With building in flux, Baltimore Node keeps building

In the true spirit of a hobbyist hackerspace, a project that has been lingering in the Baltimore Node community for a couple years is now getting new attention.
Member, designer and programmer Michael Diedrick is working on a low-resolution programmable light board. According to the Node website, “the display is driven by python on a raspberry pi, but can work via any computer that runs Python. Michael needs only a quick breather before he goes all coding luchador on the remaining kinks.”
The project is partially funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Technical.ly Baltimore stopped by the Node’s OpenHack night last week for a tour with longtime members Jason Denney, a past Baltimore Hackathon organizer, and John Cutonilli. We got a sneak peak at Diedrick’s project — a long piece of plywood with neatly strung lights.
We also saw what other work was being done in the 2,300-square-foot space, which is located at 403 E. Oliver St. in the Station North Arts District near the Baltimore Design School and the Station North Tool Library.
Cutonilli is building another real-life ‘Angry Birds’ game — complete with oversized wooden slingshot.
The OpenHack night had kids, regulars and a handful of visitors looking into memberships. Cutonilli said the Node has several dozen active, paying ($50 a month) members, though the community includes far more, he said.
The Node landed at the Oliver Street location in March 2013, after a protracted search for a new space when the Load of Fun building was closed in 2012. However, when we visited last week, we spotted a ‘For Sale’ sign hung outside the building.
Could a building sale mean another location search for the Node group? Not necessarily, said Denney, “and we sure hope not.”
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