I will make the following presentations at the Hacker Space Fest :

Milkymist, an open hardware VJ platform
The Milkymist™ project develops a stand-alone device in a small form factor that is capable of rendering MilkDrop-esque visuals effects in real time, with a high level of interaction with many sensors and using live audio or video streams as a base.
Open source components and design tools have been developed or used as much as possible. A system-on-chip implemented in a FPGA has been chosen for meeting this goal at the IP core level.
The flexibility of the FPGA enables advanced users to modify the design, and also permits compact integration of many interfaces (MIDI, DMX512, analog sensors, video inputs), making Milkymist™ a platform of choice for the mobile VJ.
The design is also highly modular and documented, making the code easy to re-use in other open source system-on-chips.
Project homepage: http://www.milkymist.org
The conference focuses on the technical aspects of the project. Live demonstration included !

FPGA and Verilog introductory workshop
(This is an English re-edition of the FPGA workshops at /tmp/lab)
Agenda :

1. Using Xilinx tools in command-line
2. Logic design and Verilog introduction
3. Hands-on: basic functions + implementation of a small audio generator
4. Simulation techniques

Pages from the previous workshops (in French) :

• http://www.tmplab.org/wiki/index.php/Workshop_Introduction_aux_FPGA
• http://www.tmplab.org/wiki/index.php/FPGA:_la_suite

FPGA boards needed, please bring your development kits for those who have (even if you don’t come to the workshop).

Vacuum tubes, your grandpa’s electronics
Since the invention of the transistor, vacuum tubes have been progressively phased out and are now quite rare. Yet, for the hacker, they can still be of interest :

• Fun factor. Who doesn’t like the warm glow of the filaments, the green/blue light of the magic eye tubes, and that mess of low-tech capacitors, coils and wires inside the devices ?
• DIY potential. Yes, with a little recklessness it is possible to make your own tubes, and use them in practical applications. And even if you don’t make your tubes, they are much easier to use in simple -yet good- analog circuits than transistors, that you truly understand. A modern circuit of the same quality typically requires black-box integrated circuits that require much more knowledge to completely understand.
• Demonstration of the laws of physics. Tubes can be used to show fundamental laws of electromagnetism, which are the basis for making high-end radioactivity detectors or particle accelerators.

This conference will explain in detail the functioning of different tubes and will show how to build circuits like audio amplifiers or radio receivers/transmitters.

Live demonstration of tube equipment included !