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Oxide and Friends

Latest episodes

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Aug 9, 2022 • 1h 43min

RIP Optane

The Oxide Friends pour one out for Optane, Intel's great hope that never managed to find traction.
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Aug 2, 2022 • 1h 15min

Deep Tech Investing

Seth Winterroth and Ian Rountree join Bryan, Adam, and the Oxide Friends to talk about investing in deep tech / hard tech.
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Jul 19, 2022 • 1h 44min

Across the Chasm with Rust

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: July 18th, 2022Across the Chasm with RustWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for July 18th, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guests were Steve Klabnik and Luqman Aden. Other speakers included Dan Cross, Tim McNamara, and others. (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:@0:27 let_chains are stable in Rust 1.64Adam's tweetThe stabilization PR, with the full saga leading up to stabilizationAs Steve mentions, the feature dates all the way back to 2017 and extends the Swift-inspired if let expressions Rust has had for a whileSome Rust features, like async functions in traits, are huge rabbit holesDiscussion about Rust's commitment to stability and how it's enforced with things like craterAs an example of the process leading to burnout in programming language communities: Guido stepping down as BDFL after PEP 572 (Assignment Expressions, "the walrus operator")Discussion about Ruby also taking stability seriously: flip-flops weren't removed in Ruby 2.0 in part because of this pretty incredible snippet from Yusuke EndohQuines and variations, Yusuke Endoh's Qlobe (reproduced here), their infamous quine-relay, and their other projectsThe G-Portugol programming languageThe unstable features mechanism in Rust ("first class support for experimental features") and how this allows for user experimentationExclusive range patterns in Rust and some of their perils, specifically in tockContrasting the Rust unstable feature mechanism with Haskell language pragmas: the former requires a nightly compiler to use, the latter does not@18:20 Discussion about the Rust process; going from RFC to stable RustThe Rust inline assembly feature (tracking issue)The Rust RFC repoThe Generic Associated Types (GATs) Rust RFChubris is on nightly Rust but with an allow list of featuresNaked functions in Rust (tracking issue), Destructuring assignments, #[cmse_nonsecure_entry]Talking about LWN-style reports and curation as a way to lessen the pain of using Zulip style chat platforms for discussionLWN is hiring, looking for someone to keep up with Rust development, among other things[[partial notes]]
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Jul 12, 2022 • 1h 43min

Integrating Hardware and Software Teams

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: July 11th, 2022Integrating Hardware and Software TeamsWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for July 11th, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our esteemed guest was Jon Masters. Other speakers included Nathaneal Huffman, Tom Lyon, Dan Cross, Rick Altherr, Matt Keeter, Peter Corless, Timon, Siddharth Joshi, Bob Mader, Aaron David Goldman, Simeon Miteff, Remy Goldschmidt, and MattSci. (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:@4:32 Fostering of mutual hatred between hardware and software peopleHuge difference in cost of errors in both time and money@9:38 Dealing with perishable pre-preg material Tachyon 100GTachyon 100G@15:06 The black magic that is DDRDIMM training demo@21:58 Open source tooling for EEsOpen FPGA toolingOpen RISCRISC VZero to ASIC courseLinux from scratchBen Eater's 8bit computerPhil's lab, KiCad 6 PCB design walkthoughPhil's lab, Altium Designer PCB design walkthough@33:18 Matt Keeter's take on ECAD toolsEagle CADSmaller breakout boards made with KiCad for unit testing@36:55 Timon's take on EE curriculumMath-heavy electrical engineering curriculumArts of ElectronicsKnowing at least basics of adjacent disciplines goes a long way@49:03 Software shouldn't pierce abstractions in order to work reliably, but people should to deepen their knowledge@1:04:54 Making microchips at homeSam Zeloof, maskless-photolithographyJeri Elseworth, making microchips at home@1:06:05 Oxide gets a Pick'n'Place machine?Open Hardware Pick'n'Place machine@1:09:40 Bob's take on silosSMM, System Management Mode@1:22:15 Vintage gaming as an intro into embedded softwareWiFi Game Boy Cartridge@1:26:14 Fabs at UNI@1:29:40 Intel Tofino (TM) Series Programmable Ethernet Switch ASICIntel Tofino@1:31:13 Google's open source high level synth. (HLS) tool XLSXLSBluespecChiselIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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Jun 28, 2022 • 1h 44min

Books in the box redux

Special guest Scott Johnson joins for a Twitter Space recording where topics range from 'Beautiful C++' to 'Reinventing the Wheel'. The conversation covers tech software, business success, and memorable books, offering a blend of nostalgia and insightful discussions.
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Jun 21, 2022 • 1h 47min

Paths into Systems Programming

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Jun 14, 2022 • 1h 52min

The Rise and Fall of DEC

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: June 13th, 2022The Rise and Fall of DECWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for June 13th, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers on June 13th included Tom Lyon, Dan Cross, Tim Bray, Ian Grunert, and XXX. (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:Pronunciation and mispronunciationBryan's DEC reading list:The Ultimate Entrepreneur by Glenn Rifkin, George HarrarLearn, Earn & Return - My Life as a Computer Pioneer by Harlan AndersonHigh-tech Ventures: The Guide For Entrepreneurial Success by C. Gordon Bell, John McNamaraComputer engineering: A DEC view of hardware systems design by C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, John McNamaraCreative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital by Spencer E. AnteDEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation by Edgar H. Schein, Paul J. Kampas, Michael M. Sonduck, Peter S. Delisi@1:29:05 Ian mentions Computer History Museum's oral history program prompting strong recommendations:Ian: Bernie LacrouteAdam: Pierre LamondBryan: Dave CutlerIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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May 24, 2022 • 1h 32min

Surviving the Dot-Com Bust

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 23rd, 2022Surviving the Dot-Com BustWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for May 23rd, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers on May 23rd included Dan McDonald, Dan Cross, Joshua Clulow, Steve Tuck, Matt Campbell and Theo Schlossnagle. (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:@1:37 Pick and shovels story circulating at SunOakes Ames "King of Spades", pbs article, wikiboo.com wikipets.com wiki@11:00 IPOs and public exposuretheGlobe.com wiki@18:20 "The Correction"Feasting like 19th century robber baronsNov 2000, free fallTrilogy, Inc wiki@28:49 Students looking for placementClarity of the bust@36:35 Billboards on the 101garden.com, cnn blurb@39:13 Theo's story, roulette at TrilogyExpansion and contraction of CS student enrollment@46:20 Matt's memoriesAllAdvantage wikiExcite@Home wikiJohn Talbott "The Fall of Silicon Graphics" articleFucked Company wikiCamaraderie over watching your companies imploding@53:39 Looking towards the looming housing bubbleDuring Oxide raise, race against time for VC fundingPandemicHot venture environment, over-valued companiesStimulus, spending on non-essentials, exacerbating income inequality@58:56 Differences from the dot-com era, more defined revenue models?Food delivery services, harbingers of bust?Steve anecdote: Dellionaires, margin call day, layoffs@1:08:12 Dan's second startup experienceWindows on the World wiki@1:10:15 Matt's question: can Oxide weather a tech bust?Adam: downturn can motivate seeking value, looking away from (stable, pricey) incumbents to (riskier, cheaper) new offeringsBryan: dot com bust pushed us toward open-source, for economic reasons.@1:15:51 Are we headed for a bust? How deep?How does a company survive the lean times?Negative human consequencesmammon (money, material wealth) wikiAdvice for practitioners?Dan McDonald: controlling inflation, starting companiesTheo: downturn will hit industries differently, concerns over global supply chainAdam: don't forget about helping others, looking out for other people, for the future of our world.Dan Cross: if it looks to good to be true, it probably is.If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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May 17, 2022 • 1h 30min

Debugging Methodologies

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: May 16th, 2022Debugging MethodologiesWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for May 16th, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guests on May 16th were Jordan Hendricks and Luqman Aden. Other speakers included jasonbking, Rick Altherr and Ben Kimock. (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:Green Room wikiNVMe wiki (Non-Volatile Memory. PCI Express)@3:38 Jordan's storyJordan's thorough bug write-up, (reported by Josh Clulow as "nvme_quiesce() can hang preventing reboot")Non-maskable interrupt wiki@8:04 Adam interrupts a box with a kitchen knifekmdb man page and page in the mdb book@14:11 Josh recites a poem about timeoutsAvoiding getting stuck, experimenting@20:10 A previous encounter with NVMe/PCIe issues (see also: Jordan's NVMe Hotplug discussion video ~26mins)mdb format character "j" (for Jordan!) (and jazzed-up) feature@26:50 Normal and abrupt shutdown notification, breakthrough, writing up a narrative@32:27 Luqman's storyThe blog post "Achievement Unlocked: rustc segfault"dtrace usdtcscope, rust analyzer@43:50 Inspecting LLVM IR, RustC MIRasync blocks, inline assemblyboiling down reproducible casesmaking quality write-ups, telling a story, teaching debuggingpopular on Hacker Newsdead reproducible?@1:03:02 Bugs: psychotic, non reproducibleDebugging mindsetDifferent tools and methodologies for different problemsanonymous tracing book page, speculative tracing page@1:10:03 Jason: number literal formats with underscores, now in mdb@1:12:35 Ben prompts a debugging story, checking conditions in debug, program abort on errorud2 instructionRick describes the Oxide boot loaderXMODEM wikiTriple fault wikiRust "heapless" crateIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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Apr 26, 2022 • 1h 42min

Fail Whaling

Oxide and Friends Twitter Space: April 25th, 2022Fail WhalingWe've been holding a Twitter Space weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour. Even though it's not (yet?) a feature of Twitter Spaces, we have been recording them all; here is the recording for our Twitter Space for April 25th, 2022.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Jason Hoffman. Other speakers included Joshua Clulow, Matt Campbell and Ian. (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:Debugging RailsJason walks chain of events leading to "twttr"@10:46 The first mock up, SMS@13:42 Twitter goes live, early daysTcl, Mongrel, LiteSpeed@19:30 First problemsBryan's debugging story, exceptions and backtraces, index out of boundsDiscovery of the problem was not met with gratitude@29:53 Jason tells another problem story, production directories full of junk test files@38:30 Story of the first Hadoop cluster@42:22 Matt's comment on directory limits@46:35 Companies growing up, on-prem and cloud infrastructure@49:26 The Fail WhaleRuby runtime, Ryan DahlMoved to Java, Scala eventuallyDTrace and dynamic languagesRaku, Parrot VM, MoarVM@59:53 Changing language and hardware landscapes, video presentation sharing, short social media handles, ahl, getting into hockey@1:12:30 Billionaire's playground?Quick diversion, history trivia bet@1:18:43 ModerationMicrosoft Tay bot (shutdown 16 hours after launch)Can anything kill Twitter?@1;29:26 Matt: what replaces Spaces?How could an alternative be built? What would it look like?Bryan predicts: change of headquarters, "burning the flag"Adam predicts: resale or IPO within 3 yearsSee also: Jason Hoffman and Bryan Cantrill CTO vs VP Engineering video ~45mins (audio is rough, content is good)If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next Twitter space will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time; stay tuned to our Twitter feeds for details. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!

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