Raspberry Pi Foundation US Hackspace Tour
Rob Bishop is one of the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s developers and a super-enthusiastic tech-evangelist type. He’s volunteered to go visit a number of hackspaces in the US in a sort of Regency Grand Tour style (only with aeroplanes and a backpack full of computers) to spread the word about Raspberry Pi and to give some hands-on workshops to help kickstart your projects.
The events at each hackspace will consist of an informal talk, Q&A session, demo and hands-on workshop. He’s also going to run a show-and-tell session to allow you guys to come and share your projects with rest of the community and he’ll award prizes on behalf of the Foundation for the best project at each event; we’re also organising some small giveaways. And yes, we will be selling Raspberry Pi’s on site! Eben and I are hoping that we might be able to join him at one or two of the venues too; watch this space.
View US Hackspace Tour in a larger map
The current tour schedule is as follows:
18th September – Make.SI (Staten Island, NY) – Evening event, starts at 7pm – Sign-up
19th September – NYResistor (Brooklyn, NY) – Evening event, starts at 6pm – Sign-up
22nd September – HackManhattan (NYC, NY) – All day event – Sign-up
23rd September – Alpha One Labs (Brooklyn, NY) – All day event – Sign-up
26th September – HacDC (Washington DC) – Evening event, starts at 7:30pm – Details
29th September – Noisebridge (San Francisco, CA) – All day event – Details
30th September – Hacker Dojo (Mountain View, CA) – Afternoon event, starts at 1pm – Details
2nd October – Nullspace Labs (LA, CA) – Evening event, starts at 7pm
3rd October – 23b Shop (Fullerton, CA) – Evening event, starts at 7pm
6th October – ATX Hackspace (Austin, Texas) – Evening event, starts at 6pm – Details
The sign-ups for the events are being handled by the hackspaces themselves, so please go and visit their websites and/or sign-up pages if you want to attend. While you’re there we encourage you to sign-up to their mailing lists so that you keep up to date and find out about other hacker/maker events in your local area.
We’re pathetically excited about this; we can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to and really hope that we can help encourage you all to go and support your local hackspace. We can’t wait to see some of the amazing projects that you’ve all been working on as well.
Apologies if we aren’t planning to visit your hackspace on the tour; Rob only has a limited amount of time on this trip and has had to limit the tour to ten destinations. We do intend to be be making more worldwide hackspace visits in the near future (not just in the US), so if you would like us to visit your hackspace please let us know in the comments and we’ll see what we can do!
A picture of Rob for identification purposes. He is, as you can see, much cooler than the rest of us and can wear Aviators without looking daft.
Rob will be posting updates from the meetups at all the hackspaces on his trip and you’ll be able to follow him via @rob_bishop on Twitter. We’ll also be blogging about the best bits from across the tour right here. Thanks Rob! Make sure you sign up to an air miles program!
60 comments
Simon Clark
If you’re ever touring through Canada, we’d love to host you in Guelph, Ontario
Marc
Regrettably none in the Pacific NW. Must be cause MS is located near Seattle, WA
liz
We’ll be doing more tours in the future (and personally, I’ll leap at any chance to visit your neck of the woods; Portland and Seattle are some of my favourite US cities). If you leave details of your local hackspace here, we’ll try to fit it in on a later tour.
SyntaxError
If you do come to seattle, you should go on the Bob Rivers show on FM 97.3 and talk about your foundation.
Rob Bishop
Are there any particular hackspaces that you would want us to visit in that area?
Semtex
Vancouver please!
Marc
Vancouver. Washington or Vancouver Canada?
Demitri
Excellent! Already signed up. Any chance of bringing a pile of Pibows as well to offer for sale?
Rob Bishop
I’m working on it… :)
Angel Padilla
I wish there was a tour in the Central Florida area. There is a Raspberry Pi group formed already in yahoo.groups for Orlando. Mickey Mouse would be delighted to see some Raspberry Pi.
Rob Bishop
We’ve noted FamiLAB in Florida as somewhere to make sure we visit next time. Are there other hackspaces that would be good to visit in that area?
Redon
If you are planning an European tour don’t forget to visit us here at Open Labs (www.openlabs.cc). We are a small but growing community of geeks, located in Tirana (Albania) in unconditional love with Rasperry Pi.
Having you here would be at least gr8!
peace
Abishur
Awesome Stuff! So does the one in Austin, TX not require a sign up or is it too far out?
Rob Bishop
We’ve let the hackspaces decide how to organize the sign-ups for their events. The ATX event in Austin, TX is using Facebook for this (see link under ‘Details’ in the post). Please feel free to register yourself as attending if you want to join us!
Abishur
Done and Double done!
liz
Awesome; that’s one of the ones I’m hoping I might be able to make it to, and it’d be brilliant to meet you. (Hope you’ll be sticking around; I know some great bbq places in Austin…)
Abishur
you bet!
PJ Santoro
As you pass from NY to DC, you’re welcome to stop by Hive76 in Philadelphia :D
Rob Bishop
I’ve emailed your hackspace :)
Aleks
Washington DC, WA should be Washington, DC.
Washington state and Washington the city are different.
liz
Good spot; thanks. (My fault for failing miserably to proofread.)
Russ
What is, ‘We’re pathetically excited about this’? Is that British?
Russ
A Google search says it is! Sounds kinda sad ;)
Robin
Don’t you think coming to the midwest would be a better use of your time? there are millions of people here that are geeks too, they don’t just live near the oceans.
liz
You read the bit where we explain that we’re going to be doing more of these, right?
Nicholas Rishel
Being honest, I had the same thought go through my mind. 8/10 stops are in 2 states. I would guess it’s a budget thing though.
Rob Bishop
I can understand people’s frustration on this but it’s simply a case of limited time and limited budget. Ideally we would be visiting as many hackspaces as possible across all states (and Canada) but at some point we have to limit the number.
If there are any hackspaces that the community really feels are being missed out then let us know in the comments here and I promise I’ll do my absolute best to try to fit them in. If not then they’ll be top of the list for next time!
liz
We also have to pay to fly Rob around – two significant stops is what makes sense in our budget at the moment, and it means we can get the most bang for our buck. All being well, this is something that will change; we’re planning on longer tours with more stops in the future.
Nic
We’d love to see you in Denver when you make your plans next!
Jim Manley
This really is pathetically exciting, or as we say here in Surfin’ Safari California, “gnarly, dudette”! The Computer History Museum education folks are actively working with our Raspberry Jam Silicon Valley (which meets at the museum the third Saturday of every month, 1 – 5 PM – hey, that’s tomorrow!) and we’re all quite familiar with the Coder Dojo folks.
Our Jam is aligned with Peter Mui of the Raspberry Pi Peninsula Meetup group that is SF Bay area-wide. Peter works for ICS in Oakland (across the Bay from San Francisco), ICS is a major Qt shop, and they’re working on Qt-on-Pi (Qt is pronounced “cute”).
A fellow pilot and model railroading buddy lives in Fullerton – maybe I’ll just have to fly “instrument” down there using a Pi to run a glass cockpit! My sister lives in “Joisey”, so, maybe I’ll just have to fly my big ol’ butt out there when you’ll be in the NY area (as Billy Joel sings, “I’m in a New York State of mind … “). Might as well go to a few more of the events while I’m hopping around the countryside, too.
Looking forward to meeting Rob and seeing you and Eben again – we have some velllllly intellesthing stuff going on that will be revealed at each of our upcoming Jams during the next few months. Pathetic and excited, yep, that pretty much describes all of us here in SillyCon Valley!
Tom
The tour is a great idea, and should include the San Antonio, TX hackerspace (10bitworks) next time.
Rob Bishop
Thanks for the suggestion, we’ll take it on board for next time! Would be great if your hackspace community could come join us in Austin this time though :)
Drew Fustini
If you have to make a connection through Chicago, then we’d love to you at Chicago’s hackerspace, Pumping Station: One! We even have a bi-weekly Monday embedded interest group that focuses on the Pi: http://pumpingstationone.org/2012/08/nerp-not-exclusively-raspberry-pi-meeting-monday-aug-13-at-7pm/
GothKing5000
After reviewing your trip plan, I realized that there must be a mistake, you do not appear to have a visit scheduled to PORTLAND, OR… Maybe next time? Pretty please with a Raspberry Pi on top!
The cake was a lie, so we need more Pi!
liz
I really hope we can get to Portland soon; I love the place and haven’t been back in about five years. Go to Tanuki and tell Janis I said hi!
Marc
I agree, Portland needs a visit, but preferrably in Vancouver, (The ‘REAL’ Vancouver) in Washington State.
Cameron Kilgore
Rob, i’m super excited to hear about your tour, and hope you can visit us at Freeside im Atlanta, GA on your second wave! We’re using RasPi boards to develop systems to monitor radio communications via UAVs.
Rob Bishop
We’ll keep you in mind for next time! Thanks for your support :)
Kevin Roof
You’re visiting 4 hackerspaces in California, 4 in NY, 1 in Texas (???) but not a single one in the midwest. Do Chicago and the midwest matter less than Texas?
liz
Of course not. This is the first of many such tours, as you’ll see if you read the post properly. It happens that this time we are limited on funds and time, so Rob has chosen ten hackspaces he can get between easily and cheaply. Later tours will take in different parts of the country.
We also want to be doing this in countries that *aren’t* the USA. They don’t matter less than Texas either.
Jon
Looking forward to meeting you Rob @shop23b. Will there be a limit on how many Pi’s we can buy on location?
Rob Bishop
Yes there will be a limit on how many Pi’s I physically bring to sell. If you know in advance roughly how much demand there is I can do my best to accommodate for it. But obviously you will still be able to purchase them online via our distributors.
Andrea
Looking forward to seeing you in Los Angeles and/or Fullerton!
Luis Rodriguez
Next time feel free to come and visit Kansas City Hackerspace, Cowtown Computer Congress! (CCCKC) http://www.c3kc.org/about
Danny Chamberlin
We would love to see you at the Midsouth Makers makerspace in Memphis, TN! We just got our first batch of Pis in and are loving their versatility!
Steve Charlesworth
Great idea! A bit sad you won’t be in the Midwest, but totally understand air fare ain’t cheap and you need to go for bang for your buck. To add to the growing list of hackerspaces who’d love to see you in the future, I’m with Bloominglabs in Bloomington IN (we have regular Raspberry Pi meetups now), and there are other awesome spaces in the area: Hive13 in Cincinnati OH, LVL1 in Louisville KY (I love that place), Club Cyberia in Indianapolis IN, and Pumping Station One in Chicago, who’ve already checked in. Safe travels and maybe I’ll see you at one of those spaces on a future tour.
liz
We are doing our very best to make sure Rob comes and visits the Midwest soon. So hang in there!
Rob Bishop
I’d love to come visit all the hackspaces you mentioned in the near future but obviously I’m limited for time/budget on this trip. Let me see what I can do for next time!
Zack Freedman
The MakerBar in Hoboken, NJ would love to have you by. We’re easier to reach than Brooklyn and connect with hundreds of hackers in New Jersey and New York.
The RasPi is virtually unknown to our network – it’s a great opportunity for you to engage a brand-new and affluent audience.
Rob Bishop
I can probably fit you in on one of my free days in NY. I’ve emailed your mailing list with the dates. Sorry you got missed off the original list! :-)
ScottInNH
Boston is nice this time of year! :-)
Bill Saturno
CT Hackerspace in Watertown, Connecticut would be extremely interested in hosting this event. with 4,000 square feet, we can comfortably handle a large group. Just let us know when you may be nearby.
mike perez
Hi! Please consider visiting 10BitWorks hackerspace in San Antonio. We are just an hour away from your last stop in Austin. Thanks!
Magic-Smoke
If you can find the time Tx/Rx Labs in Houston just got a new building and we would love to have you down.
Matt
Come to Makers’ Alliance in Cleveland, Ohio. This is not an arbitrary suggestion. I am biased, in that I live close to it and thus, could attend. With my Raspberry PI. Which is en route as I type.
Free Beachler
If you’re passing through Colorado you’re welcome to stop by Solid State Depot in Boulder, Colorado.
Beth
Are these hackspace events and locations suitable for young kids? My nearly 10 yr old son is *obsessed* with technology,programming,robotics, etc. and wants to come to this in LA next week (we are in San Diego) but I’m not sure if the forum is kid-friendly. Can you give me some feedback so I know if it’s worth the trip? Thnx.
liz
They’re absolutely suitable for kids.
Bob
The shocking bummer about Raspberry Pi is its unavailability; I was on the waiting list for months, finally ordered one months ago, and still have yet to receive it even though it supposedly finally shipped earlier this week. I doubt I’ll receive it before the hackspace workshop on Monday. :(
liz
Have you tried both official sellers as well as resellers on Amazon and people like the lovely Adafruit? It’s really *not* hard to get hold of if you shop around.
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