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We Program Our Stinkin Badges

Michael Schloh

We Program Our Stinkin Badges

Summary

### Practical Hardware Badge Hacking At 00:00, Michael Schloh delivers a hands-on hardware hacking workshop at the Monero Village, introducing attendees to the fundamentals of embedded microcontroller programming and custom conference badge development.

### Hardware Architecture: MCU Firmware vs. Application Software At 10:54, Schloh explains the architectural differences between bare-metal firmware running on microcontrollers (MCUs) and higher-level application software. He details how microcontrollers directly manipulate hardware registers to drive integrated peripherals such as LEDs, displays, and buttons.

### Developing with AVR Microcontroller Toolchains At 28:47, the presentation walks through developing for 8-bit and 32-bit AVR microcontrollers. Schloh demonstrates how to navigate open-source microcontroller toolchains, set up AVR-GCC compiler flags, and configure hardware timers to execute custom badge firmware.

### In-System Programming (ISP) and Device Flashing At 44:14, Schloh demonstrates live flashing of compiled hex firmware binaries onto physical badge boards using In-System Programming (ISP) programmers over SPI interfaces, troubleshooting wiring faults and verifying hardware clock settings.

### Hardware Community Traditions at DEF CON Concluding between 50:00 and 56:23, Schloh celebrates the vibrant electronic badge culture at DEF CON. He encourages attendees to experiment with hardware modifications, connect custom sensor breakouts, and contribute to open-source badge designs.

(AI summary — Gemini Flash)

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