Ep044: Special Supercon Edition

Hackaday Podcast · 22 Nov 2019 · 44m

What this episode covers

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Carrie Scharfglass report from the Hackaday Supercon, highlighting the year's badge built by SpriteTM around the Lattice ECP5 FPGA. They discuss the badge's open-source toolchain, graphics subsystem, and the community's ambitious projects, including running Linux on the device. The episode features interviews with Hackaday staff and attendees like Garrett Kitzia, Al Williams, and Adam Wolfe, who share insights on badge hacking, SMD soldering challenges, and technical talks.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • 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 01m

    126: Live From Supercon

    Elecia White interviews Hackaday and Supply Frame staff, including Amber Cunningham, Daniel Hienzsch, Adam Fabio, Brian Benchoff, Aleksandar Bradic, Sophie Kravitz, and Mike Szczys, about the inaugural Hackaday SuperCon. They discuss the rapid 6-week planning process, the success of the badge modding station, and the distribution of practical goody bags from partners like Parallax and Seeed Studio. The episode highlights the Hackaday Prize 2015 winner, Maddic, who built an eye-gaze wheelchair controller, and features discussions on the 'Tamagotchi Singularity' talk and Supply Frame's mission to improve engineering supply chain intelligence.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 11m

    An Interview with Greg Davill

    Greg Davill, an electronics engineer and hobbyist from Adelaide, discusses his recent hardware projects including the Arctic Koala FPGA breakout board, the Orange Crab, and a complex LED Icosahedron sculpture. He details the technical challenges of integrating a camera module into the Hackaday Supercon badge using an Icebreaker FPGA and shares his specific soldering techniques and tooling preferences for surface mount assembly. The conversation also covers his workflow for creating photorealistic KiCad board renders and the state of the electronics community in Australia.

  • 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 18m

    An Interview with Mike Szczys

    Mike Szczys, Editor-in-Chief of Hackaday, discusses his journey from orchestra musician to hardware creator, focusing on his DEF CON 26 badge, the 'coin-op badge,' which uses an ATmega48 and low-power design. He details the challenges of firmware optimization, PCB layout, and the learning curve of using a Neoden 4 pick-and-place machine with Chris Gammell. The conversation highlights the trend of low-cost components like the ESP32 driving innovation, the importance of open-source collaboration, and the value of maker communities like DEF CON and Hackaday Supercon in fostering hardware education and networking.

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