BalCCon 2016 Badge
BalCCon's first official badge combined synchronized LED patterns, IR badge-to-badge recognition, a TV-B-Gone mode, and a USB HID password manager.
Country dossier
Serbia
Worldwide badge coverage for Serbia, grouped into seeded badges, event editions, add-ons, operational issues, resources, and evidence sources.
Seeded artifacts
Badges
Hackaday Belgrade 2016 Badge
A slim open-hardware conference badge designed around a red 8x16 LED matrix, PIC18LF25K50, IR send/receive, USB bootloader, tactile controls, and attendee-written demos.
Hackaday Belgrade 2018 Badge
A battery-powered retro-computing badge with 55-key keyboard, 320x240 RGB TFT LCD, PIC32MX370F512H, external flash, speaker, BASIC interpreter, CP/M/Z80 emulation, and expansion-header hacking.
BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27
The official BalCCon2k23 BCD-0o27 badge turned badgelife into a small ESP32-S3 cyberdeck with screen, buttons, RGB LEDs, serial console, SAO-ish I2C, firmware framework, and printable case files.
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
The BalCCon2k24 MC-0o00 badge scaled the cyberdeck idea down to a CH32V003 RISC-V board with LCD, six buttons, buzzer, GPIO/power interface, and the ability to connect to BCD-0o27.
Events
Camp and Event Editions
BalCCon2k16
The first BalCCon official badge year, documented as a PIC-based LED, IR, TV-B-Gone, and password-manager badge by Voja Antonic.
Hackaday Belgrade 2016
Hackaday's first European conference, with an open-hardware PIC badge built around a red 8x16 LED matrix, IR communication, bootloader hacking, and demoscene energy.
Hackaday Belgrade 2018
The retro-computing badge year: a PIC32 handheld with BASIC, CP/M/Z80 emulation, keyboard, color display, speaker, expansion header, and a strong badge-hacking ceremony culture.
BalCCon2k23
The BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27 badge year, with an ESP32-S3, display, buttons, SAO-ish I2C, serial console, firmware framework, and case files.
BalCCon2k24
The Mini Cyberdeck 0o00 badge year, centered on a CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller, ST7735 display, buzzer, six buttons, and BCD-0o27 connectivity.
Lifecycle
Add-ons & Upgrades
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
current/historical
BCD-0o27 companion mode
The Mini Cyberdeck documentation and firmware notes describe interaction with the earlier BCD-0o27 badge.
BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27
post-event/current
BalCCon2k24 BCD-0o27 Pong firmware
The 2025 CH405 Labs firmware post publishes the BalCCon2k24 BCD-0o27 image with a Pong routine that lets the 2023 cyberdeck play against a human through a connected MC-0o00.
Hackaday Belgrade 2018 Badge
historical
Hackaday BASIC, CP/M, and Z80 emulation
The 2018 badge software turned the device into a BASIC and CP/M/Z80 playground for demoscene entries, games, music, serial experiments, keyboard apps, color-display work, and flash-storage hacks.
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
documented
Hardware test firmware
CH405 Labs provides an MC-0o00 hardware-test binary that walks through display, button, and buzzer checks with user confirmation for pass/fail states.
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
documented
CB Pong
CB Pong can run as a simple two-player Pong game or, when connected, as a game against a BCD-0o27 cyberdeck through the external interface.
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
documented
Space Invaders
The MC-0o00 documentation links a Space Invaders game by Jovan, published with source code and released under the MIT license.
BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27
historical/current
SAO-ish I2C and case ecosystem
BCD-0o27 documents an I2C add-on connector, case files, assembly instructions, and firmware hooks for continued hacking.
Hackaday Belgrade 2018 Badge
historical
Expansion-header serial modem and radio chat
Post-event hacks used the expansion-header serial pins with a NodeMCU to create a WiFi/BBS modem and badge radio chat path.
BalCCon 2016 Badge
historical
IR badge recognition and TV-B-Gone
The 2016 badge used IR for badge recognition/synchronization and TV-B-Gone-style code transmission.
BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00
documented
Melody Maker
The MC-0o00 Melody Maker firmware by Miaou lets users compose 48-note melodies, adjust tempo, move through notes, change note values and durations, and manage simple melodies on the badge.
BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27
current
ESP-IDF firmware framework
The BCD firmware article documents an ESP32-S3 firmware flashing path and a continuing software surface.
BalCCon 2016 Badge
historical
USB HID password manager
The 2016 badge could act as a USB HID keyboard for generated passwords and random-number output.
Hackaday Belgrade 2016 Badge
historical
Demoscene and accelerometer hacks
The badge records preserve Tetris, moving messages, accelerometer readouts, and a planned demoscene contest as first-class badge activity.
Hackaday Belgrade 2016 Badge
historical
Infrared terminal and badge-to-badge messaging
The 2016 badge documented 9600 baud optical serial communication and IR terminal messaging between badges and from a universal remote.
Operational history
Issues & Camp Impact
MC-0o00's lore and demos depend partly on BCD-0o27 interaction, making it less complete when documented in isolation.
The page should cross-link both BalCCon cyberdeck badges as a multi-year hardware story.
The BCD-0o27 firmware guides use esptool.py for flashing and explicitly note that related ESP tools such as espefuse.py can burn efuses and absolutely brick the cyberdeck.
The page should treat firmware updates as a powerful but risky owner workflow, not just a casual app install.
The MC-0o00 hardware-test firmware can check display, buttons, and buzzer behavior, but CH405 Labs notes that the simple cyberdeck cannot diagnose itself and needs user confirmation.
This keeps the production and repair story realistic: test firmware exists, but hardware validation still depends on human observation.
No documentary photo of the exact historical PCB has been cleared for public reuse.
Original Hackaday.io or event photos should be added only after license and attribution are cleared.
BalCCon 2016 Badge
note
No BalCCon 2016 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 Serbia record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.
No BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27 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 Serbia record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.
No BalCCon Mini Cyberdeck 0o00 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 Serbia record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.
No Hackaday Belgrade 2016 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 Serbia record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying source-page media, documentation screenshots, event photos, social media, placeholders, or generated approximations.
BCD-0o27 is documented as a badge, cyberdeck, and ongoing firmware platform, so its page needs to track post-event firmware and case changes over time.
Future updates should be modeled as lifecycle resources rather than a static one-weekend artifact.
BalCCon 2016 Badge
note
The 2016 badge has strong project documentation, but the compendium still needs cleared original photos and any surviving official archive mirrors.
The current record is sourceable but publishes no image until licensed photos are cleared.
The 2018 Belgrade badge evolved directly into the 2018 Hackaday Superconference badge, so searches often mix the European event artifact with a later US conference badge.
The compendium keeps the Belgrade event page separate while linking firmware lineage through the shared BASIC badge repository.
The 2016 project recommended a free MPLAB/XC8 workflow and emphasized that the bootloader removed the need for an external programmer, but building firmware still required embedded-toolchain comfort.
The badge was open and hackable, but the entry path was more firmware-oriented than later MicroPython or app-store badge lines.
Resources
Belgrade badge hacks
article · Hackaday coverage of post-distribution badge hacks, demoscene entries, BBS modem work, and multiplayer serial games.
Conference badges are hardware art
article · Voja Antonic's Hackaday article describing the BalCCon badge prototype lineage and IR synchronization idea.
It's Alive! Badge for Hackaday Belgrade
article · Hackaday announcement and event context for the first European Hackaday conference badge.
BCD-0o27 BalCCon2k23 firmware
firmware article · CH405 Labs firmware flashing guide for the 2023 BCD-0o27 badge.
BalCCon2k24 firmware notes
firmware article · Firmware article tying the 2024 mini cyberdeck to BCD-0o27 behavior.
BCD-0o27 hardware assembly guide
hardware docs · CH405 Labs assembly guide for the BalCCon2k23 BCD-0o27 badge.
MC-0o00 CH405 Labs
project docs · CH405 Labs page for the Mini Cyberdeck 0o00.
BCD-0o27 Hackaday.io
project page · Hackaday.io project page for the BalCCon Cyberdeck 0o27 badge.
Badge radio chat
project page · NodeMCU-based serial radio chat and BBS modem badge hack.
BalCCon 2016 badge
project page · Hackaday.io project page for the first official BalCCon badge.
Hackaday Belgrade 2018 badge project
project page · Primary project page with hardware, firmware, BASIC, CP/M/Z80, expansion, credits, and license context.
Hackaday Belgrade badge project
project page · Primary project page with hardware specs, firmware links, bootloader notes, IR behavior, and development history.
Belgrade badge MPLABX firmware
source · Public firmware repository linked from the project record.
Hackaday BASIC firmware
source · Firmware repository for the BASIC badge line.
Sources
CH405 Labs: BCD 0o27 - Hardware Assembly Guide
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Hardware manufacturing and assembly source.
CH405 Labs: BCD-0o27 BalCCon2k23 Firmware
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Firmware flashing source.
CH405 Labs: BCD-0o27 BalCCon2k24 Firmware
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Firmware article for the 2024 interaction path.
CH405 Labs: MC-0o00
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary page for mini cyberdeck hardware and BCD-0o27 connectivity.
GitHub: hackaday-belgrade-badge-MPLABX
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Public firmware/source repository for the 2016 badge.
Hackaday: Belgrade Badge Hacks
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Secondary source for demoscene, modem, multiplayer-game, and firmware-lore examples.
Hackaday: Conference badges are hardware art
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Design article for the BalCCon badge prototype lineage.
Hackaday: It's Alive! Badge for Hackaday Belgrade
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Conference announcement and badge overview.
Hackaday.io: BCD-0o27
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary project page for BalCCon2k23 cyberdeck badge overview.
Hackaday.io: Badge for Hackaday Belgrade Conference
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary source for hardware specs, bootloader, firmware, IR terminal behavior, demo intent, and credits.
Hackaday.io: Badge for Hackaday Conference 2018 in Belgrade
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary source for hardware specs, firmware behavior, license, credits, and project goals.
Hackaday.io: BalCCon 2016 Badge
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary project page for hardware and feature overview.
Hackaday.io: Hackaday Belgrade Badge Radio Chat
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Source for ESP8266/NodeMCU serial radio chat and BBS modem hack.