# Just Add Salt

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2019-12-09
- Length: 1h 09m
- Episode: 470
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/470-just-add-salt/

## Summary

Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics and Dave Jones of EEV Blog discuss Gammell's purchase of a vintage HP 8753D VNA and the high cost of test equipment. They analyze the complexity of setting up a firmware development environment for an STM32 microcontroller, debating the trade-offs between using vendor IDEs like STM32CubeIDE versus manual toolchains like GCC and Visual Studio Code. The conversation also covers the limitations of current AI auto-routing tools for PCBs and a review of university-level electronics textbooks.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=0) Introduction and Holiday Plans
- [7:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=437) Chris Gammell's HP 8753D VNA Purchase
- [15:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=909) Test Gear Addiction and Community Forums
- [20:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=1238) Branch Education PCB Video and 747 Simulator
- [28:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=1703) STM32 Firmware Toolchains: IDE vs. GCC
- [39:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=2373) Debugging Strategies and Compiler Bugs
- [45:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=2728) AI Auto-Routing and DeepPCB.ai
- [50:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt#t=3010) Electronics Textbook Review and Survey Results

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Test & measurement](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/test-and-measurement)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- HP 8753D (tool)
- STM32 (chip)
- STM32CubeIDE (tool)
- GCC (tool)
- Visual Studio Code (tool)
- DeepPCB.ai (tool)
- The Art of Electronics (other)
- Sedra and Smith (other)
- Floyd (other)
- Branch Education (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [320: Why Isn't This Working?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-02-14-320-why-isnt-this-working) (Embedded.fm)
- [467: Temporary Axolotl](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2023-12-29-467-temporary-axolotl) (Embedded.fm)
- [134: Diet-Friendly Dog Food](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-01-14-134-diet-friendly-dog-food) (Embedded.fm)
- [323: Snail Appnote](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-03-05-323-snail-appnote) (Embedded.fm)
- [410: Emacs From the Future](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-04-21-410-emacs-from-the-future) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-12-09-just-add-salt. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.