Blinkenlights has been planned and build in record time. We had only four weeks from first thought to the display of the first movie. So we managed to be ready on prime time: the 20th anniversary of the Chaos Computer Club making a present of huge dimensions to both the Club and the town of Berlin.
Hardware
Blinkenlights consists of 8 floors with 18 windows each. Behind every window there is a single lamp on a self-made tripod. Each lamp is connected to the power source via a relay. If the relay switches on, the window pane becomes bright.
In order to achieve the appropriate self-illuminated effect we have painted all windows with white color. The lamps have a capacity of 150W only.
Each relay is connected to the eight floor via a control cable. There all cables come together in a huge thread of cables connecting to the Blinkenlights Chaos Control Center. An amplifier provides the cables with the necessary power to switch the relay. The control computer is capable of switching each relay independently. This is where Blinkenlights Movies become reality. Overall we haved laid out around 5000m of cable in the house.
Software
Three computers share work to control the whole system. Although it would have been possible to put it all in one system, we decided to separate the modules (control, playback, telephone interactivity) in order to allow distributed development and operation. The modules communicate using network protocols.
Foto: Dorit Günter, Nadja Hannaske Planning, Conception and Production of Hardware and Software was primarily done by this team. Many more have been actively contributing to the project.
Björn Barnekow
Programming, Design
Fiedel
Electronics
Packet
Programming
Papillon
Installation
Prom
Programming
Sven Neumann
Programming
Tim Pritlove
Project Coordination
Tobias Engel
Programming
During the final phase many members and friends have spent hours and sweat using their soldering irons, leathermans and saws. May Eris Discordia be with you whereever you go!
