What to bring

Things to bring

Camping Equipment

• a tent. (You may want to bring a hammer to get those pegs into the ground)
• stable tent pegs (best use v-profile ones)
• a sleeping bag
• a mattress and a sleeping pad. Maybe a cushion.
• a drinking bottle. Drink more water - drinking not enough (water! not mate, not beer!) is the most common DoS-Attack at camps.
• a rescue blanket: One of those silvery blankets you find in first aid kits. They are very good at reflecting sunlight away from your computer monitor, so you'll be able to hack during the day. Most tents let in a *lot* of light and rescue blankets are one of the cheaper ways to fix that.
• a blanket to sit on and place your laptop on. You might not want to sit on a dew covered ground in the morning
• a cosy sun chair for hanging out
• chairs and tables

Other Equipment

• your ticket (a print-out is more resistant to failure ;))
• default meal tools (like knife, fork, spoon, spork!, plate, mug)
• penknife (preferably one of those swiss-made multitool thingies)
• a rope
• many trash bags for trash and water-safe storage.
• (FL, LED) lamps powered by 230V mains, or a lantern. Do NOT bring wax torches! See FAQ
• a flashlight or headlamp
• an FM radio receiver e.g. from your kitchen. (There is going to be a camp radio station!)
• GSM and/or DECT phones, particularly when you want to volunteer as an Angel
• a fire extinguisher if you own one, or a bucket (to fill with water), or a fire blanket
• an ashtray, if you smoke.
• if you arrive for buildup or stay for teardown, it could be a good idea to bring a game that does not require power and/or network, especially if you travel with children or hackers who get bored fast.
• balls, frisbees, javelin, toy aircraft and other stuff suited to physical activity outdoors
• and please take home ALL the stuff your brought!

Clothing and Toiletries

• toilet paper and stay low on the baby-wipes
• your allergy medication and NEEDED drugs. This is in the middle of nature.
  • If you require electrical medical equipment, do not expect power in the night. Bring a UPS too.
• your health insurance service card (Krankenversichertenkarte)/ European Health Insurance Card for residents of other EU states)
• ear plugs it could get loud out here.
• insect repellents
• sun blocker. SPF 30 is recommended. If you haven't left your dungeon since the last camp use SPF-over-9000.
• a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.
• shampoo and shower gel
• thongs (sandals, flipflops, Badeschuhe) for the shower
• Do *not* forget your towel! Be a hoopy frood who really knows where their towel is.
• wet weather gear, or you could be trapped in your tent for a whole day.
• appropriate clothing: for warm and sunny, and for cold and rainy weather. It is better to have clothes you won't need than to need clothes you don't have. Although it is very warm during the day, it gets very cool in the evening. Sweaters/hoodies are recommended.
• a swimming-dress, not the Borat one :)
• a hat and sunglasses

For the Badge

There will be an electronic badge. You will need:

• a micro usb cable
• laptop or USB-charger

You might also want to bring:

• powerbank
• Fun parts to add to your badge, who can make it fly?
• extra LEDs (we use SK6812 RGBW leds) and your kit comes with 6 LEDs!
• soldering iron and tools to retrofit the above items (or use hackcenter equipment)

For Computer and Infastructure

• your computer(s) - and basic tools you will need to repair it, including OS Install DVDs/USB-drives
• chargers / power supplies for your laptop, tablets, phones etc
• your own power cord (20m - 50m) and multiple plug sockets (ideally with built-in surge protector), as much as (or even more than) you need. Think of your neighbors and share electric power to them! The power outlets provided are 230V AC Schuko (Type F, CEE 7/4) [1]
  • Preferably with long cables, use IP44+ extension cables (marked RR, RN with socket caps), 2.5mm^2.
  • please note the additional informations about the power facilities!
• long ethernet cable. the next datenklo could be up to 50 meters (160 ft) away
• a bunch of network patch cables
• as many ethernet switches as you might need for your equipment and to share to neighbours. Don't forget the power supply.
• Equipment for 802.11a or 802.11n on 5 GHz, since 2.4GHz tends to get overcrowded. DO NOT bring your own APs. See Network
• maybe a bunch of spare fans - heat and dust tend to kill CPU-/power supply-fans
• a list of your trusted SSL keys (and check them beforehand!).
• a configured ipfw, think about an IDS (just for fun)
• gadgets with all kind of blinky, geeky features as conversation pieces
• books. Also those you no longer need/want. Non-technical preferred. This is supposed to be your vacation, after all. Any eBook-Reader is a good choice too.
• your GPS. This will be great fun to play with and lets you use up-to-date OSM maps of the camping area.
• Pinball machine(s)

A Note of Caution about electrical Equipment on Camps

One issue concerning hardware in tent environments is morning dew.

Dew affects not only desktop hardware, but any kind of electric contact or conductor exposed to humid air. Since desktop hardware is generally not very tightly enclosed, it is relatively sensitive to dew. Especially when it is not running for a while and therefore cold, it attracts dew like any other unheated object. To prevent your hardware from damage, you might want to leave it on, or bring some plastic bags to put your power plugs, desktop switches, or even computers inside and tie them up carefully.

A few tips for placing your equipment:

• don't place it in a poorly ventilated tent during a sunny day (too much heat; danger of fire)
• don't place your PC on the ground, even a beer crate keeps ground water out
• stand your pc upright, so the warm air raises through the box to the top and out of the back of the power supply.
• Your most problematic equipment will be power connectors. Make sure you ALWAYS place them above ground and out of the rain.

If any electrical equipment gets wet, DO NOT TOUCH IT AND KEEP A SAFE DISTANCE UNTIL POWER IS TURNED OFF AT THE CENTRAL FEED YOU GET YOUR POWER FROM!
If you are using your equipment when it gets wet, it may survive if you unplug it immediately. Most of the time electronics can get wet without a problem if there is no current flowing through it. It will probably work fine if you let it dry out entirely before powering it up again. (The same isn't necessarily true for mechanics, such as motors in a DVD-ROM.). You should also pull the battery (on desktop PC's, also pull the CMOS battery if possible).

Anyway, your biggest problem will be the really sunny days when it doesn't rain. 40+ Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) means that you have to make sure that your equipment gets good ventilations and check if your air filters and fans get clogged with dust. Bring spares... Besides, when it's that hot, you might want to shut down your computer and find a friendly neighboring village with a pool.

As long as you adhere to this basic rules, you will be just fine.

After all said; YES, BRING YOUR EQUIPMENT. Believe me, going to a hacker camp without computer(s) is like drinking alcohol free beer: It tastes the same but you miss out most of the fun :-)

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Things to Leave At Home

Must

• Dogs and any other kind of pets (exception: service dogs). Camp is not a very dog friendly area. The reasonable exception here is any pet that can be swiched off and/or can be reprogrammed (Aibo, Furby, ...).
• Your home directory and other data you don't want anyone else to see
• A microwave oven. It *may* disrupt wireless networks. A typical tent is not the ideal position to defend yourself against an angry mob of hackers. Also see next point.
• Very power hungry devices (like AirCon, electric grill or oven, electric water cooker, hairdryer, generally anything that creates lots of heat or cold). The power grid is always a problem on the camp. So please think twice if you really need all that luxury. Incandescent lamps have poor efficiency, consider bringing FL or LED lamps instead.
• Barbeques that run on solid/liquid fuel. There is a "no open fire" rule in place, meaning that only gas-fueled barbeques are allowed.

Maybe

• Smartphone. These things are not very secure in the first place. We're not even talking about Bluetooth (urghs) and Wifi (ooooops) here, people at the camp will run their own GSM network. Unless of course you want to explore whats possible, in that case you should backup and then completely wipe the phone before coming to the camp (and reflash the firmware when coming home). From the point-of-view of a phone, they are designed to always trust the GSM network.

Things to Care About

• there are cables and drainage in the ground so NEVER pierce or dig up ground deeper than 30cm (tent pegs, grounding/earthing nails, posts etc). If you absolutely need deep nails or pits, contact the event team on site. (NOTE: this is not final yet, please recheck)
• No open fire /charcoal powered BBQ outside the designated fire area.
• rails, watch your step
• Obey the Airspace control rules for any flying object. See rules on drone flying!

• If you get too drunk, we have permanent marker pens.
• Drink more water. Dehydration is a common problem on this kind of events.
• The camp is a community event. If someone ask for a few minutes of your time to help at some task, please help.
• Keep to the hacker code of ethics!

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Things to Check Beforehand

• If you have a new tent, build it at least once at home. When you arrive at the camp, it might be dark, raining or both. This makes putting up a tent a lot harder when you still have to read the manual!
• The same goes for sleeping bags, camping beds and everything else you might need to set up basic camp.
• If you're planning to participate in a village, contact the organizers of that village as early as possible. That makes planning resources a lot easier.
• Print out maps of the area and/or update your GPS. You wouldn't be the first hacker we lost on the way to the camping site.
• If you travel by train, bus, hitchhiking or by plane, you might want to pack your equipment a week or so before setting out to travel, to see if you haven't overpacked. If you can't carry it, you might have to reduce your equipment or maybe find someone close by who can take some pieces -> CarPooling
• Create a backup of your data (you did that already, right?).
• Think about doing a clean re-install of your computer to limit the amount of data that could get published to Wikileaks "by accident".
• Contact your friends you want to meet at the camp. Especially if you arrive early, you might schedule a meeting beforehand. All that fancy technological wireless stuff like WhatsApp, Videocalls and so on might not work during the setup phase (no power) or even during the camp.