Installation

Installation

What you need

• A DEF CON 32 badge.
• A USB cable for the RP2350 bootloader and a microSD card for apps and content.
• A release containing DC32-cfw.uf2, SD-apps.zip, and optionally SD-assets.zip.

Flash the firmware

1. Put the badge into RP2350 USB bootloader mode.
2. Copy DC32-cfw.uf2 to the mounted UF2 drive.
3. The badge disconnects and boots automatically when the copy finishes.

Populate the SD card

1. Open USB Storage on the badge, or use a card reader.
2. Extract SD-apps.zip to the root of the card. It supplies /APPS, required companion data, and /ICONS loading artwork.
3. Optionally extract SD-assets.zip to the root for starter media, IR, BadUSB, and ROM folders.
4. Eject or unmount the card before leaving USB Storage mode.

Do not place the zip files themselves on the card: extract their contents so paths such as /APPS and /ICONS sit at the card root.

Updating

• Firmware update: flash a newer .uf2; SDK-v1 apps remain compatible with any firmware release that supports SDK ABI 1.
• App update: replace or add an SDK-v1 .DC32 app in /APPS; reflashing firmware is not required.
• Breaking SDK update: when a release intentionally introduces a new SDK ABI, install the matching rebuilt apps. Firmware and app build timestamps are not a compatibility signal.

See Using Apps for standalone app installation and SDK v1 App Compatibility for the full compatibility model.

Troubleshooting installation

• If the badge does not boot after flashing, repeat the copy after re-entering bootloader mode.
• If the SD card contents do not appear, verify the archive was extracted to the card root and safely eject the card before returning to the badge.
• If an app reports an unsupported ABI, install a build of that app for the SDK ABI supported by your firmware.