DEF CON
The 2012 DEF CON edition whose Ryan Clarke-designed Parallax Propeller badge mixed IR badge-to-badge communication, many physical badge styles, firmware releases, VGA/PS2 expansion, and a crypto/social badge challenge.
Rio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada · United States · 2012
A Ryan Clarke-designed DEF CON 20 electronic badge manufactured by Parallax around the Propeller P8X32A multicore processor, infrared badge-to-badge communication, eight LEDs, USB programming, many physical variants, and a crypto/social badge challenge.
Lifecycle
Badges communicated over infrared and could report encountered badge identities through a serial terminal, turning attendee movement and mingling into puzzle state.
The badge puzzle combined firmware, hieroglyphic shapes, binary codes, lanyards, venue clues, program material, and social interaction into a secret-society narrative.
Parallax and DEF CON published firmware, schematic, top-level objects, LED examples, VGA/PS2 examples, and conference-DVD materials for post-event badge hacking.
Attendees received PS/2 adapters and a VGA connector and could add them in the Hardware Hacking Village to turn the Propeller badge into a small computer system.
Operational history
The record preserves the verified hardware and software surfaces while leaving deeper artifact archaeology for a later pass.
The catalogue can show a real DEF CON 20 badge image while preserving the full source original and avoiding Parallax forum images, WIRED gallery images, generated art, or uncleared archive photos.
