Category Archives: Orem Transistor

Etsy Craft Party at the Transistor!

 

The transistor is hosting an Etsy Craft Party!  Member Rachel Faul is organizing this event.

When:  Thursday, June 20, 2013 6pm-10pm

Where:  Orem Transistor

RSVP:  http://oremcraftparty.eventbrite.com/  We need at least 25 RSVPs by May 30 if we want Etsy to send a free box of supplies for us to use at the party!  Space is limited to 50 attendees, so respond early!

What will we make?

*wool dryer balls

*flower finger puppets

*fairy egg in a glass vial pendant

*recycled construction toys

 

Project details from Rachel:

The dryer balls will be more than just that; I’d like to show how to select wool thrift store sweaters for various making purposes, how to unravel them into yarn, how to turn some of the yarn into roving with cheap wire slicker brushes ($4.50 at the grocery store, rather than $25-50 for a wool carder), and how to use felted wool, wool yarn, and wool roving to make a sturdy dryer ball that won’t unravel. Hopefully people will come away with a thorough knowledge of how to recycle a wool sweater for lots of different uses.

I’ll have to pre-cut and pre-drill the wood for the construction toys, but I’ll explain how people can make their own wood parts, and how to cut the plastic hangers and notch them with a simple, inexpensive coping saw to make the beams for the toys. Plastic hangers are notoriously difficult to recycle because of the different kind of plastic in them; they can release harmful chemicals when they’re melted down to be reused, and they take a lot of energy to be melted. It’s much more efficient to recycle a broken plastic hanger with a small saw and some sandpaper to smooth the edges.

If not enough are interested in the homemade tinker toys or if drilling that many wooden parts is problematic, we’ll probably switch to painting sets of wooden blocks. In that case, I’ll show a few color palettes for wooden blocks that evoke different moods in kids. I’ll have acrylic paint at the craft party for simplicity, but we’ll still talk about other non acrylic options for coloring/sealing wood using natural materials – plant based dyes, waxes, and oils, and nontoxic bug secretions (shellac).

If enough people are interested in other project options, there are lots we could do. Some I’m considering offering (depending on interest) are:

bent wood rings
homemade ipad stylus
LED jewelry, possibly with a lemon juice flower battery (depending on interest and time)
sensory toys for autistic kids (and other kids with sensory challenges), especially those made from recycled wool, cashmere, linen, and silk – if anyone wants, we can discuss weighted toys for proprioceptive reinforcement, pocket calming items, communication books/cards, etc.

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Woodshop update

Greetings all, just a quick exciting update: we’ve gotten enough of the drywall done to clear it out of the woodshop area (you all remember the Horror That Was), that the woodshop is now pretty functional.  We’ll be moving the major tools back in and organizing everything over the next few days.  But, it’s pretty usable as it is now!

There’s a couple of members in there now, as I’m writing this post: Jocafa is crafting a stylus out of redheart on his mini micro lathe for his wife, and SeaShadow is working on enclosures for a home theater audio system.

I’m excited to see what other projects you all have in store!

-asiago

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SCII: Heart of the Swarm LAN party!

sciihotslanWho else here is ready for HotS? Grab your gear and head down!

$10 Registration includes drinks and entry into our raffle of a 500gb 2.5″ usb 3.0 Hard Disk.

More details and signup at: http://ttoremlan00000010.eventbrite.com/.

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New Public Night: Learn a New Programming Language

Wharff Having a Good TimeFire up your laptops, grab your Mt.Dews, and prepare your IDEs and Debuggers: we will now be hosting another Free, Public event every 2nd Thursday of the month from 7pm -10pm. This will be our new series in which you will Learn a New Programming Language each month.

The plan is to have a presenter for the first 30-60 minutes explain the language, IDEs, history, etc. From there you will have a couple hours to play around with the language, ask questions, etc.

Though everyone of all ages are welcome, these classes assume that those attending already have some general programming knowledge in any language.

Our first event will be February 14th (valentines day, oops) and PYTHON will be the topic. Hope to see you there. Keep an eye on our front page and calendar for updates each month.

P.S. We are also looking for presenters for this series. ANY programming / scripting language is fair game. If you would like to be a presenter please email: programmingnight[at]thetransistor.com

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Upcoming LAN Party!

lpJoin us Saturday, February 9th, 2013 for a night of LAN gaming. Games start at 3pm and go until 8am Sunday morning.

Those interested can register at http://ttoremlan00000001.eventbrite.com/
We are asking $5 to help cover Food / Snacks / Drinks / Heating / Electricity.

Don’t forget:

  • Computer or Laptop
  • Power Strip
  • Headphones
  • Up to date list of curse words
  • BYOB

We’ll Provide:

  • Special Decal or other TT LAN Swag
  • Food
  • Drinks
  • Snacks
  • Heating
  • Electricty
  • Game Servers (send us an email at least a couple days ahead of time for special requests)
    • TF2
    • Quake 3
    • UT3
    • UT2004
    • few others
  • Internet access
  • Tables / Seating (If you have a special chair you are welcome to bring your own

SEE YOU THERE!

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February 2nd: Free, Public Classes in Orem! :)

coloringFree Class: Adult Coloring (Kids Welcome)
2013/02/02 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Presenting: Parker the Magnificent

Learn how to use crayons. Stay within the lines.
Brought to you by Parker and Crayola (not really, but there’s a good chance we will have crayons)

We aren’t even sure what to expect, but if Parker is presenting it will be interesting. :)

mamecabinetFree Class: MAME: Software to Hardware
2013/02/02 @ 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Presenting: d3c4f

This presentation will cover many high-level aspects of MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), the popular gaming software. Software will cover what MAME is and isn’t; to installation, configuration, and
front-ends. The presentation will finish with an in-depth walk-through covering how to build a dedicated Arcade Machine of your own.

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Capture The Flag Registration Open

It’s time for another DC801 CTF! We’re doing something special this time: Thanks to Sobit and DC801, we’re bringing the CTF to Utah County.

Date: Saturday, December 8th 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Place: Orem Chapter

Join us for another titillating round of capture the flag goodness. Teams will square off in this attack/defense scenario with the goal of exploiting their opponents while protecting their team assets.

Laptops required, Backtrack is recommended as the attack platform but any open source tools will do.
The game play runs for four hours (ending at 10pm) with a tech briefing summarizing successes and failures at the end of the session.
You are free to organize your team as you see fit. We will accommodate up to 4 separate teams and we encourage team sizes of 5 or less.

1) Ask questions here: Freenode #DC801
2) Register here: http://dc801-ctf-v.eventbrite.com/
3) Form team here: http://reddit.com/r/dc801

Ticket sales proceeds will be used to provide food and drink at the event as well as to help fund our hacker-space.

UPDATE:
The slides from the 2nd half of the Intro to CTF presentation (the part where Metacortex covers Netcat and Metasploit basics) can be found here: http://metacortexsecurity.com/?page_id=218.

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New Years Eve Party!

Come one come all to The Transistor New Years Eve Party! (Held in Orem this year)

We will have pizza, soda, movies, and video games. We are asking $5 registration to help us cover costs. :)

Register via Eventbrite and we’ll see you there!

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New Orem Location! Need more members.

Those of you that have been waiting, and those of you that just found out; we have a LOT more space available! If you are interested or know anyone else that is, PLEASE contact us.

We have finally signed the lease on a HUGE warehouse. 5000 sq.ft., and another 760 sq.ft. of loft space for a total of 5760 sq.ft. of usable space. To put that in perspective, our current location is about 1500 sq.ft. This new space will provide all the hacking needs for up to 60 members. The new location is amazing as well, just off University Parkway and Geneva Road in Orem. Easily within walking distance of Front Runner and UVU. There will be an open house around the first of the year.

The exact address is:
1187 s. 1480 w.
Orem, UT 84058

EDIT: This location will open November 1st, 2012.
Basic plans below, but here’s a quick list of what will be available at this new location:

MEMBERS DESKS / STORAGE:
Your very own dedicated desk space & Storage Space
Larger desk space / storage at an increased price (TBD, talk to us if you are interested)

ELECTRONICS AREA:
Electronics workstations with good lighting
Nice soldering irons (and a bunch of crappy ones)
100Mhz Dual Channel Digital Oscilloscopes
Digital MultiMeters
*PCB Exposure / Etching Station
PCB Shear, Drills, etc
Fully stocked electronics components selection
Misc. parts

SERVER ROOM:
Internets! (Not sure on the provider yet, we are working on Fiber)
Full gigabit switches. Everyone will get a physical connection
Wireless access points
Large VM / Storage Servers
CTF / Hacking Server / Network
Misc Firewalls / Switches / Routers
VPN connections to our other locations

CLEAN CNC AREA:
*Laser Cutter
*Vinyl Cutter
*RepRap Prusa 3d Printer
*Other small, clean CNC machines.

METAL SHOP:
*MIG Welder
*Bosch Metal Chop Saw
Large Jet Drill Press
Misc. Metal working tools

WOOD SHOP:
*CNC Router (Fireball v90)
*Dewalt Miter Saw
Large Porter-Cable Band Saw
Hand Routers / Router Table
Small Table Saw
*Circular Saws
Jig Saw
Bosch Scroll Saw
Lots of Clamps
*Lots of misc. hand tools; cordless drills, dremels, etc

PROJECTS WORKSHOP:
Vacuum Forming Table

CLASS / COMMON AREA:
Classroom Area
Public Event Area
LAN Party Area
CTF Area
*YOUR EVENT HERE

LOFT AREA:
Hacker Library
4 Player MAME Cabinet
Chillout Area w/Projectors, TV’s, Media Center PC, etc
SNES, NES, Atari, Sega, XBox 360, PS2, etc
Kitchen Area

MISC
2 Large ADA compliant bathrooms
Front Reception Area (not sure what to do with this yet)
Soda Vending Machine (try the Troll Soda, it’s great!)
OTHER MEMBERS (maybe the most important thing on this list!)
(and more!)

(* Please note that some equipment may require additional training / authorization to use.)
Members are welcome to request anything they would like. We have many pending upgrades/projects for the space.

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Our first CTF


We had the opportunity to participate in our first CTF competition in Salt Lake this last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, we learned quite a bit about employing and defending against exploits through actual application.

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Transistor Halloween 2012

Come one come all to The Transistor Halloween Party / Fundraiser.

We will have delicious foods, candies, movies, and video games. We are asking $10 registration to help us cover costs and to raise money for our new hackerspace!

Register via Eventbrite and we’ll see you there!

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Updates!

Things have been busy at the Transistor lately, but many fun and cool updates are on the way! We are currently trying to restructure the space by rearranging the desks in order to create more space. Hopefully this will clear …

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October 13th: Free, Public Classes in Provo

Free (Provo) Class: OpenVPN
2012/10/13 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Presenting: Nemus

Come on down and learn the secrets behind OpenVPN.

This class will assume that you know how to access a linux server via ssh and run simple bash commands.

You are welcome to bring a laptop to follow along. If you would like to set up a VPN, you will need to either have access to an external Linux Box, or be prepared to spend $10 to order a VPS. Note: The VPS is NOT through The Transistor, you will need to bring a credit card.

The goal of this class is to have everyone leave with a VPN connection of their own.

Free (Provo) Class: NetHack
2012/10/13 @ 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Presenting: IntChanter

“NetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987.” Grab your laptops and get ready for a sweet “learning night” as we get a good in-depth instruction on how to use this valuable IT tool. ;)

Please bring a laptop to follow along if possible.

Free (Provo) Class: Dwarf Fortress
2012/10/13 @ 9:30 pm – ?
Presenting: Asiago

Done “learning” NetHack for a minute? Good, we have another valuable IT pastime. Dwarf Fortress. That’s right, bring your laptops down for a night of “valuable learning”.

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September 1st: Free, Public Classes

Free Class: Using and Customizing Vi (aka Vim or V-Improved)
2012/09/01 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Join us with the ever popular and technically awesome Josh as we all learn how to better use this awesome editor.

In this class we expect to cover:

- The basics of Vi
- Different Modes
- Customizing Vi for programming and advanced editing

Please bring a laptop with Vi installed to follow along if possible.


Free Class: Who left the WPA2 backdoor open!?
2012/09/01 @ 8:30 pm – 9:15 pm

In a world where people always forget to secure their protocols, we find that nearly all home Wifi routers are vulnerable to a brute force attack agains the Wifi Protected Setup *feature*. This talk will discuss how WPS works and why its vulnerable. We will also walk through a demonstration of how to attack your neighbors for fun, no profit, and possibly jail time. Oh, and we’ll show you how to protect yourself, because that is whole point of this topic isn’t it?

**Bring your promiscuous wifi adapters and laptops**

Free Class: Bluetooth Sniffing, Very Possible and Cheap!
2012/09/01 @ 9:15 pm – 10:00 pm

Bluetooth packet sniffing is getting a makeover in the VERY near future. In the past, Bluetooth sniffing has never been an easy task for anyone who doesn’t have thousands of dollars to spend on equipment. However, these days, there is a project in the works that will likely put the power of bluetooth sniffing in the hands of those with just a couple hundred dollars.

It’s called the Ubertooth One. This presentation will discuss the current development of the Ubertooth One as well as how it can be used to sniff Bluetooth packets.

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August 4th: Free, Public Classes

Free Class: Introduction to *nix
2012/08/04 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Introduction to *nix.
Brought to you by d3c4f, yukaia, and a whole lot of caffeine.

In this class we will cover:

- Flavors
- The different *nix histories
- Basic file system structure
- What the f*** is a kernel?
- Basic commands
- What else can I do with *nix?
- Scripting?
- Compiling from source?
- We may also walk through the setting up a basic web server, time permitting.

You are welcome to bring a laptop to follow along. We will provide live-boot cd’s for people without linux installed.


Free Class: node.js
2012/08/04 @ 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Come join as as Josh describes the Dark Art of node.js

Stop on by, bring a friend, and see why node.js is gaining such a rapid following.

“Node.js is a platform built on Chrome’s JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.”

You are welcome to bring a laptop to follow along.

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