Exploring Limits in Hardware

The growing worldwide popularity of Modding is a phenomenon that transcends fleeting fashion to become a trend that knows no boundaries or technical disciplines. In order to dominate the “science” of modifying computers it is necessary to understand different disciplines from programming to electronics. The modders become authentic explorers of the possibilities that the hardware has to offer, taking its performance beyond anything described by the manufacturers.

Campus Party Europe will bring the most talented modders in Europe together to demonstrate some of the applications for their practices which may very well become the norm in a not so distant future; we are talking about the reduction in consumption of PCs or the use of more efficient parts in order to configure the so called “green computing”.

Also, the area will explore interesting themes such as the possibilities of processors functioning in extreme conditions (temperature changes, vibrations in places such as cars, planes, fishing boats, etc..) or the innovations in hardware and their incorporation into the market. The team spirit of the event will be demonstrated in the building of a modified computer, carried out with the collaboration of modders from all over Europe and in the European Overclocking Challenge.

Coordinated by Antonio del Río (Hard H2o, Spain), Jani Ponkko (Metku.net, Finland) and Advaark (Germany).

Conference • 04/16/2010 - 16.00h
The Future of Electronics: Challenges and Hopes at the Nanoscale

BlogTomás Palacios joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of MIT in September of 2006 as an Assistant Professor and a member of the Microsystems Technology Laboratory. He is a Telecommunication Engineer by the Polytechnic University of Madrid since 2001 and he got his MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California - Santa Barbara in 2004 and 2006, respectively. At Campus Party Europe he will analyze some of the main challenges that future microprocessors face to keep improving the performance of computers.

Panel • 04/17/2010 - 10.00h
The Tricks and Secrets of the Best Modders

The tricks and secrets of the best modders in Europe will be presented at a workshop working with different materials (fiber, wood, plexiglas and metal) using the classical tools. A Master Workshop showing the state-of-the-art of modding in Europe thanks to the experience and knowledge accumulated by the best, who will present how to approach a mod to get an excellent job.

Contents preview
PCs in Extreme Conditions

The processors are exposed to different atmospheres and conditions.  Nowadays computers go outside; they work on fishing boats or control the flight of an airplane.  They are devices that sometimes have to resist the most humid of climates but also the dust and heat of the desert, vibrations of cars and sometimes they become part of a planetary exploration.  Some can even be submerged, resist large impacts and still work for months; all this can also be put to the test through Modding.

Conference • 04/17/2010 - 16.00h
Green computing

Youtube Due to the ascent in prices for energy in the last few years, the energy costs have become an important economic factor in computer infrastructures.  Also, those infrastructures are often underutilised, and thus causing an unnecessary cost.  Nowadays, companies are trying to achieve energetic efficiency, and a reduction in their energetic footprint, mainly due to the new regulations in the UE and the demands from citizens demanding businesses that are more respectful of the environment.  In Campus Party Europe we will present how Green Computing is being adopted by Cloud Computing, the interdependence between information and communication technologies and the greenhouse gases, and how these same technologies can be used to reduce the emissions and other activities.  Javier Alonso works as an assistant professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC).  His investigation work is mainly centred on high availability systems, dependable systems and Green computing.

Showcase • 04/17/2010 - 18.00h
European Overclocking Challenge

Youtube  Youtube Putting hardware pieces to the test under extreme conditions require great precision and specific knowledge of the material.  The experts in this field, the overclockers, have an unavoidable challenge to show the standard that exists in Europe.  With the support of Gigabyte, the biggest European experts will face the challenge of beating various world records, such as Super Pi or 3Dmark Vantage, trying to maximise the performance of the latest graphs and processors available on the market.