PhreakNIC 27 · United States · 2026

PhreakNIC 27 Planned MK.II ESL Badge

Pre-event planned electronic shelf-label follow-up

A conservative pre-event record for Tyler Crumpton's public plan to bring an even cooler MK.II electronic shelf-label badge to PhreakNIC 27, currently scheduled for November 6-7, 2026.

PhreakNIC United States Murfreesboro Planned Badge Electronic Shelf Label E-waste UART Wireless North America

EventPhreakNIC 27

SeriesPhreakNIC

LocationMurfreesboro, Tennessee

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

planned MK.II badge project owner

Tyler Crumpton

The CrumpSpace writeup attributes the PN26 ESL badge work to Tyler and records his public plan for a cooler MK.II version at PhreakNIC 27.

Source

Why It Mattered

It preserves the next publicly announced step in the small-conference reclaimed-ESL badge lineage without treating a plan as shipped hardware or copying unclear project-page imagery.

Hardware

Public evidence only establishes the intended reuse lineage from the PN26 electronic shelf-label badge and the planned MK.II direction. Candidate improvements named for the next version include EEPROM image storage, UART or wireless communication, self-service update stations, and specialty stations for hardware, puzzles, games, or photo-booth-style interactions; this record does not claim a final PCB, component list, enclosure, production count, or shipped badge.

Software & Apps

The plan points away from PN26's per-update firmware patching hack toward EEPROM-backed image storage and more dynamic station interaction, but no PhreakNIC 27 firmware repository, attendee guide, protocol, backend, or final badge software has been recovered in this pass.

Lore

The PN26 project owner says the first ESL badge was enough of a hit that planning had already started for the next year's version, and tells readers to watch the PhreakNIC website for details as they become available.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

planned badge interaction planned

Planned specialty stations

The public plan sketches badge stations for hardware hacking, puzzles, games, a photo booth, or similar event-specific interactions.

Compatibility: PhreakNIC 27 Planned MK.II ESL Badge

Source

planned communication path planned

Planned UART or wireless interaction

The project-owner plan calls out UART or wireless communication so stations can update badge state or behavior without reflashing a full image.

Compatibility: PhreakNIC 27 Planned MK.II ESL Badge

Source

planned event tooling planned

Planned self-service update stations

The next-version plan keeps the self-service update-station idea that was not fully reliable enough for PN26 field deployment.

Compatibility: PhreakNIC 27 Planned MK.II ESL Badge

Source

planned firmware improvement planned

Planned EEPROM image storage

The PN26 writeup lists EEPROM storage for image data as the first improvement target for the next version, avoiding PN26's full-firmware-patch workflow.

Compatibility: PhreakNIC 27 Planned MK.II ESL Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

missing rights-cleared image note

No PhreakNIC 27 image is published because the available public evidence does not provide a specific final badge photo or official raster render with source URL, reusable license or permission basis, attribution, and processing provenance.

The planned record stays image-free rather than reusing PN26 article photos, generated art, screenshots, or speculative visuals.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: open
Timeframe: pre-event catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and public PhreakNIC 27 planning source.

pre-event badge caveat note

This record is seeded from a public project-owner plan before the November 6-7, 2026 event and does not claim that the MK.II badge has shipped.

The catalogue can track the announced lineage while keeping all final hardware, software, distribution, and production claims open until post-event sources appear.

Confidence: project-owner plan
Status: planned
Timeframe: before PhreakNIC 27
Source note: Official PN26 Electronic Badge writeup and PhreakNIC website.

source-depth caveat note

The current public trail names a planned MK.II badge and desired improvements, but no dedicated PN27 repository, schematic, BOM, firmware tree, attendee guide, station code, production note, or final event schedule entry has been recovered.

The record avoids final component, firmware, interaction, and distribution claims until stronger PhreakNIC 27 sources appear.

Confidence: single project-owner planning source plus official site
Status: needs post-event source recovery
Timeframe: pre-event catalogue build
Source note: Official PN26 Electronic Badge writeup and live PhreakNIC website.

Resources

Official PN26 Electronic Badge project-owner writeup · Primary project-owner writeup that documents the PN26 ESL badge and explicitly says work was already underway on a cooler MK.II version for PhreakNIC 27, scheduled for November 6-7, 2026. PhreakNIC website official event site · Official PhreakNIC website used as the live event-lineage anchor while the planned PN27 badge remains pre-event.

Sources

CrumpSpace / Tyler Crumpton: Official PN26 Electronic Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Project-owner source for the public PN27 MK.II planning statement, future date, and expected follow-up direction from the PN26 ESL badge. PhreakNIC: PhreakNIC Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official website anchor for the PhreakNIC event series; it is not used as final badge-spec evidence.