Hardware Podcasts

Transparency in Hardware/Software Interfaces

Oxide and Friends · 28 Feb 2025 · 1h 48m · Episode 7

What this episode covers

Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal of Oxide Computer Company, joined by colleague Ryan Goodfellow, discuss the critical need for transparency in hardware/software interfaces, arguing that proprietary control interfaces create opaque 'blobs' that hinder debugging and ecosystem growth. They detail their frustrations with Intel's Tofino switch silicon and the lack of documentation for components like the STM32 and LPC55s69, contrasting these with the open documentation provided by STMicroelectronics. The episode outlines a tiered approach to transparency—from public documentation to open-source compilers—and debunks common vendor objections regarding security, support burdens, and IP protection, citing Joy's Law to emphasize that more smart people work outside a company than inside it.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Oxide Computer Company, Intel, STMicroelectronics, AMD, NVIDIA, Lattice, Netronome
Products
OpenSIL, CUDA, PTX, Cumulus Linux, DPDK
Chips
Tofino, STM32, LPC55s69
Tools
ChatGPT, Gemini

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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.