro-controllers and did a great job of explaining what they are, and why you might want one, read more about his projects.


The group decided to try out building some drawduino to see if they would be a suitable item for us to help newcomers to build and take home and a date is being set for that.


You can view pictures from the event on the Southackton Flickr Page.


Our embryonic wiki is online at the hackerspaces.org website.


If you are interested in finding out more or would like to attend the next event, sign up to our google group to be kept abreast of the latest developments.


Finally, take a look at our group Notebook where we can share ideas for the Big Vision!

SoutHackton/Dorkbot Meetup

We had about 15 people show up at the Arthouse, with talk of Arduinos, 3D printers, teardowns and mobiles. Tea was drunk, cakes were eaten and a good time was apparently had by all.

Teardowns:

More Teardowns:

Arduino Temp Sensor:

3D Printer Examples:

Hackers:

Given a relative success of the first proper meeting of recent years I believe we’ll be pushing for another one next month, keep an eye on this blog for more info as we decide it, or join the Google Group to get involved.

Darkbot/SoutHACKton Meeting, 9th of March

Thanks to the powerful organisational skills of Phased / Ben we’ll be taming up with the local Dorkbot group to have a big meetup at the Arthouse Cafe in Southampton.

Makers, hackers, tinkerers. Lend me your microphones :O) …

Following much consultation, the next Southackton meeting shall be 9th March at Art House Southampton. Aim is to start at 7.30pm.

We will unite with the Dorkbots, sharing their March meeting, to create a union of Dorks and Hackers, possibly for one night only but hopefully a continuing unity will emerge in the form of Harks or Dockers :O)

Please try to get there a little early, to have time to grab coffees and cakes, as that will be the primary method of funding the “hire” of the venue / it’s continued existence.

As suggested, it will be a combined Duino and Teardown (http://groups.google.com/group/southackton/browse_thread/thread/bfff4bf5e88785a3) event.

Please bring along anything you have created using the Duino platforms and anything you fancy Tearing Down.

Please feel free to share designs / code / links for your Duino creations on our Google group beforehand, so those attending have an opportunity to discuss more deeply during the event.

We will aim to leave a 15-20 minute period near the end for sharing of your unwanted bits from the Teardowns and discussion on future plans for Southackton.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Phased / Ben

For those that have not visited before, Art House Southampton is located here :

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=ubuntu&channel=cs&ie=UTF8&q=art+house+southampton&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=art+house&hnear=Southampton&cid=0,0,3323037071216817675&ll=50.908959,-1.40449&spn=0.0087,0.022852&z=16

More details on Art House Southampton here : http://www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk

We’ve also got an event up on Eventful: http://eventful.com/southampton/events/hackspacedorkbot-meetup-/E0-001-037303575-4

Hope to see you all there.

theUncommon / Adam

Review: “How To Make Cool Things From Microcontrollers”

Last week’s workshop was great fun despite the dreary weather! Mitch Altman, (inventor of TV-B-Gone, and co-founder of Noisebridge) and Jimmie P Rodgers (circuit bender and purveyor of Atari Punk Consoles, LED hearts and LoL shields) joined us at SteamShift HQ in Eastleigh to put on a workshop excitingly titled “How To Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers!”

Mitch Altman teaching soldering

Mitch teaching the basics of soldering

Mitch gave a great introduction to microcontrollers, and entertained everyone with, among other tales, his experiences in the US, recounting how he left his job in Silicone Valley and got into hardware hacking, and amusingly how the Noisebridge hackerspace is insured somewhere under the category of “Artistic Robotics”.

He and Jimmy had a great selection of projects on show and available as kits for hacking; the LoL Shields went down well, around 6 of us opted to build them for our arduinos.

Soldering at Southackton

Heads-down and soldering!

Another attendee constructed an Atari Punk Console, while someone else constructed their first arduino clone from a Boarduino kit.

Our guests continued their tour of the UK the following day, going on to their next event at the Brighton hackerspace BuildBrighton.

If you’re interested in hardware hacking or learning to solder, why not join the discussions on our google group? If you want to stay up to date with the latest SoutHACKton news the google group is also the place to go!

Meetup: Mitch Altman – How To Make Cool Things With Microcontrollers

Saturday 20th March 13:00 to 17:00 at SteamShift HQ, 1 Derby Road, Eastleigh, SO50 5QD.

Mitch Altman, well known for making TV-B-Gone (a keychain that turns off TVs in public places), and also the co-founder of Noisebridge, a really cool San Francisco hackerspace, is coming to Southampton to teach you How To Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers! In Mitch’s words:

You do not need any tools, or any experience to come to the workshop.

The workshop is free (including our time) — we do this because we love teaching people to make things. We ask to be reimbursed for any parts you use from us. Cost of the parts is between £5 and £20, depending on the project. It is totally fine to bring your own parts and projects for the workshop.

Here is a list of projects that I’ll be bringing; I’ve included the prices for the parts:

Mignonette Game kit @ £20 each
– a way fun, way low-resolution hand-held computer console that you can use to create your own games

Trippy RGB Waves kit @ £5 each
– waves of colors follow your hand as you wave it over these

TV-B-Gone kit @ £15 each
– turn off TVs in public places from up to 50 meter away!

USBtinyISP kit @ £15 each
– a programmer for AVR microcontrollers

MiniPOV3 kit @ £15 each
– display messages of your choice through the air you wave this through

Brain Machine @ £15 each
– hallucinate beautiful colors and patterns while you drift off into fabulous meditation

MintyBoost kit @ £15 each
– with 2 AA batteries you can charge anything with a USB charging input (such as an iPhone)

Drawdio @£15 each
– fun and annoying noiseamaker that changes noise as you draw on paper

LEDcube @ £15 each
– 3x3x3 cube of LEDs with animated sequence

DC BoArduino kit @ £15 each
– Arduino clone kit

FTDI cable @ £15 each
– this is not a kit — it is required to communicate with the BoArduino (and many other open-source projects)

TripGlasses @ £25 each
– this is not a kit — it is a ready-made version of the Brain Machine (hallucinate beautiful colors and patterns while meditating!)

EU TV-B-Gone @ £15 each
– this is not a kit — it is the ready-made keychain to turn off TVs in public places (with a stealthy batman-like look)

NA TV-B-Gone Pro SHP @ £30 each
– this is not a kit — it is a ready-made version, the size of an mp3 player, that turns off TVs in public from up to 150 meter away! One model for the entire world! Comes with built-in rechargeable batteries and a charger

Info on most of the above is available on my website: http://www.CornfieldElectronics.com “maker faire” tab

Jimmie will be bringing Open Heart kits, LOL Shield kits, Atari Punk Console kits, and some cool circuit bending stuff. Jimmie’s website gives more info on his projects that he’ll be bringing: http://jimmieprodgers.com/

More details can be found on the groups – please let us know if you intend to attend.