Some photos from Saturday’s hacklab day at Hamilton House.   We all had a superb day last Saturday at Hamilton House, lots of geekery and gadgetry and some delicious soup cooked up by Amias.   More photos available on-line on the dorkbot bristol photostream.  We’re taking a break for January and the next dorkbot Bristol meeting will be on the 17th February 2009 at the Pervasive Media Studio from at 7pm until 10pm.  We’re planning a second dorkhackbot day at Hamilton House for March 2009.  Merry Xmas one and all!

December’s Dorkbot Extravaganza is
The Hamilton House Hack!! 

Saturday 13th December 2008 from 12 noon till 6PM
at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft (entrance on City Rd)

Dorkbot Bristol goes itinerant with a different location (kindly provided by Coexist), a different day and a different time. Click here to download the flyer.

Three days earlier than normal this month, but just in time for the festive season’s festivities to begin, we’re pleased to bring you a whole Saturday afternoon of dorking!!  From robot hacking, tech from the archives, web mash-ups, the Astronaut Show, a bring your own Arduino lab, a performance of the Space Echo - the geostationary effects pedal, indoor satellite internet and whatever else we all bring along on the day.

Starts at midday on Saturday, we’ll have food and refreshments available for donations, and you’re welcome to bring something to share.

We do need to know that you’re coming, so do please sign up using the form at this link.  We welcome any suggestions and proposals for activities and workshops, especially if you’d like to run a workshop on the day.  If you do please email us at the address on the contacts page or why not simply add your comments to this posting.

November’s dork show and tell session ended up being so full of action-packed content that we very nearly didn’t have enough time to fit it all in.  Thank you everso to all of you who came and took part and who made it 2008’s fattest dorkbot bristol gathering yet!

• Tarim updated us with the latest progress on his ongoing Musical Stairs project.
• Chris showed us how to experiment with a Monome using Chuck
• Rich gave us the latest on Bristol Wireless’s lamppost installs as part of the Knowle West Web project.
• John showed us his work on a breadboard project based on a CD motor.
• Woody talked about his pervasive media studio project of 3D sculpture projection mappings.
• Drew spoke about his project for making a lighting trigger for a camera using Arduino.
• Mike tabled the question about the best Linux for booting from USB for installing on a single board computer to do development with cSounds or Chuck.  Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux we amongst those suggested.
• Pete made his proposal for robot hacking dork special that was very well received.
• Mike H introduced the hacktionLab project and plans for a Spring 2009 UK rural hack meeting.
• Richard showed us what he’d brought in his box, which turned out to be an old adding computer.
• and finally Stefan finished off proceedings with an audio visual performance.

Phew!

It’s almost becoming a regular thing! Yes that’s right, yet another dorkbotical gathering returning yet again to the Pervasive Media Studio in Anchor Square, Dorkbot Bristol’s November meeting to take place on Tuesday 18th starting at 7PM and running until 10PM, when we’ll then adjourn to a nearby watering hole to carry on chatting about all things that interest us.

As the format has been proving popular, this month’s Dorkbot is yet another open-format Show ‘n’ Tell session where all are invited to come and show a thing, enthuse about something they love, share new ideas or even give a short presentation of a project to find people to work with.

This month we’re going to be putting the programme together as we go and there’s a few things on the agenda already. We’re looking for you to complete our programme by publishing your ideas as comments to this post. So get publishing dorkboters!

This month so far:

• Presentation of HacktionLab project and call to Spring 2009 UK Hack Meeting, including showing of Psand.net about the Big Green Gathering in 2002.
• Open discussion for ideas and proposals for a Dorkbot Bristol robotics event for 2009.
• Live sonoral performance from Stefan Goodchild.

Why not encourage others to join in the Dorkbot fun? You can download November’s Dorkbot A4 flyer (PDF), print it and post it up around the place to let people know what’s going on.

Finally, drinks will be provided for donations, do feel free to bring your own as well

See you there.

Dork.

Here’s some follow up links from October’s Dorkbot Show ‘n’ Tell session.

Thanks to all who came, especially to all those who presented.  Also many thanks Ale for his help and support in organising this month’s event and not forgetting Victoria and Genevieve from the PMS for organising the space and providing their support and the beverages.

Those who took part in actually “Showing & Telling” were:

• Tarim explained his progress in his project Musical Stairs, a work to create a sound-reactive stairwell at the PMS.
• Ale Fernandez showed us the latest status of Open Simulator and discussed the possibilities of joining or running a simulation grid.
• John Honniball showed us his latest efforts at etching his own PCBs using printer toner transfers based on the business card breakout board by Evil Mad Scientist to build a new version of his PoV light wand.

Ben Calder showed us his work with using a WiiMote to control 3D. It uses a Renaissance technique for rendering perspective to generate the illusion of 3D (and it’s a method that’s calculated and rendered entirely in 2D). The simplicity of the wiimote makes this a convenient peripheral for the interface in a gallery setting, where a keyboard and mouse might seem to be a little intimidating and out of place…See Ben’s work at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/blindfish2/perspective/ and www.blindfish.co.uk

• Mike Harris presented the XtreamBox stream box project and discussed where to take it and got some very useful feedback and ideas.

We’d also like to remind everyone that chaostreff bristol are having a kite building event at their hallowe’en hacklab taking place this coming Sunday 26th at the St Werburghs Centre.

The next Dorkbot is penned to take place on the 18th November.  See you there.

Back after a short break in September, and returning yet again to the Pervasive Media Studio in Anchor Square, we’re pleased to announce Dorkbot Bristol’s October meeting to take place on Tuesday 21st starting at 7PM and running until 10PM, when we’ll then adjourn to a nearby watering hole to carry on chatting about all things dorkbotical.

This month’s Dorkbot is another Show ‘n’ Tell session where all are invited to come and show a thing, enthuse about something they love, share new ideas or even give a short presentation of a project to find people to work with. We also hope to have a special guest or two to come and show us what they’re up to; more information here shortly.

Please note drinks will be provided but for donations, feel free to bring your own as well

Here’s some links from Augusts Dorkbot.

Thanks to all those who attended, especially those that presented for the evening. Also cheers Ale for your support this month.

Those who took part in actually “Showing & Telling” were:

• Richard and Co, brought a CNC Drill -  http://jarkman.co.uk/catalog/cnc/mf70.htm

And here are some pictures of the first batch of earrings Richard made with the CNC Drill :

http://picasaweb.google.com/jarkman/PerspexEarrings

• Tom Holder - excited many at Dorkbot with his new development  SWIM

• Sam Downie - Life Casting how to and a look at Mac Expo 2008

• John Honiball - The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk
  and the most excellent collection of personal organisers such as the Psion and Mac’s Newton
  

We’ve already received some super feedback including ideas for future Dorkbot’s, suggestions for speakers and promises of some interesting items to include in our forthcoming Dorkbot’s.

So look out here for more details on the next Dorkbot that is scheduled for Tuesday 16th September….

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Rachel and Mike.

It’s Showtime again!

Our Bi-monthly Show & Tell Night is on again this August and already we’ve heard from a few interesting individuals wanting to share ideas and projects.

So come along, it’s on Tuesday 19th August 2008 at the Pervasive Media Studio (above Firehouse Rotisserie, Anchor Square, BS1 5DB) starting at 7pm until 10pm

Everyone’s welcome, be audience or participating, it’s a nice friendly atmosphere and promises to offer the intriguing with old school gadgets to the latest in local innovative developments.

Click here to see pictures from July’s Dorkbot

All Dorkbot Show & Tell session are an open invite to come along with anything at all to show to everyone else and discuss.

We will be providing some sound equipment and digital projector with Internet connection for those wanting to use this kit, the project accepts SVGA or S-Video input, so please remember to bring your video adaptor with you (especially Mac users with DVI, Mini-DVI, Micro-DVI, etc.)

If you’re coming and bringing something along to show us, please email us at dorkbotbristol@googlemail.com to let us know what you’re bringing with you, or otherwise just turn up, and bring your URLs, gadgets or ideas on the night!

Finally you can see our post on upcoming and sign up to the event on Facebook

Look forward to seeing you soon….by the way it’s free and we offer a little free drink too!

The Dorkbot London Camp

is happening soon….come on who’s gettin onboard

29th August - 1st September 2008,
Bentley Copse, nr Dorking

If enough people are interested we may be able to organise group transport, if you would like to go you can buy tickets from the link below but please let us know if you are thinking of going at dorkbotbristol@googlemail.com

You can buy tickets and more info at this URL http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotlondon/camp08/

What’s Happening

Camping

Well equipped campsite with our own indoors training centre, hot showers, proper toilets, big kitchen etc. Bring your own tent or (by prior arrangement) sleep indoors in the training centre.

 

Workshops and Presentations

to be confirmed, but if you’ve been to a dorkbot before you’ll know the kind of thing to expect. there will be plenty of time for short ad-hoc “opendork” presentations too. let us know if you’d like to be added to the list

Tickets

£30 each including food and camping.

Children’s tickets are cheaper, contact us at the email address below for details.

The third annual dorkcamp is taking shape…  We’ve booked out a big
corner of Bentley Copse complete with kitchens, indoor hall, hot
showers, flush toilets and a big campfire circle.  Some dorkumentation
from the last time we were at bentley copse:

http://goto10.org/~openlab/57uff/burning_dork.mpg
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38n7j_les-dorkbots-tracks-arte_school

There’ll be a range of workshops, presentations and performances, and a
customary burn at the end. We’ll be doing plenty of soldering and
hacking, but also non-electrical crafts such as jam making, knitting,
instrument making and burning.  All activities and workshops will be
free of charge, although some may require a contribution towards the
cost of materials.

If you would to contribute to, or organise, a workshop, presentation or
other activity, please either let us know or add details to the wiki and
chat about it on the discussion list. Please also add your name to any
of the areas you would like to participate in, such as workshops, and
areas you can help out with, such as cooking.

Standard tickets are £30 for the weekend (including camping and food
ingredients) are limited to 60 and will sell out soon

More info contact:
dorkbotlondon@dorkbot.org

Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 08:00 AM - Sunday, September 14,
2008 at 08:00 AM (GMT)

http://bathcamp08.eventbrite.com/

BathCamp is a BarCamp style event that Tim Beadle and others are organising, to take place in Bath (UK) later in the summer. A BarCamp is a type of participatory conference (or unconference, if you prefer), where everyone is encouraged to give short presentations, demos, workshops and so on, in a kind of ad-hoc, not very pre-planned kind of fashion. There’s also an overnight element, where attendees can literally camp out and hang out, either discussing stuff or making stuff (or both).

As part of your £5 booking fee, you are not only guaranteed a place at the event but we’ll also chuck in a t-shirt, food and a couple of beers as well. We’re also massaging the feet of as many sponsor types as possible and hope to bring you some quality schwag, too.