Hardware Podcasts

An Interview with Dr. Kent Lundberg - Luculent Linear Legacy

The Amp Hour · 29 Oct 2012 · 1h 23m · Episode 119

What this episode covers

Dr. Kent Lundberg, a visiting professor at Olin College and MIT, discusses his career in analog circuit design, control systems, and his extensive collection of vintage Tektronix oscilloscopes. He details his consulting work through Keeling Flight Hardware, focusing on low-noise analog front-ends and power supplies, and explains his decision to avoid the traditional academic track in favor of practical engineering. The conversation also covers his passion for collecting Jim Williams' application notes, his book collection including rare MIT Rad Lab volumes, and a new co-designed EE prototyping class he is developing.

Most relevant to

established companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Tektronix, Linear Technology, MIT, Olin College, Keeling Flight Hardware, Lincoln Laboratory, Adafruit, Moog, Dave Smith Instruments
Products
Tektronix 511, Tektronix 556, Tektronix 7104
Tools
HP 3562A
Also
Severed Heads

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 42m

    181: Work on It for Ten Years

    Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics joins the hosts of Embedded.fm and The Amp Hour for a crossover holiday episode discussing expertise, prototyping tools, and industry trends. The conversation covers the limitations of MicroPython on custom hardware, the value of analog circuit design, and the importance of writing to clarify technical thinking. They also share personal updates on learning calculus, using VR for exercise, and the future of solar energy and automation.

    Careers & educationPrototyping & iteration
    9 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 15m

    124: Please Don't Light Yourself on Fire (Repeat)

    Windell Oskay, co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, discusses his annotated edition of the 1963 book 'Build It Yourself Science Laboratory' and the company's hardware projects like the EggBot Pro and the Dis-integrated 555 timer kit. He details the challenges of updating the book for modern safety and ethics, including correcting a flawed 'Simple Oscilloscope' experiment and adding modern sourcing notes. The conversation also covers the technical specifics of spherical CNC plotting, the history of electronic knitting machines, and the evolution of accessible scientific instrumentation.

    Prototyping & iterationMaterials & manufacturing processes
    9 chapters

  • Hackaday Podcast · 35m

    Ep 222: VCF East Special Edition

    Managing Editor Tom Nardi hosts a special episode from the Vintage Computer Festival East, featuring interviews with David Lovett of Usagi Electric and Jerry Ellsworth, co-founder of Till5. Lovett details his vacuum tube-based recreation of the iconic 555 timer, explaining the analog/digital hybrid circuitry and the challenges of low-voltage tube operation. Ellsworth discusses his accidental discovery of a light-field AR technology while at Valve Software and his earlier work emulating Commodore 64 hardware on FPGAs.

    Analog & power electronicsMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    5 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 20m

    379: Monstrous Cable Corporation

    Tom Anderson, an engineer at Keysight Technologies, discusses the practical realities of embedded hardware for new college graduates, focusing on the nuances of floating I/O pins, tri-state outputs, and latch-up failure modes. He explains the behavior of inductors in switching power supplies and relays, the importance of pull-up/pull-down resistors, and the differences between ADC types, sampling rates, and bandwidth. Anderson advocates for learning from vintage technical literature, such as TubeBooks.org and 'The Art of Electronics,' and shares his methodology for analog circuit design using symbolic algebra and system-level constraints.

    Analog & power electronicsEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 06m

    491: Oscillators Oscillating Other Oscillators

    Kirk Pearson, founder of Dogbotic, discusses his book "Make: Electronic Music from Scratch" and his virtual workshops that teach beginners to build analog synthesizers and other audio gizmos. He explains how simple oscillator circuits create complex sounds, details the logistics of shipping global kits, and shares his philosophy on demystifying electronics for creative artists. The conversation covers specific projects like the electro-cricket and early drum machine designs, emphasizing intuition over rigorous engineering.

    PCB design & layoutAnalog & power electronics
    8 chapters

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