# More Tales from the Bringup Lab

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2022-04-19
- Length: 2h 07m
- Episode: 12
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/4fd8383d

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill and the Oxide Computer Company team, including Arjen Roodselaar, Eric Aasen, and Matt Keeter, detail the bring-up of Sidecar, a switching board based on the Intel Tofino 2 ASIC, and Gimlet, their compute node. They discuss the extreme difficulty of designing the Power Delivery Network (PDN) to handle 300-amp load steps with only 7 millivolts of margin, requiring a custom 'load slammer' for testing. The team also recounts debugging firmware and hardware issues, including TOML parsing errors, slew rate mismatches on SPI traces, and a critical 500-ohm pull-down resistor error on the T6 NIC that nearly halted production.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=1) Introduction: Oxide Bring-up Overview
- [4:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=267) Gimlet and Sidecar Hardware Definitions
- [7:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=444) PDN Design and Load Slammer Testing
- [23:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=1439) TOML Parsing and IC Depopulation
- [33:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=2025) Debugging Ground Bounce and PDN Noise
- [57:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=3448) Slew Rate Mismatches and SPI Communication
- [1:21:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=4902) Gimlet T6 Bring-up and Reset Issues
- [1:36:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=5767) T6 Breakthrough: 500 Ohm Resistor Fix
- [1:40:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=6056) Footprint Rework and Dead Bug Soldering
- [1:53:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab#t=6790) Sidecar PCIe Link and Off-by-One Error

## Topics

- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Gimlet (product)
- Sidecar (product)
- Intel (company)
- Tofino 2 (chip)
- AMD (company)
- EPYC (chip)
- Renaissance (company)
- Renesas (company)
- Infineon (company)
- T6 (chip)
- VSC 7448 (chip)
- TOML (other)
- Load Slammer (tool)
- Simplus (tool)
- PCB (other)
- PCIe (other)
- SPI (other)
- I2C (other)
- PDN (other)
- ASIC (chip)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [High Current PDN Design: Engineer of the Year Reveals Industry Secrets](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2025-04-21-high-current-pdn-design-engineer-of-the-year-reveals-industry-secrets) (OnTrack)
- [Project Management, Lasers & Robots - Staunch Specialty Sanctanimity](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-04-10-project-management-lasers-robots-staunch-specialty-sanctanimity) (The Amp Hour)
- [203: Save My Board](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-06-08-203-save-my-board) (Embedded.fm)
- [Troubleshooting, PCBs and LEDs - Quaintized Quich Quelling](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-08-28-troubleshooting-pcbs-and-leds-quaintized-quich-quelling) (The Amp Hour)
- [The Two Person Rule](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-06-01-the-two-person-rule) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-19-more-tales-from-the-bringup-lab. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.