Hardware Podcasts

The Frontend of the Computer

Oxide and Friends · 18 Jul 2023 · 1h 03m · Episode 21

What this episode covers

David Crespo and Justin Bennett from Oxide Computer Company discuss the development of the Oxide Console, the frontend for their rack-scale computer. They detail their engineering philosophy of treating the API as the product, using Dropshot and OpenAPI specs to generate type-safe TypeScript SDKs and mock servers. The team leverages tools like Vite, Playwright, and Mock Service Workers to enable rapid, isolated frontend development and robust end-to-end testing, even before the backend hardware was fully assembled. They also emphasize accessibility (a11y) and the importance of keeping documentation in sync with implementation to maintain a coherent user experience across the CLI, console, and API.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Oxide Computer Company, Adtran, Cisco, Mozilla
Chips
V8
Tools
Playwright, Vite, Mock Service Workers, Selenium, Robot Framework
Also
Elm, OzCon, TypeScript, CoffeeScript, Flow, Dropshot, OpenAPI, Electron, Chrome, Firefox

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 09m

    103: Tentacles Of the Kraken

    Mark VanderVoord, lead maintainer of the open source testing frameworks Unity and CMock, explains how test-driven development (TDD) and mocking help embedded engineers design better code without needing full hardware simulators. He details the workflow of using CMock to generate fake interfaces for hardware drivers like I2C, allowing developers to test logic in a native host environment. VanderVoord also discusses the challenges of maintaining these tools, his new online course on ThrowTheSwitch.org, and the business model of supporting free open source projects through books and classes.

    Embedded firmwareEDA & CAD tools
    7 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 57m

    342: That Girl's Brain

    Jessie Frazelle, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Oxide Computer, explains how the company builds open-source, rack-scale servers for enterprises by adopting hyperscaler-style hardware design. She details the decision to open-source firmware and hardware to eliminate vendor finger-pointing and security vulnerabilities inherent in proprietary BMCs. The discussion covers their use of Rust for firmware and control plane software, power efficiency metrics like PUE, and the challenges of deploying high-density compute in traditional colocation environments.

    Embedded firmwareSecurity & privacy
    7 chapters

  • IoT For All Podcast · 21m

    Can AI Design IoT Hardware? | Flux's Matthias Wagner | Internet of Things Podcast

    Matthias Wagner, Founder and CEO of Flux, explains how his company uses agentic AI to democratize PCB design, allowing non-engineers to create hardware via natural language prompts. He discusses the historical bottlenecks of hardware design, the necessity of iterative back-and-forth for complex devices like smartphones, and the economic advantages of designing custom boards for products like vending machines. Wagner also outlines future integration challenges, including firmware generation and enclosure design, and predicts that lowering the cost of iteration will unlock significant innovation in robotics and IoT.

    AI & machine learningPCB design & layout
    8 chapters

  • TRADEOFFS · 1h 01m

    T-25-010 : Ioannis Papamanoglou and Narayan Powderly - Engineers transforming how we design, test, and build hardware with atopile

    Narayan Powderly and Ioannis Papamanoglou, co-CEOs of atopile, discuss their command-line circuit design tool that brings software development practices to hardware engineering. They explain how their frustration with slow board development cycles at Tesla and smart bike lock projects led them to create a domain-specific language that captures design intent rather than just schematics. The guests detail how atopile integrates with KiCad for layout, leverages LLMs for rapid iteration, and aims to empower full-stack engineers by automating the drudgery of component selection and validation.

    EDA & CAD toolsAI & machine learning
    9 chapters

  • Product Startup · 23m

    205: Advances in Electronic Product Engineering Methods

    Tomide Adesanmi, founder of Circuit Mind, explains how hardware startups are outpacing large corporations in electronics innovation by leveraging agile design processes and modern tools. He details the traditional electronic product development lifecycle, from requirements and component selection to schematic capture, PCB design, and multiple prototype iterations (EVT, DVT, PVT). Adesanmi highlights the archaic nature of legacy hardware engineering compared to software and introduces Circuit Mind’s platform, which uses deterministic algorithms to automate schematic generation and optimize designs for cost, power, and supply chain availability.

    PCB design & layoutEmbedded firmware
    5 chapters

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