Ep002: Curious Gadgets and the FPGA Brain Trust

Hackaday Podcast · 15 Jan 2019 · 1h 01m

What this episode covers

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss the Circuit Sculpture Contest winners, including Kelly Heaton’s resistor bird and Matt Sang’s Z80 wire computer, alongside hacks like a microcontroller-corrected barn door telescope mount. The episode features an interview with the OpenFPGA team—David, Clifford Wolf, Piotr Temski, and Temezzo—at 35C3, discussing the open-source FPGA ecosystem, tools like nextpnr and icestorm, and hardware such as the iCE40, ECP5, and icebreaker. They highlight the shift toward accessible FPGA development, mentioning projects like Tomu, Fumu, and the push for supporting Xilinx 7-series via Project X-Ray.

Mentioned

Companies
Hackaday
Products
icebreaker, Tomu, Fumu
Chips
iCE40, ECP5, Spartan 6
Tools
nextpnr, icestorm, ice studio
Also
OpenFPGA, 35C3, Project X-Ray, SymbiFlow, VexRiscv

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 48m

    Open FPGA Toolchains at 35c3

    Piotr Esden-Tempski, Clifford Wolf of Yosys/NextPNR, and Dave Shah discuss the state of open FPGA toolchains at 35c3, highlighting the release of NextPNR and support for Lattice ECP5. They detail the Icebreaker and ULX3S development boards, explaining how open-source tools enable complex designs like RISC-V soft cores and low-latency video processing that were previously difficult or impossible. The speakers emphasize the advantages of open toolchains, including automation, cross-platform compatibility, and the ability to build commercial products without vendor lock-in.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 11m

    Pulled From A Working Environment

    Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics discusses his recent FPGA workshops at Teardown, highlighting the rise of open-source toolchains like Yosys and NextPNR for Lattice and Xilinx parts, and the FOMU dev board's multi-layered architecture. Dave Jones of EEVblog details the Rich Tech RT1716 USB-C PD controller used in his Micro Supply, explaining how cross-vendor register compatibility allowed them to bypass poor documentation by leveraging Texas Instruments' reference code. The hosts also cover the used test equipment market, specifically finding deals on Vector Network Analyzers, and new open-source hardware projects like the STM32 multimeter and Great Scott Gadgets' USB debugging tools.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 36m

    An Interview with Luke Valenty

    Luke Valenty of TinyFPGA.com explains how open source toolchains like Ice Studio and APIO lower the barrier to entry for FPGAs, enabling makers to build custom microcontrollers and high-speed interfaces without proprietary software. He details the design of the Tiny FPGA BX board, which integrates a USB device directly into the FPGA fabric to eliminate expensive external chips, and discusses the challenges of manufacturing small QFN and BGA packages. Valenty also outlines his roadmap for the upcoming EX board, which will utilize Lattice ECP5 high-speed transceivers to support USB-3 and PCIe, aiming for a crowdfunding campaign in the fall.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 37m

    Stories from Supercon 2019

    Jereon “Sprite_tm” Domburg, Sylvain “tnt” Munaut, and Matt Venn discuss open-source FPGA toolchains and hardware at Supercon 2019. Sprite_tm details his Supercon 2019 badge, which uses a Lattice ECP5 FPGA to host two Pico RV32 RISC-V cores and a PIC-16, enabling a reconfigurable system via USB mass storage and cartridges. Sylvain Munaut explains his work on the badge's DFU bootloader and Osmocom's use of ECP5 FPGAs for software-defined radio, including sniffing CPRI links. Matt Venn describes his role at Symbiotic EDA, focusing on formal verification tools for safety-critical systems like particle accelerators.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 08m

    100: Unintentional Radiator

    Hosts Amelia Cook and Christopher White reunite with guests Star Simpson and Jen Costillo to reflect on the evolution of the hardware hobbyist landscape over the two years since their first appearance. Star Simpson, who works at Orion, discusses her wearable device project and her open-source FPGA toolchain initiative called Balboa, while also recounting the challenges of crowdfunding the Octopart reference card. The group analyzes the shifting attitudes toward privacy and security in the Internet of Things, the rise of accessible prototyping tools like 3D printing and Crowd Supply, and the changing ecosystem of development boards including the Odroid and Arduino.

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