DorkSnow
From DorkbotLondon
Contents |
Date and Location
Feb 7th/8th in Limehouse Town Hall
Costs and Food
Costs should be low. Any thoughts on organizing food at Limehouse are welcome.
Interest
Put your name here if you're interested:
- Iain S
- Alex Z
- Rachel Carney (Dorkbot Bristol)
Things to do and people interested in them
Circuit building workshop (Iain S)
I could teach something like a two day "how to solder/build electronics" workshop this winter if we have enough interest and a suitable location. I know it's been done before, but it is something where practice over a few projects helps a lot. Perhaps do something a bit different from the obvious "flashing light" circuits. Maybe a simple MW or SW radio would be suitable - wind your own coils and all that stuff. In two days just on circuit building we could go in to a bit more detail and cover some stuff like component identification and basic circuit debugging.
For a location for an electronics workshop something like a university lab which has enough sets of tools for everybody to work at once would be great.
Arduino (Alex Z)
I could do more on the Arduino. Maybe something in a bit more depth.
Actuators (Alex Z)
I could do a workshop on actuators, i.e. motors, servos, solenoids, stepper motors. How to make them make things move, how to control them, etc.
Physical to Virtual
Iain and I (Evan) were discussing doing a workshop/project where the goal was to create some physical objects that controlled video effects. Probably using arduinos chained together interfacing with Processing or OpenFrameworks.
Space Echo
I (Mike H of Dorkbot Bristol) would be up from bringing my satellite dish along for Internet connexion for the weekend and doing a workshop about how it works and all that, including doing a streaming performance over it, along the lines of http://www.radiovague.com/space_echo/
Doing More With Microcontrollers
I (John Honniball of Dorkbot Bristol) would like to talk about and/or demonstrate ways to get more out of your microcontroller! For instance, using multiplexers (analog and digital) to make more input lines. How about using an addressable latch to make more output lines, or using shift registers to do I/O in a bit-serial way. Then, there's analog stuff like reading six input buttons on a single wire and making a "poor man's RFID" using resistors.
DVD,HDD unit for fun use
I (Yoshi I) may demonstrate the way to use motors, magnetic device etc in the DVD, HDD, Flopy D etc for fun. ( It may not necessary function reliably, still it may be a fun. And it would be a kind, which I demonstrated at the 11 Dec'08 Dork, HDD unit driven pendulum-----use a motor as a sensor etc. The matters are how to realize the idea and its know how. Interested may bring a unit or two along with such as audio device (small amp, radio etc) to try.
Timetable
Very very approximate at this point!
| Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|
| Before lunch | Workshop | Workshop |
| After lunch | Workshop | Workshop |
| Evening | Presentation / social | Tidy |
Locations
We felt that just using Limehouse Town Hall was going to be easier than running a residential event, so we're in London.
Archive Information
Original Interest List
- alex m
- Iain S
- Sophie
- Alex Z
- Sim
- Julie F
- Ryan
- Annie
- Chris M
- PeterMc
- Evan
- Dana
- John Honniball (Dorkbot Bristol)
- Mike Harris (Dorkbot Bristol)
- Yoshi
- Rachel Carney (Dorkbot Bristol)
Original Location Info
Lots of suitable places here:
http://www.escape-to.co.uk/
Some possibilities (in the South East, with 30+ spaces):
... or further afield
- Portland - possibly would do catering as well. Two large rooms.
...or other alternatives
...late entry location (Iain added 3rd November 2008). I have emailed these guys, no reply as yet:
- Braziers Park "a community, a residential college and an architectural treasure hidden deep in the south Oxfordshire countryside. It was founded in 1950 as an educational trust, and is a continuing experiment in the advantages and problems of living in a group." Could be interesting.
| Location | Sleeps | Big Rooms | Access | Catering | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holmbury St Mary, Surrey | 40 | Dining Room (40) | Similar to Dorkcamp | Self | £910 |
| Medway, Kent | 40 | Dining Room (40) Lounge (12) Large Study | Near Chatham | Self | £680 |
| Totland Bay, Isle of Wight | 44 | Dining Rooms (36, 8) Lounges (16, 14) | Ferry from Lymington? | Self | £625 |
| Truleigh Hill, West Sussex | 32 | Dining Room (32) | Nearish to Brighton | Self | £785 |
| Portland | 28 | Dining Room (28) Lounge (28) | Portland | Self or catered | £680 |
Transport
Van hire:
As i (Sophie) was talking about it at DorkCamp08, I am happy to sort out and drive a hire van. It would mean people being tied to a timetable, which I would plan to stay until the end of the clean up.I could maybe do two pick ups in London – London Bridge and one somewhere more north, depending on where people are. I will update on costs a bit nearer the time.
Put your names below if your interested:
- alex m is interested, although I would prefer a train and bike option if it's practical. I'd pay to have my stuff taken by van though.
- A van would really help me, 'cos I'm poor. What are the chances of arranging a pick-up somewhere I can be dropped off by the National Express Cambridge--London service? Somewhere like Aldgate, Mile End, or Victoria Coach Station? PeterMc
- I would probably end up taking a car again because I carry so much stuff. Alex Z.
