Thea Flowers creates open source and open hardware craft synthesizers that use Circuit Python for customization. She also writes about the internals of the SAMD21. Thea’s synthesizer modules are found at Winterbloom , including Castor & Pollux and the Big Honking Button . It is all open source hardware so you can find code and schematics on Thea’s github site: github.com/theacodes Thea’s site is thea.codes . You can find her blog there with deeply technical and detailed posts such as The most th...
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 359•Transcript available on Metacast Sarah Withee spoke with us about using an artificial pancreas, learning many programming languages, and FIRST robotics. More about the Open Artificial Pancreas System can be found at OpenAPS.org or in their documentation . Some other pieces we talked about include: LoopKit: an automated insulin delivery app template for iOS github (some additional docs ) AndroidAPS github (additional docs ) Reilly Link is the communication method for some insulin pumps Orange Link is a Reilly Link compatible dev...
Nov 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 434•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Gielda spoke with us about Renode, an open source embedded systems simulator. It also simulates large distributed systems and network communications. Check out Renode.io and the boards supported by Renode and Zephyr on Renodepedia . Elecia played with the Nucleo F401 tutorial on colab . Michael is the co-founder of Antmicro . The ESP32-C3 is a commercial RISC-V core with WiFi and BLE. We also mentioned Wokwi on the show. (And we had its creator Uri Shaked as a guest on episode 396: Untan...
Nov 03, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep 433•Transcript available on Metacast Martha Wells is a science fiction and fantasy author. She spoke with us about her books (including Murderbot Diaries!), writing, and creating fantastical worlds. Marth ( @marthawells1 ) has won Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards for her work. We mostly talked about the Murderbot Diaries and the Books of the Raksura . Oh, and the Star Wars tie-in about Leia, Razor's Edge . And The Witch King is coming out next year, a brand new world. Heck, just look at her full catalog . Martha also has a blog and a...
Oct 27, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 432•Transcript available on Metacast Jasper van Woudenberg spoke with us about hacking hardware, writing a technical book, and ethics. The Hardware Hacking Handbook was written by Jasper and Colin O’Flynn ( ChipWhisperer and episode 286: Twenty Cans of Gas ). The site related to the book is hardwarehacking.io , you don’t need the book to play with some of the examples. Jasper ( @jzvw ) is also the CTO of Riscure North America , a company that specializes in hardware security. They are hiring . Transcript...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 431•Transcript available on Metacast Chris and Elecia bounce from topic to topic, discussing life and work and occasionally answering listener emails. Python can format code into equations in Latex with Latexify ( as noted in this tweet ) Interesting sensor: Sensing deep-tissue physiology via wearable ultrasonic phased arrays Turing Complete - a listener-recommended logic gate puzzle game for Steam. In the past, we’ve also talked about Zachtronics’ TIS-100 which is similar and Shenzhen IO which is at the circuit level. Oh, and ther...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep 430•Transcript available on Metacast We were joined in the studio by the Evil Mad Scientists Lenore Edman and Windell Oskay. Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories ( @EMSL ) produces the disintegrated 555 Timer kit and 741 Op-Amp kit . These were made in conjunction with Eric Schlaepfer, who also created the Monster 6502 . EMSL also makes the Eggbot kit and AxiDraw not-kit (and mini-kit ). For a history of the pen plotter, check out Sher Minn’s Plotter People talk on YouTube . (They have too many neat things to list here, go look on their...
Oct 06, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep 317•Transcript available on Metacast We spoke with Duncan Haldane about creating hardware schematics by writing software code, three dimensional circuits, and bio-inspired jumping robots. Duncan is the CEO of JitX ( jitx.com ). They recently received Series A funding and are currently hiring engineers. Please mention that you heard about JitX here on Embedded. While earning a PhD at UC Berkeley, Duncan ( @DuncanHaldane ) also worked on Salto ( video ) and OpenRoach ( github ). Transcript...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr•Ep 429•Transcript available on Metacast Jonathan Beri spoke with us about the different IoT development tools and how to categorize them. Jonathan ( @beriberikix ) is the CEO of Golioth ( @golioth_iot ). He wrote a blog post called An Introduction to The Five Clouds of IoT , breaking the clouds into individual clouds: device, connectivity, data, application, and development. Jonathan was previously on Embedded 222: Virtual Bunnie when he worked for Particle.io. A partial list of the IoT tools we mentioned: ThingsBoard Freeboard Grafan...
Sep 22, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 428•Transcript available on Metacast Elizabeth Wharton spoke to us about laws, computers, cybersecurity, and funding education in rural communities. She is a strong proponent of privacy by design and de-identification by default. Liz ( @LawyerLiz ) is the VP of Operations at Scythe.io ( @scythe_io ), a company that works in cybersecurity. She won the Cybersecurity or Privacy Woman Law Professional of the Year for 2022 at DefCon. Liz is on the advisory board of the Rural Tech Fund ( @ruraltechfund ) which strives to reduce the digit...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 427•Transcript available on Metacast Elecia and Chris are back from vacation and catching up! Today’s topics include: last week’s burnout episode and what we learned, what is a PSoC and why would you want one, how to get up to speed as a junior engineer, and a few more side quests. The burnout episode with Keith Hildesheim was last week, we encourage you to check it out, we learned some things about ourselves and maybe you will too. Chris mentioned astrophotography and here’s the link to the reddit post that inspires him to keep go...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 426•Transcript available on Metacast Keith Hildesheim joined us in an excellent conversation about avoiding burnout at work (and dealing with the aftereffects). Keith mentioned some useful books and articles: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle Mindset: The New Psychology of Success SCARF Model Burnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People 5 Ways to Boost Your Resilience at Work How to Make Stress Your Friend Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindfulness Exercises 3 Ways to Recharge When You're Burned Out . Transcript Keith...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 425•Transcript available on Metacast Mike Harrison challenged us to a PIC fight on twitter. Surprisingly, no blood was shed and we mostly talked about LEDs and art installations. Mike’s YouTube Channel and his website electricstuff.co.uk . He's on twitter as @mikelectricstuf. Here's a link to what prompted the show: PIC fight on Twitter . His professional hire-him-to-work-on-your-neat-stuff site is whitewing.co.uk For driving LEDs, Mike likes the TI TLC5971: 12-Channel, 16-Bit ES-PWM RGB LED Driver with 3.3V Linear Regulator ....
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 294•Transcript available on Metacast Professor Barbara Liskov spoke with us about the Liskov substitution principle, data abstraction, software crisis, and winning a Turing Award. See Professor Liskov’s page at MIT, including her incredible CV.
Aug 18, 2022•51 min•Ep 316•Transcript available on Metacast Gustavo Pezzi spoke with us about using fun and simple systems to explain low-level concepts and how they work in higher-level engineering tasks. For example, teaching microprocessor concepts using Atari 2600 assembly and physics by creating a simple game engine. Gustavo’s site is Pikuma.com . He has a free taster course on bit-shifting . We also talked about Atari 2600 Programming with 6502 Assembly and Physics Game Engine Programming . Stella, a multi-platform Atari 2600 emulator For examples ...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 424•Transcript available on Metacast Phillip Johnston joined us to talk about how engineering approaches can change over time. This conversation started with Phillip’s Embedded Artistry blog post How Our Approach to Abstract Interfaces Has Changed Over the Years . His new course is Designing Embedded Software for Change . Embedded Artistry has a Design Pattern Catalogue (though Elecia was looking at Software design patterns on Wikipedia during the podcast). https://github.com/embvm Phillip is working with Memfault on an ongoing emb...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 423•Transcript available on Metacast Chris and Elecia chat about origami, learning, whether to future proof tools or buy the cheaper option, simulators, and classes. Elecia is gearing up to teach another Making Embedded Systems course. Sign up if you want to be in the Yellow Seahorses cohort ! Sign up early and often. Sign up other people. Ask other people to sign themselves up and even more other people. Well, you get the idea. Check out Wokwi! While it looks like it is for Arduino from the front page, there is a lot of work going...
Jul 28, 2022•55 min•Ep 422•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Hobbs talks with Elecia about safety critical systems. Safety-critical systems keep humans alive. Writing software for these embedded systems carries a heavy responsibility. Engineers need to understand how to make code fail safely and how to reduce risks through good design and careful development. The book discussed was Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems by Chris Hobbs. This discussion was originally for Classpert (where Elecia is teaching her Making Embedded Syste...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep 421•Transcript available on Metacast Dan White, CEO of Filament Games, spoke to us about educational games, how to make play part of learning, and simulating robots. We also discussed what makes a good (or bad) learning experience, the limits of games as educational tools, and the elements of fun. Roblox is a game platform and game creation system. Filament Games is developing a robot simulator called Roboco . Filament has many games out in the wild, check out their portfolio . If this sounds like fun, check out their careers page ...
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 420•Transcript available on Metacast Mohit Bhoite makes functional electronic sculptures from components and brass wire. We spoke with him on the hows and whys of making art. Mohit’s sculptures , including the Tie Fighter . More on his instagram: mohitbhoite Jiri Prause has a wonderful tutorial on how to make simpler freeform electronics on Instructables . Peter Vogel is another artist making phenomenal freeform electronics. Leonardo Ulian uses electronic components in his art (his don’t function but wow). Advice from Mohit on tryi...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep 314•Transcript available on Metacast Eric Schlaepfer and Windell Oskay are the authors of Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components. We discussed the inner beauty of a number of electronic components as well as cameras, photography, writing, preparing samples, and terrible title puns. You can pre-order the physical book and get a digital early release copy at NoStarch.com/Open-Circuits Windell is co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratory ( @EMSL ). He and Eric have collaborated before on several projects: The Three...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 419•Transcript available on Metacast Chris and Elecia question embedded systems then answer listener questions about embedded systems. They mostly agree except about one thing which, after some discussion, they agree upon. Mostly. Video of Cissy Strut cover where Chris plays all of the instruments Video where Elecia shows off some programmatic origami and simulation (not discussed but it seemed reasonable retaliation for talking about Chris’ video) Dynamic Linker for Cortex-M ( github repo ) Transcript...
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep 418•Transcript available on Metacast Alexandra Covor spoke with us about engineering, making, drawing, school, and what it means to be an artist. Alex’s projects are on GitHub and Hackster.io . Her electronics comics can be found as PikaComics on Instagram . The 2022 Open Hardware Summit named Alex as part of the Ada Lovelace Fellowship . Her favorite talk from the summit was Anuradha Reddy talking about Knotty (Naughty) Hardware . Alex works for Zalmotek , a design services firm in Bucharest. We talked about Waylay.io , including ...
Jun 16, 2022•48 min•Ep 417•Transcript available on Metacast John Catsoulis is the founder of Udamonic and creator of the Forth-based Scamp development board. He spoke with us about Forth, electrical engineering, and writing a technical book. Find out more about Udamonic’s Scamp at udamonic.com . There are some hardware projects under the Create menu. The Forth programming language is famous for its small size, portability, and post-fix (RPN) nature. John wrote O’Reilly’s Designing Embedded Hardware . While some parts are out of date, the general theory i...
Jun 09, 2022•51 min•Ep 416•Transcript available on Metacast Lead Solution Architect at Cymotive, Benny Meisels spoke with us about implementing embedded software security in cars. The discussion touches ECUs, IoT vehicles, threat and risk analysis, and how reverse engineering plays a role in security testing. Benny works at Cymotive ( https://www.cymotive.com/ ). You can find him on LinkedIn benny-meisels or on Twitter @benny_meisels . Resources for automotive security: Automotive Security Research Group (ASRG) Upstream Security Hacking a VW Golf Power S...
Jun 02, 2022•59 min•Ep 415•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Abbott of Oxide Computing spoke with us about a silicon bug in the ROM of the NXP LPC55, affecting the TrustZone. More information about the two issues are in the Oxide blog: Another vulnerability in the LPC55S69 ROM Exploiting Undocumented Hardware Blocks in the LPC55S69 More about LPC55S6x and their LPC55Sxx Secure Boot Ghidra is a software reverse engineering framework… and it is one of the NSA’s github repositories . Laura will also be speaking about this at Hardwear.io in early June 2...
May 26, 2022•58 min•Ep 414•Transcript available on Metacast Chris and Elecia chat about practice, software quality, and empathy for seemingly unmotivated team members. Elecia is teaching another cohort of Making Embedded Systems in the fall, starting late August. There will be reminders between now and then but if you want to sign up, here is the page . The funny and odd music instruction video with the copy-and-paste method of composition. Sign up for the newsletter! Support us on Patreon ! Transcript...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 413•Transcript available on Metacast Tom Anderson returned to the show to describe how transistors and passives work. We discuss everything from vacuum tubes to diodes to transistors (PNP and NPN) to resistors and capacitors. We search for synonyms among the confusing terminology of cathodes, plates, emitters, anodes, grids, bases, and collectors. This was a tech heavy episode so little bit of brushing up on terms may be useful before (or after): Boltzmann constant Physical constant Vacuum tube Diode logic Diode Push–pull converter...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep 412•Transcript available on Metacast Ethan Slattery joined us to talk about animals, animal trackers, and how they work. Ethan works for Wildlife Computers . They use the Argos Network for data transfer. He was previously at MBARI and worked with Engineers for Exploration as an undergraduate. Ethan is also known as CrustyAuklet on Twitter and Github . He also has an Instagram page . Things mentioned in the show you might want to know more about: Nautilus Live is a streaming YouTube channel from an ROV exploring the oceans. They hav...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 411•Transcript available on Metacast Amanda “w0z” Wozniak spoke with us about her career through biomedical engineering and startups. Amanda contributed a chapter to Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing . (A book we spoke with Alicia Gibb about in # 289 .) Amanda’s chapter was titled Design Process: How to Get from Nothing to Something. For more information about the companies we discussed, check out Amanda’s LinkedIn page ....
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 305•Transcript available on Metacast 
