Thanks! Already grabbed another batch of ‘em and looking forward to doing something similar again for next year!
06.12.2025 22:03
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Thanks! Already grabbed another batch of ‘em and looking forward to doing something similar again for next year!
I got tired of dealing with Wordpress updates, bots, etc. so I rebuilt my personal site to be a little more, me! It’s now a static site built using 11ty and is running much faster than the WP (even with all of the perf optimizations as I could think of).
crump.space
Less corporate-feeling too!
Which also got me my first Hackaday post! hackaday.com/2025/12/03/s...
Posted a somewhat deeper write-up on this electronic-shelf-label-turned-conference-badge project over at crump.space/projects/pn26-esl-badge !
Thanks! Most of the electronic shelf labels these days are indeed eInk, so these were cool to see! The reflective backing can also be peeled off, making the screen transparent and allowing us to throw an EL panel behind one of them for that nice retro Nokia LCD feel.
That was especially cool, because the badges didn’t even have batteries. The bistable LCD just holds the image on the screen even after removing power, much like eInk/ePaper.
The badge was really fun to interact with! There was a unique QR code on the back that led you to a page that would allow you configure your name, text size and position, and which frame/background to use. Once someone did that, they’d bring the badge to our flashing station and we would update it!
Screenshot of a title presentation slide with the title “Defaced Misplaced E-Waste” and subtitle “Erase and Replace Electronic Shelf Labels (aka “The Badge Talk”). It shows a person’s hand holding a 3D printed black and red badge in the shape of a pager, with “WELCOME TO PHREAKNIC 26” on the screen. At the bottom right is the text “Presented with 🖤 by Tyler Crumpton @ PN26
A presentation slide showing a 3D printed black and red electronic badge for PhreakNIC 26 and its web-based customization interface. On the left is the physical badge with red buttons and a screen that reads “WELCOME TO PHREAKNIC 26.” Below it are notes: “MAC = 0xEA7F0075” and “hash = abcdef,” along with a ESP32-S2 Mini microcontroller board. Text says a GET request for that MAC returns a new hash and a base64-encoded firmware blob. On the right is a screenshot of the badge editor website, displaying a display preview that reads “EAT FRUITS, WATER ONLY, NAME: TYLER,” with controls below for typing a name and adjusting font size.
I also had the opportunity to give a talk on it! Covered some of the previous work done by @dmitry.gr that allowed us to be able to do this at all, as well as some of the specifics about the badge firmware and other tooling we put together.
A handheld electronic PhreakNIC 26 badge in a black 3D-printed case with bright red buttons. The screen displays “WELCOME TO PHREAKNIC 26, Nov 14–15, 2025, Murfreesboro, TN.” The device is photographed on a speckled white countertop.
A person holding a phone displaying a website used to configure an electronic conference badge. The current badge preview says CRUMP in the style of a vehicle license plate.
A pink and green PhreakNIC 26 electronic badge showing a custom screen modeled after a fake ID card from the game “Papers, Please”. The display features a pixel-art portrait, red “CRASHCARTPRO” header, date fields, and a blank stamp box. The badge sits on a light tabletop with a lanyard attached.
I got to develop the conference badges for PhreakNIC this year, alongside @itsamenathan.xyz and Mog!
PN’s first electronic badge, and we didn’t even need to design a custom PCB for it! The guts of these badges are discarded electronic shelf labels that had dead, non-replaceable batteries.
Yessss!
Flipper Zero device next to an electronic shelf label’s guts, displaying raw SubGHz 915MHz radio activity
I was also able to get some of the CC1110 wireless stuff working! I sent out some SubGHz packets and picked them up on the Flipper Zero! 🐬
Since these are bistable LCDs and not ePaper/eInk screens, they refresh rather quickly while still holding a persistent image without power!
Made some progress on these ZBD epop 55c-RB ESLs this weekend! Ended up soldering jumpers straight to the board for now because my pogo pins were too large. Was able to get some basic text and symbol rendering working thanks to a ton of prior art by @dmitry.gr ❤️
First step was “shucking” the case, which wasn’t too bad, but required destroying the front bezel. Then I designed a custom pogo pin programming interface in OpenSCAD and 3D printed it!
The case is glued shut, and the batteries aren’t replaceable, so these would effectively be e-waste. Hoping to give them a new life! They’re based on the TI CC1110 wireless microcontroller that a handful of similar electronic shelf labels use, so I’m hopeful on making some progress on them soon!
Electronic shelf label with a red bar across the top of the display
Disassembled electronic shelf label with main printed circuit board, dual coin cell battery, and back plastic housing
Electronic shelf label PCB and 3D printed pogo pin programming interface
Close up view of electronic shelf label PCB showing a TI CC1110 wireless microcontroller
Got my hands on a bunch of ZBD epop electronic shelf labels that I’m hoping to flash with openepaperlink.de (or at least parts of their work). These aren’t proper “EPaper”, but are bistable LCDs which also hold their image mostly indefinitely without power.
Passed so good they did it twice!
CFP says it’ll be Oct31-Nov2, but it looks like they haven’t put anything up on the con website yet
hackaday.com/2025/05/22/h...
It’s changed a lot in the last few years, but would say all for the better!
Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040/RP235x? If you’re trying to boot into UF2 mode (to copy over a new firmware), you’ll need to hold the BOOT_SEL button (if there is one) while plugging it in.
I watched this accidentally on loop a couple of times frustrated that it kept slipping on you! 😅 This is so neat!
I’ve got one of those here on my desk at work! I love it so much! They make a bunch of other cool ones too:
www.traintrackr.io/product/mbta8
Original German Enigma cipher machines for sale
A huge stack of 8 port Netgear switches stacked artistically on a table
Three old-school oscilloscopes for sale out of the back of a car
First time at the MIT Flea today! I’ve been meaning to make it out there for a while now, and I finally did! Lots of cool stuff and awesome people!
Panel mount USB connector, top and bottom view. Top view has two CC resistors and four pads: V, D-, D+, and G. Bottom view has two pads: CC1 and CC2
I don’t know why there are so many of these. I’d been searching for ones like that but with the CC resistors (or at least the pins broken out!), but there is always something that makes them less than ideal. These were the closest to what I wanted, but there are pads on the bottom and no THT holes.
Worked great, thank you so much! Excited to see what we get!
Same here. I’ll email you the stack trace I got, @paulstoffregen.bsky.social
Screenshot containing Case Events for Cards Against Humanity, LIc v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., et al. Date: June 02, 2025 Type: Docket Event Description: Jury Trial Judge: Adobbati, Ricardo M Date: May 28, 2025 Type: Docket Event Description: Announcement Judge: Adobbati, Ricardo M
Looks like they might have a court date coming up in a couple of months!
I think cats like the IKEA POÄNG more than humans do, sometimes.
Amazing, thanks so much! I’ll hop on!
