Hardware Podcasts

An Interview with Ian Lesnet - Bus Buccaneer Builder

The Amp Hour · 11 Dec 2012 · 1h 23m · Episode 125

What this episode covers

Ian Lesnet of Dangerous Prototypes discusses the evolution of the Bus Pirate and the company's open hardware business model, which relies on manufacturing partnerships with Seeed Studio in China. He details the technical challenges of developing the Bus Pirate version 4, including the switch to an open-source USB stack and the implementation of built-in self-test (BIST) for manufacturing quality control. Lesnet also explains the 'Sick of Beige' initiative to standardize PCB footprints for recyclable cases and the community-driven nature of their firmware development.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Dangerous Prototypes, Seeed Studio, Hackaday, Microchip, SparkFun
Products
Bus Pirate, Bus Blaster, ATX Power Supply Breakout
Chips
FT2232, PIC24
Tools
OpenOCD, Eagle, KiCad
Also
Sick of Beige, Thingiverse

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast · 1h 22m

    069 - Canned Cheese and Onion Rings

    Ian from Dangerous Prototypes discusses the evolution of the BusPirate, culminating in the BusPirate 5, which utilizes an RP2040 microcontroller and features an LCD, adjustable power supply, and current sensing. He details the creation of DirtyPCBs and other services like DirtyCables, explaining how he automated PCB ordering in Shenzhen to disrupt the market. Ian also shares anecdotes about his time in Huaqiangbei, including the 'Expressway to Pleasure' project and his experiences with local manufacturing quirks.

    PCB design & layoutMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    8 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 50m

    45: Yanking on a Cat's Tail Is the Only Way to Learn

    Dave Anders, who works for CircuitCo, the manufacturer of the BeagleBone Black and MinnowBoard, discusses the nuances of open source hardware, contrasting fully open designs with 'open source friendly' products like the Flyswatter 2. He explains how CircuitCo manages production scaling for the BeagleBone Black to meet OEM demand and details the transition of the MinnowBoard to a 100% open hardware model in partnership with Intel. Anders also covers the business models of open hardware, noting that while tools like the original Flyswatter were fully open, later iterations restrict fabrication files to prevent poor-quality clones while still allowing software development.

    Open-source hardwarePCB design & layout
    9 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 43m

    293: Skateboard Tricks (Repeat)

    Limor Fried, founder of Adafruit, discusses the company's 13-year history of manufacturing open-source hardware in New York, highlighting recent products like the PyGamer and PyBadge. She explains the engineering philosophy behind TinyUSB, an open-source USB stack developed by engineer Hathach to replace proprietary vendor stacks, and details the business model of supporting a community of 4,000 products. Fried emphasizes that while hardware design is easy, the value lies in firmware, documentation, and tutorials, which she balances with business operations and education.

    PCB design & layoutEmbedded firmware
    13 chapters

  • Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast · 1h 43m

    044 - Scots Army Knife

    Piotr Esden-Tempski of 1BitSquared discusses the company's role in manufacturing open-source hardware, specifically the Glasgow digital interface explorer, the iCEBreaker FPGA board, and the Black Magic Probe debugger. He explains the economic rationale for using an old Quad 4C pick-and-place machine for small-batch production and details how Glasgow uses an FPGA to dynamically generate hardware protocols via the nmigen HDL. The conversation also covers the geopolitical shift toward RISC-V in China, the challenges of debugging legacy industrial equipment, and the importance of documentation and community education in the open-source hardware ecosystem.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

  • Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast · 1h 25m

    Ep. 16 - Open Hardware with Thea Flowers

    Thea Flowers, president of OSHWA and founder of the open-source hardware synthesizer company Winter Bloom, discusses her journey from high school Linux contributions to working at Google and launching her own business. She details the design and construction of 'Hubble,' a custom test jig for calibrating analog synthesizer modules, and explains her strategy for managing firmware updates across different hardware revisions like the Castro and Pollux. Flowers also shares her philosophy on open source, addressing cloning, community contribution, and the importance of empowering users to own and repair their devices.

    Open-source hardwarePCB design & layout
    7 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.