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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 21h

Our mods to the Energy Breakthrough (eb.org.au) vehicles this year have gone a bit excessive... this year they get a dual-redundant-battery system with 2 custom PCBs handling power management and fully integrated sensors/electronics via loomed cables with aircraft connectors. Because why not.

Custom PCBs for the Energy Breakthrough competition

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 28/09/2026

On the evening of the 14th of October we'll have Dr Rob Layton giving a talk at the Ballarat Hackerspace on Jev (and Open Source equivalents), a new kind of AI model that can answer questions in milliseconds. Check out more details about the talk or get your tickets here: thq.fyi/se/xBMIyfI

thq.fyi

📅 BRAIN - AI Applications and Tooling Meetup - 14-10-2026

🗓️ 14-10-2026 19:30 – 21:00

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 21/09/2026

One of our members designed an awesome little custom PCB that takes all the inputs from retro arcade cabinets, like this original Sega OutRrun cabinet, and converts them (via a Pro Micro) into USB HID gamepad inputs for modern gaming PCs. Check it out when you visit the hackerspace.

Original Sega OutRun cabinet with a modern gaming PC inside.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 21/09/2026

We have 2 awesome events on this week, with the IndieWeb Meetup on Wednesday, and the Ballarat AI Exchange on Thursday. Check out the calendar for more info and to get tickets: ballarathackerspace.org.au/calendar/

ballarathackerspace.org.au

Ballarat Hackerspace - Non-profit self-led community workshop in Ballarat, Australia.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 21/08/2026

Ballarat Hackerspace is hosting a monthly #IndieWeb Meetup starting this Wednesday the 26th August, and happening on the 3rd Wednesday of every month going forward. Come play with HTML, learn to host your own website, manage your own domain name, etc: ballarathackerspace.org.au/calendar/

ballarathackerspace.org.au

Ballarat Hackerspace - Non-profit self-led community workshop in Ballarat, Australia.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 22/06/2026

Reminder for those in the Ballarat region, we are doing monthly "Introduction to Laser Cutters" and "Introduction to 3D Printing" workshops for all ages/skill-levels. Check out the details on the Calendar page of our website: ballarathackerspace.org.au/calendar/

ballarathackerspace.org.au

Ballarat Hackerspace - Non-profit self-led community workshop in Ballarat, Australia.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 21/05/2026

We were commissioned to build an interactive art installation for the Ballarat Heritage festival. You can go see it in the Mining Exchange on Lydiard St. This has been a truly massive undertaking and we're very proud of it. You can dial a year and hear real facts/stories from Ballarat's history.

An early-1900s telephone on a wooden plinth, in front of an antique side table decorated with a lamp and old book.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 10/02/2026

Live in Ballarat and interested in learning about 3D Printing or Laser Cutting (wood/acrylic)? We run regular introductory workshops on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month. All skill levels welcome, tickets essential. More info: ballarathackerspace.tidyhq.com/public/sched...

ballarathackerspace.tidyhq.com

Events | Ballarat Hackerspace | TidyHQ

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 09/02/2026

Continuing our work on improving the Energy Breakthrough (eb.org.au) vehicles for our local primary school, we created an entirely new custom steering system that moves all steering components and linkages underneath the chassis, instead of tangled up in the rider's legs/hands area in the stock kit.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 09/02/2026

Reminder: AI Tooling workshop is on this Wednesday 6.30pm. This is for experienced AI developers/users to discuss tooling, workflows, use cases, etc. Please get a ticket - Ballarat Hackerspace members can get a free one: ballarathackerspace.tidyhq.com/public/sched...

ballarathackerspace.tidyhq.com

📅 BRAIN - AI Applications and Tooling Meetup - 11-02-2026

🗓️ 11-02-2026 18:30 – 20:00 📍 Ballarat Hackerspace

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 11/12/2025

Ballarat Hackerspace will be closed to casual members and visitors from December 17th to January 6th. Full-time members can continue to access the space themselves as desired. Come in for our final open session of the year on Tuesday December 16th from 2pm-9pm!

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 10/12/2025

Reminder: AI Tools workshop is on tonight 6.30pm. Please get a ticket - Ballarat Hackerspace members can get a free one: thq.fyi/se/eb7dbfcc4...

thq.fyi

📅 BRAIN - AI Applications and Tooling Meetup - 10-12-2025

🗓️ 10-12-2025 18:30 – 20:00 📍 Ballarat Hackerspace

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 02/12/2025

Ballarat Springfest 2025 is over, and it went better than we ever could have expected. Despite bucketing rain and wind threatening to turn gazebos into kites, we got through it intact and had an incredible turnout. Thanks for visiting if you did, and don't forget to drop into the space and say hi.

Ballarat Hackerspace stall at Springfest 2025

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 12/11/2025

Working on giving our robot workshop-vacuum a head with some personality... as well as the ability to see. Rough draft for now, rushing prep for Ballarat Springfest, but should be operational and driving around at our stall.

Camera and LCD display acting as the eyes and face for our robotic vacuum cleaner

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 24/10/2025

Teaser for a big LED project in the works for Ballarat Springfest, where we have a stall this year showing off some of our creations. This one is 2.2m high and almost 3m wide and will certainly grab some attention.

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Obsolete Nerd @obsolete.eurosky.social · 11/08/2025

Spent the last few weekends fabricating this steel bracket that connects to the factory CRT points in the Sega OutRun cabinet to mount modern monitors. The 3D printed VESA adapter lets you put any modern monitor in, and keeping the area behind empty of stands leaves plenty of space for the PC.

Custom steel chassis that lets you put modern monitors in old arcade cabinets

Modern monitor and gaming PC inside an old Sega OutRun cabinet

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 16/05/2025

We now have OutRun running on our gaming-PC-powered OutRun cabinet in the most roundabout way possible… Thanks to sk1ds.itch.io/outrun-clone Still lots of bits and pieces to fix/replace but it’s playable and loads of fun.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 14/03/2025

Still a lot to do, but it "works" and we drove our first laps today. Assetto Corsa running in a 1986 Sega Outrun arcade cabinet. Original steering and pedals are now working and calibrated in Steam via an Arduino Pro Micro. Next we'll modify the shifter to work as a sequential gearbox.

Assetto Corsa racing simulator game playing on an original Sega OutRun arcade cabinet

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 22/02/2025

Steam and Assetto Corsa on an original Outrun arcade cabinet, using the original cabinet inputs? Don’t mind if I do… Still lots to fix and tidy up but we officially have the gaming PC installed inside the cabinet and all the original pedals/steering inputs working in Steam.

1980s Outrun arcade cabinet modified to have a gaming PC and showing Steam on the screen.

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 20/12/2024

Proud of our Blinken Lights Christmas tree this year!

Yes that is a giant sushi fish on top of our Christmas tree

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Ballarat Hackerspace @ballarathackerspace.org.au · 22/11/2024

Our group project #Picocade is still moving ahead. We now have an info overlay working and the ability to do a clean shutdown by holding the menu button. We can also adjust the brightness #picocade #pico8 #retrogaming

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Obsolete Nerd @obsolete.eurosky.social · 25/10/2024

Progress on the Pico-8 arcade cabinet. Everything “works” and now it’s just about tidying up the documentation and the software installation process to make it more user friendly, and adding all the vinyl decals. #pico8 #ballarat #hackerspace #ballarathackerspace

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Obsolete Nerd @obsolete.eurosky.social · 22/09/2024

PICO-8 arcade cabinet we've been working on at Ballarat Hackerspace. Far from a "Raspberry pi emulator and computer monitor" setup, this has a 1:1 native LED display suited to the PICO-8 resolution, custom graphics daemon to run PICO-8 natively and feed the LEDs, and a very slick laser cut cabinet.

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