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A while ago, I was contacted via Matrix with the suggestion to give a talk. Unfortunately, I can’t speak in public, but the event is exciting. It’s about the TAGE DER DIGITALEN FREIHEIT in Tübingen. I can’t contribute any talks, but I have keyboards I could bring along – so there was a two-day keyboard meetup at TdF4. But first things first.

WT(TD)F?

The TdF is a small, two-day event in Tübingen organized by the Chaostreff Tübingen that runs in the very best of CCC style. Peaceful, open to everyone, free of charge, packed with talks, nerds, nerds, and lots of other stuff. It’s basically a miniature congress, and even better, right on your doorstep. The event took place at the Westspitze in Tübingen and was appropriately decorated for orientation and aesthetics.

The Location

The TdF takes place across four floors. At first, that sounds like a bit of a stress-filled event with lots of elevator riding, but it went surprisingly smoothly and without any problems. The rooms are co-working spaces and seminar rooms during normal operation, which were packed with projects, ideas, and all sorts of other stuff this weekend. On the ground floor, there was the info desk, hackspace, Stage 1, and the “Elfenhain” (the quiet zone for all those helping out). On the second floor, there were two workshop rooms and a quiet room.

On the sixth floor were the assemblies, Stage 2, and the WOC (Waffle Operation Center), and last but not least, on the seventh floor, there was the SKYBAR for music, drinks, and a fantastic roof terrace with a wonderful view over Tübingen.

The Timetable

What no Chaos event should be without, of course, because knowledge has to be spread somewhere, even outside of small, conspiratorial groups, are talks. There were quite a few of them at the TdF. From Git Annex to complete live management, through various privacy and surveillance topics to hardware hacking projects and neurodivergence. Since it’s rather difficult to actually watch all the talks, the Chaos West team was fortunate enough to record all the speakers who wanted to and upload the recordings to media.ccc.de. I didn’t see any of the talks myself and will have to watch a few more later.

So, a full but very varied program, and everyone will find something to enjoy.

CCH|TDF

As I mentioned at the beginning, an event like this can’t take place without keyboards. That’s why I packed the PCB EXCHANGE, a handful of keyboards, and other bits and pieces, and was able to talk to a wide variety of people about keyboard stuff for two days. A few PCBs from the PCB EXCHANGE also found new owners and hopefully made them happy too.

T01

We set off for Tübingen at 9:00 a.m., and after a short drive, we spotted the beautiful neon-yellow CHAOS banner at Tübingen’s western tip.

We quickly searched for a parking space and headed into the building. Since we were allowed to be there as Assembly, we were able to get in a little before the actual opening and unload our stuff.

So, first, we checked out the situation and got our bearings. Orientation went smoothly, as the first thing you see as soon as you enter the building is the foyer with the information desk. There, we found all the information we needed, and we were graciously escorted to our tables.

After that, “time” was just a construct that had no application. There was a lot of talk about keyboards, a lot of experimentation, and as things quieted down a bit in the evening, the group also became smaller, and things escalated into directions that are generally only known as anecdotes from such events, and the phrase “you had to be there to be there” is often heard. Of course, this was by no means exclusive; no one was excluded.

At some point around midnight, the project area was closed, and for me it’s time to say goodbye.

T02

9:00 a.m. - Groundhogs, you know the drill. So, off we go back to Tübingen for the TdF. Rainy weather, a small crowd and a delicious breakfast. Afterward, we pack all the keyboards back on the table and start the day leisurely. But of course, the discussions quickly escalate, and we move from keyboards to ThinkPads, to self-made antenna ports, amateur radio licenses, to the Cold War and spy radio, to current military tactics and the conclusion, which was already clear: war sucks. Okay, back to the actual topic - keyboards. The hallowed halls are slowly filling up. The talks are also picking up pace again, and the wonderful keyboards are once again acting like magnets, attracting attention. What I find most surprising about both days is that, with a gathering of people from various digital fields, custom keyboards cause such amazement. To put it in ink’s words: “It’s the tool you use every day, so why bother with bad tools?” But hey, of course, you don’t always have that on your radar, and I think a few people now think differently about the topic. So the conversations about keyboards continue throughout the rainy afternoon, and around 5:00 p.m., the end of TdF 2025 is already approaching.

Conclusion

If the congress is too big for you (apart from scheduling conflicts, more than 20,000 people are too many for me), you should definitely check out the TdF (or any other comparable, near-chaos event), but I don’t think you need my opinion for that; you know that quite well yourself. What should be mentioned again here is the enormous amount of work, energy, and time, but also the love and passion that the TdF / Chaos-Treff team put into this event. And, as is often the case, completely voluntarily and without pay. Many people know this – but it should never be forgotten. So, once again, a huge thank you to the crew for this fantastic event. These were my first “Tage der digitalen Freiheit” (I don’t know why I missed it before), but definitely not my last, and I’m already looking forward to next year but for now I have to process all these wonderful impressions first.

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