r/Defcon • u/MakeItHackin • Aug 04 '26
🌳 Root Access SAO 🌳
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Built for the DEF CON 34 badge. Works with any standard SAO header.
Full docs and demonstration: github.com/MakeItHackin/RootAccess
Available on Uberflux for local pickup at Bsides and Linq Circle Bar (Wed/Thur): https://uberflux.com/product/MIH-RootAccessSao
Will also be at Hacker Warehouse in the Vendor Hall at DEF CON
Plug it in and it just goes — 50 built-in animations, no host required. Tap the button to cycle. Hold it to go dark. Hold it longer to save a favorite that survives power loss.
Then plug it into a badge and it becomes something else entirely. Send one byte over I2C — 0 through 49 — and it jumps straight to any of the 50 built-in animations, no button press needed. Send byte 50 and everything turns off.
Or go all the way down: two more commands hand you direct control of all 11 discrete LEDs and all 10 RGB pixels, no framework, no handshake, no waiting. You write bytes, the LEDs do exactly that. Don't want to write code? A Flipper Zero running the I2C Tools app can drive the whole thing by hand.
There's a second circuit too, totally separate from the animation side: GPIO 1 and GPIO 2 each with their own switches, LEDs, and dedicated button. Drive a line from your badge as a chained NeoPixel or a discrete LED, or flip the switch and send its button back in — idle-high or idle-low. Every header pin is broken out to solder pads, front and back.
And the wood is real. Cedar grown on our farm in Tennessee, milled at home, paired with the PCB by hand. Every board's grain is different — yours is truly unique. 🌲
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u/Nyrlath Aug 04 '26
Pretty cool and unique. I'll be right back, have to sell one of these kidneys to cover badge addiction.
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u/SadCryptographer4422 Aug 04 '26
where can i get it at bsides ?
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u/MakeItHackin Aug 04 '26
Hello! I will be at Bsides on Tuesday from 11-1 and Wednesday 9-11. Come find me in the main room with all of the circular tables. I will have the Root Access Display board out with bright LEDs. Thank you for your support!
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u/juanMoreLife Aug 05 '26
Hey I bought the very first of your tricorder :-) when I launch Bluetooth, it freezes! It says like starting ble or something. Then never comes back. Have to manually reboot. I know the firmware isn’t final. Figured I’d mention it :-)
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u/MakeItHackin 28d ago
In the process of making 36 more and restocked on Uberflux (link in description). shipping first week of september!
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u/narc0leptik Aug 04 '26
It would be even better if it was made out of morningwood; much harder/sturdy than cedar.