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Oxide and Friends

Barracuda 7200.11: broken firmware is broken software!

Jun 8, 2021
57:03

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: June 7, 2021

Barracuda 7200.11: broken firmware is broken software!

We’ve been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p (PT) for about an hour. In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Laura Abbott, Joshua Clulow, Dan Cross, Bill Blum, Rick Altherr, Tom Lyon, and others. The recording is here.

(Did we miss your name and/or get it wrong? Drop a PR!)

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

  • The Seagate ST3000DM001
  • [@2:01](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=121) Bryan and Adam’s experience 
  • [@8:10](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=490) Tough customers
  • [@10:17](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=617) Cargo cultism and bad interview questions 
    • What is a Good New Englander? We’re not a hugging people.
  • [@12:35](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=755) Adam and Bryan after Sean Manaea’s 2018 no-no
  • The Gift of the Magi, LBA
  • [@15:11](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=911) Adam torments the interns
  • [@16:41](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=1001) Bill and the HP Z620s
  • [@19:21](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=1161) Rick’s story 
  • [@25:34](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=1534) Need for open source firmware (see also: Bryan explains why proprietary firmware is a problem ~3mins) 
    • Vendor gaslighting
  • [@27:48](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=1668) Tom on custom firmware 
  • [@32:08](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=1928) Adam’s firmware horror story flashbacks 
  • [@38:10](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=2290) After Sun > Stay the hell away from hardware
  • [@39:55](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=2395) Hard drive API wish list? 
    • Adam’s series on APFS > There is no bit rot here..
    • Networking vs Storage. Intermittent, transient failure
  • [@44:40](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=2680) Firmware as differentiator 
    • Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR)
    • Microwave-assisted magentic recording (MAMR)
    • see also: Jessie’s Life of a Data Byte surveys storage media tech through history
    • Amazing physics, mediocre firmware. Firmware is software
  • [@48:23](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=2903) The only firmware that didn’t give us problems.. 
  • [@54:04](https://youtu.be/qisoAIx8EE8?t=3244) Sans firmware? 
    • FPGA to ASIC transition article 2011. (aside: treat yourself to this amazing vintage mouse-themed site announcing the same) > It’s when microprocessors show up that all the trouble starts.

(Did we miss anything? PRs always welcome!)

Our next Twitter Space will be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time. Join us; we always love to hear from new speakers!

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