475: Stuffed Animal or Colleague

Embedded.fm · 19 Apr 2024 · 1h 09m · Episode 475

What this episode covers

Elecia White and Christopher White discuss their experiences with the Zephyr RTOS, highlighting its powerful ecosystem but steep learning curve, particularly regarding the complex build system, Kconfig, and device tree (DTS) configurations. They share specific debugging stories, including a hardware noise issue caused by a jumper cable and a Zephyr driver integration problem where a missing ST module caused build failures. The conversation also covers debugging techniques like rubber-ducking, the limitations of AI tools for embedded code, and career reflections on becoming a senior engineer.

Mentioned

Companies
Nordic
Products
PPK2, Making Embedded Systems
Tools
STM32CubeIDE, GDB, ChatGPT, Gemini
Also
Zephyr, Embedded Online Conference, Chris Gammell, Uri Shaked, Marian Petre, Nathan Jones, James Grenning, Jack Ganssle, Jacob Beningo

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 12m

    Building Firmware and Hardware for Trade Shows with Mike Szczys

    Mike Szczys, formerly of Hackaday and now at Golioth, discusses building firmware and hardware for trade shows like Embedded World with his coworker Chris Gammell. They detail the challenges of integrating E-Ink displays using Zephyr RTOS and MicroPython on an RP2040-based faceplate, highlighting the steep learning curve of Zephyr's device tree and manifest system. The conversation covers the benefits of Zephyr's centralized ecosystem compared to FreeRTOS, the use of built-in debugging shells, and the technical hurdles of I2C peripheral programming on the Raspberry Pi Pico.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 03m

    It Works With Option Number 5

    Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss a useless wrist-worn multimeter, the educational value of visual tools like Blender and quantum diamonds, and the pitfalls of camera review content. They detail Dave's struggles with a DI hybrid solar inverter's drifting internal clock and Chris's hack day project implementing a remote shell for Zephyr OS devices using Golioth. The conversation concludes with a comparison of Australian and US electrical systems and a lesson on hysteresis from a car's low-temperature warning.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 06m

    Benjamin Cabé Nose Zephyr

    Benjamin Cabé, Developer Advocate for the Zephyr Project, explains that Zephyr is an open-source RTOS and ecosystem that provides hardware abstraction, device trees, and subsystems to simplify embedded development. He highlights how major vendors like STMicroelectronics, NXP, and Espressif integrate with Zephyr, allowing developers to swap silicon without rewriting application code, a feature that proved crucial during recent silicon shortages. Cabé also shares his personal project, an 'artificial nose' for sourdough monitoring, which he migrated from Arduino to Zephyr to leverage its multitasking, state machines, and simulation tools like Renode.

  • The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast · 45m

    Zephyr with Luka Mustafa

    Luka Mustafa, founder and CEO of Irnas Product Development, explains how Zephyr RTOS, a Linux Foundation-backed project, enables hardware-agnostic embedded development by abstracting low-level details through device trees and a comprehensive ecosystem. He highlights the dramatic reduction in porting time—moving Bluetooth code between chip architectures in an hour versus months—and the ability to run native POSIX simulations on Linux for faster development. Mustafa also details Zephyr's testing framework, Twister, and its cultural impact, noting the steep learning curve for electrical engineers while emphasizing the long-term benefits of code reuse and reduced maintenance overhead. The discussion covers resource constraints, safety-critical certification processes, and specific scenarios where simpler solutions like Arduino are preferable to an RTOS.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 18m

    Why isn't this working?

    Chris Gammell, founder of Contextual Electronics, explains his transition from hardware consulting to learning embedded firmware to stabilize his income. He details his personal project involving an STM32F030 and a 433MHz transmitter, highlighting the steep learning curve of moving from Arduino to bare-metal C development. Gammell and guests Elecia White and Dave Jones discuss the importance of hiring tutors, using build logs for debugging, and the specific frustrations of dealing with obscure Chinese components and complex microcontroller peripherals like SPI displays and I2S audio.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Embedded.fm. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.