DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy · United States · 2017

DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Special lifetime-access electronic award badge

The DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge was a special electronic black-badge award artifact made for DerbyCon 2017, using an Atmel XMEGA core, a large LED-heavy PCB, laser-cut acrylic, custom STL work, and first-hand published build notes.

DerbyCon United States Louisville Kentucky Black Badge Lifetime Access Atmel XMEGA LED Badge Acrylic North America

EventDerbyCon 7.0 Legacy

SeriesDerbyCon

LocationHyatt Regency Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

badge builder and project author

Ben Hibben

Published the first-hand DerbyCon Legacy Black Badge project writeup, materials list, build steps, firmware artifact, and media trail.

Source

badge collaborator

Charles Lehman

Named in the first-hand Hackster project as part of the Legacy Black Badge build context.

Source

event lineage and black-badge context

DerbyCon

InfoconDB and archived event sources establish the DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy conference context for the black-badge award artifact.

Source

Why It Mattered

It adds DerbyCon to the North American badge map while preserving the black-badge boundary: this was a rare lifetime-access award artifact, not a general attendee admission badge. The record captures a local maker build path where PCB layout, acrylic work, STL/CNC files, and firmware effects became part of the public evidence trail.

Hardware

The Hackster project lists an Atmel ATxmega128A4U microcontroller, Microchip MCP73831 LiPo charger, SparkFun LiPo battery, Texas Instruments TPS61200 boost converter, 224 Adafruit 0805 LEDs, four 74HC595 shift registers, sixteen 2N3904 transistors, a custom PCB, hand-soldered assembly, laser-cut acrylic, and 3D/2D design files used for the badge body.

Software & Apps

The public project page documents custom C firmware and links a compiled `DerbyCon7BadgeFirmware.bin` artifact. The record does not claim a full public source tree, protocol, or challenge engine beyond the documented firmware binary and visual LED behavior.

Lore

The build notes describe the black badge as DerbyCon's version of a lifetime ticket. Ben Hibben published the project as a first-hand build with Charles Lehman, including design-tool screenshots, fabrication notes, assembly steps, firmware upload context, and a materials list.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge controller source-backed

ATxmega128A4U controller core

The project bill of materials names an Atmel ATxmega128A4U microcontroller as the badge's controller.

Compatibility: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Source

firmware evidence source-backed

Compiled firmware artifact

The project links a compiled `DerbyCon7BadgeFirmware.bin` file and describes custom C firmware upload as part of the build.

Compatibility: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Source

physical fabrication source-backed

Laser-cut acrylic body

The build notes document custom PCB design plus laser-cut acrylic and 3D/2D files for the badge enclosure and presentation form.

Compatibility: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Source

special access artifact source-backed

Legacy Black Badge award

The first-hand writeup describes DerbyCon's black badge as the event's lifetime-ticket equivalent and frames this build as the Legacy Black Badge artifact.

Compatibility: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Source

visual badge surface source-backed

224-LED front array

The Hackster materials list names 224 Adafruit 0805 LEDs, four 74HC595 shift registers, and sixteen 2N3904 transistors for the visual badge surface.

Compatibility: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

award-badge scope note

The public evidence describes the Legacy Black Badge as a special black-badge lifetime-access award artifact, not an attendee-wide DerbyCon admission credential.

The compendium records the artifact under DerbyCon while avoiding claims of general conference distribution or regular attendee-badge status.

Confidence: first-hand source
Status: documented
Timeframe: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy
Source note: Ben Hibben Hackster writeup and InfoconDB DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy event metadata.

image-rights boundary note

The Hackster project includes real badge images and build-media context, but this pass did not recover an explicit reusable image license, permission basis, attribution requirement, and processing provenance for local catalogue publication.

The record remains image-free rather than copying Hackster project media, screenshots, OpenGraph images, generated art, or approximate badge artwork.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and Hackster project page.

missing rights-cleared image note

No DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Black Badge image is published because the current public source trail has not been paired with a reusable original badge or artifact photo or official upstream raster render with source URL, license or permission basis, attribution, and processing notes.

The United States record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and InfoconDB DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy metadata and Ben Hibben Hackster first-hand black-badge build writeup.

source-depth caveat note

The Hackster project provides first-hand build notes, materials, and a firmware binary link, but this pass did not recover a dedicated public source repository with complete C source, schematic, Gerbers, PCB production outputs, or a formal hardware license.

The record keeps controller, LED, fabrication, and firmware claims tied to the first-hand project page and avoids unsupported protocol, challenge, and source-release claims.

Confidence: source-backed but incomplete
Status: needs source recovery
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: Hackster DerbyCon Legacy Black Badge project and linked files.

Resources

Archived DerbyCon 2017 site archived official event site · Internet Archive mirror linked from InfoconDB as the official DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy event-page context. DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy InfoconDB entry conference archive · Conference archive source for the DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy dates, Hyatt Regency Hotel venue, Louisville, Kentucky location, and linked event-program context. DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy program event program PDF · Infocon-hosted program PDF linked from InfoconDB, used for event-context corroboration rather than badge hardware claims. DerbyCon Legacy Black Badge first-hand project writeup · Primary first-hand maker source for the Legacy Black Badge purpose, hardware bill of materials, design/fabrication workflow, compiled firmware artifact, build steps, and image-rights boundary.

Sources

DerbyCon / Internet Archive: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy archived site Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Archived official event-page context linked by InfoconDB; not used for black-badge hardware claims. Hackster / Ben Hibben: DerbyCon Legacy Black Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary first-hand source proving the DerbyCon Legacy Black Badge artifact, black-badge lifetime-ticket framing, Ben Hibben and Charles Lehman maker context, BOM, fabrication steps, and compiled firmware artifact. InfoconDB: DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Conference archive source proving the September 22-24, 2017 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky DerbyCon 7.0 Legacy event context.