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DIY Solar, Home Battery and Home Automation Meetup

We’re excited to host a special evening on Monday, the 18th of August 2025, from 7–9 pm in Tog Hackerspace. This informal meetup is all about sharing knowledge, projects, and experiences around DIY solar, home batteries, and home automation.

If you’ve been experimenting with adding solar panels to your home, wiring up batteries, or tinkering with smart switches and sensors, this is the night to come along and swap stories with like-minded makers.

On the night you can expect:

  • Show and Tell from people who have installed their own solar systems or set up home automation.
  • Hands-on kit: we’ll have solar panels, inverters, and some home automation gear like Shelly devices on display.
  • A DIY camper van demo showing off a converted setup with batteries, an inverter, and more.

This will be a casual, friendly evening—bring along your questions, projects, or just your curiosity. There’s plenty of parking, it’s free to attend, and no booking is required.

If the evening proves popular, we’d love to make it a regular thing.

📅 When: Monday, 18th August 2025, 7–9 pm📍 Location: Tog Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, D12 CF6V, Dublin

Come along and join the conversation about powering your home (or van!) the DIY way.

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New Weekly Group Night: Hack and Chill

We’re launching a new regular night at Tog Hackerspace, and if you’re into computer security, hardware hacking, or just the hacker mindset, you’ll want to be there.

Hack and Chill is a space for folks who enjoy exploring systems, poking at protocols, reverse-engineering things, flashing firmware, or just chatting about exploits over a cup of tea.

What’s it all about?

It’s a chill, hacker-friendly night for messing with code, gear, networks, or ideas. No pressure to present or perform — just a place to learn, share, and maybe break a few things (ethically, of course). Think more Hackers (the movie) than hot glue and 3D printing.

Whether you’re a seasoned pentester, a hardware tinkerer with a soldering iron in your backpack, or just curious about the scene, come hang out.

📅 Opening Night: Friday, 22nd August
🕖 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
📍 Location: Tog Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, D12 CF6V, Dublin

Hack and Chill will run every Friday night, except for the first Friday of the month — that’s when we’ll be over at 2600 Dublin.

So grab your laptop, your favourite hack, or just your curiosity — and swing by. We don’t bite (but we might packet-sniff your phone).

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Capturing a Swarm…..

Bee Swarm

…..Of the beekeeping kind!

Beekeeping is one of the many and varied interests of TOG members. Our member John is a keen beekeeper, and he recently captured a swarm to create a new colony.

As the number of honeybees in a hive increases, the usual natural way to prevent overcrowding is by swarming.  A few scout bees will find a new location, and the old Queen will leave the hive with about two-thirds of the bees. They often cluster on a tree branch before settling into a new location.  

One way to catch a swarm is to put a box containing comb frames in a tree. Drops of lemongrass oil act as an attractant because they resemble the pheromone of a Queen bee. 

In this case, a swarm of honeybees have gathered under the box, rather than inside. These bees were removed by gloved hands and placed in the box. The Queen will start to lay eggs and establish a new hive. The bees remaining in the old queenless hive will raise a new virgin Queen who will fly out, get mated and return to lay eggs.

Taking some inspiration from our aquarium project in the space, John is planning a monitoring project for a hive, including some sensors and a camera to watch the bees remotely. 

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⚡ Into the Forest: My Week at Electric Wonderland

Here’s a travel post from one of our members, Jeffrey, who recently spent a week off-grid (and delightfully offbeat) at Electric Wonderland — a 7-day international maker/hacker camp in the Croatian countryside. Combining art, technology, science, nature, and community, the camp is built around DIY, DIWO, and DITO culture. Think campfires and coding, soldering and skywatching.

Electric Wonderland is run by Radiona, a hackerspace we’ve built strong links over the years through exchanges, visits, sharing of ideas, and plenty of friendships.

But before we get to the forest…

🎥 Pre-Camp: Days -3 to 0 – Zagreb Warm-Up

Day -3 (Friday 18)
Back in Zagreb, a city I’ve grown to love visiting over the years. This time, I was travelling with my mother again (link to FAB25 trip). I dropped into FabLab Zagreb to see my friend Richard and the crew — always great to catch up.


The last time I spent time with them was during my island-hopping trip along the Croatian coast (link).

Day -2 (Saturday 19)
Beat the heat with a morning gym session, then squeezed in some geocaching, ice cream, a tasty vegan lunch, and a visit to the Zagreb Cat Café — where I made more furry friends than I could count.

Continue reading “⚡ Into the Forest: My Week at Electric Wonderland”
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Breathe New Life into Your Old Computer – Join the Dublin Linux Installfest at Tog!

Is your computer facing retirement just because Windows 10 is reaching its end of life?

On Saturday, 13th September 2025, from 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Tog Hackerspace is proud to host the Dublin Linux Group for a special event that’s all about giving old computers a new lease of life — with Linux!

Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on 14th October 2025. If your device isn’t eligible for an upgrade to Windows 11, it means no more security updates or virus protection — and for many, that sounds like the end of the road. But don’t panic: there’s a better way.

Most computers from 2010 onwards are perfectly capable of running a modern Linux operating system. With a clean, secure, and supported version of Linux, you can keep using your computer for years to come — no need to buy a new one or send more electronics to landfill.

During this free event, friendly Linux users and volunteers will be on hand to:

  • Help you install Linux on your laptop or desktop
  • Show you how to use Linux day to day
  • Answer your questions and help you get comfortable with this powerful and user-friendly alternative

Whether you’re a total beginner or just curious about making the switch, this is a great chance to learn more, try things out, and meet like-minded folks.

Event Details:
📅 Saturday, 13th September 2025
🕚 11:00 AM – 4:30 PM
📍 Tog Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, D12 CF6V, Dublin

For more information, visit endofwin10.ie

We’re thrilled to be one of the venues worldwide helping people make the switch to free and open-source software. See you there — and bring a laptop if you want help installing Linux!

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Irish Embassy At WHY2025

WHY2025 is a nonprofit outdoors hacker camp taking place in Geestmerambacht, the Netherlands (approx 42km North of Amsterdam), on 8-12 August 2025. The event is organised for and by volunteers from the worldwide hacker community. Knowledge sharing, technological advancement, experimentation, connecting with your hacker peers, forging friendships and hacking (everything from computers to food) are at the core of this event.

WHY2025 is the successor of GHP, HEU, HIP, HAL, WTH, HAR, OHM, SHA, and MCH making it the tenth event in the series, continuing the quadrennial hacker camp tradition in The Netherlands since 1989, a proper milestone!

This is What Hackers Yearn 2025!

The Irish grouping of hackerspaces/makerspaces and wider community are travelling to the camp and will form a village aka the Irish Embassy. You will find us in the larger Milliways Cluster. Find out more about us on the wiki, drop by or follow our Masdadon account.

Our own members are contributing to the camp with Isabella giving a talk titled “Sega Saturn Architectural hell” – https://cfp.why2025.org/why2025/talk/E7R73F/ and Jeffrey running workshops all camp in the Hardware Hacking Area.