Hardware Podcasts

An Interview with Piotr Esden-Tempski

The Amp Hour · 21 Aug 2017 · 1h 49m · Episode 356

What this episode covers

Piotr Esden-Tempski, founder of One Bit Squared, discusses the development of open-source hardware and software tools for embedded systems, specifically the Blackmagic Probe and OneBitC board. He explains the technical rationale behind creating these tools, citing licensing issues with STMicroelectronics libraries and the need for robust, open debugging capabilities like GDB integration. The conversation covers the hardware design of the Lisa series autopilots, the software architecture of Paparazzi UAV, and the community-driven growth of the Blackmagic Probe project following a successful Kickstarter.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
One Bit Squared
Products
Paparazzi UAV, Lisa M, Lisa S, Blackmagic Probe, OneBitC, Arduino, Teensy
Chips
STM32
Tools
LibOpenCM3, GDB, OpenOCD, ST-Link, PlatformIO, Radare2
Also
Gitter

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 05m

    180: Chickens in Helmets

    Peter Esden-Tempski of 1BitSquared and Gareth McMullin of Black Sphere explain the Black Magic Probe, an open-source J-Tag/SWD debugger that uses the GDB extended remote protocol to eliminate the need for middleware like OpenOCD. They discuss the device's architecture, its support for Cortex-M devices from vendors like ST and Atmel, and the accompanying 1Bitsy development board. The conversation covers their Kickstarter campaign to fund mass production, the technical differences between J-Tag and SWD, and the future roadmap including Cortex-A support.

    Embedded firmwareMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    5 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 02m

    130: Criminal Training Camp (Repeat)

    Alvaro Prieto, an embedded firmware engineer at Planet Labs, discusses his transition from Apple to the startup, highlighting the cultural shift from siloed secrecy to radical transparency. He details several personal hardware projects, including reverse-engineering the Parallax Proto-X quadcopter's radio protocol and building autonomous laser-shooting robots for DEFCON. Prieto also shares insights on his open-source tool, Silta, which bridges USB to I2C/SPI for sensor testing, and reflects on the importance of community encouragement in maker culture.

    Embedded firmwareDebugging & failure analysis
    7 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

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 15m

    274: Swiss Knife of Embedded Systems

    Ivan Kravets, founder of PlatformIO, explains how his open-source toolchain simplifies embedded development by providing a unified build system, library registry, and debugger that works across multiple IDEs and operating systems. He discusses the platform's architecture, which allows developers to switch between frameworks like Arduino and mbed with minimal configuration changes, and highlights the benefits of its unified debugging engine. Kravets also shares insights from the RISC-V Summit, noting Western Digital's adoption of RISC-V for custom controllers and the growing commercial viability of open-source processor architectures.

    EDA & CAD toolsMicrocontrollers & dev platforms
    8 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

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.