The Amp Hour · 26 Jan 2026 · 1h 09m · Episode 713
Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss the recent public falling out between SparkFun and Adafruit, which resulted in Adafruit losing the right to resell the Teensy microcontroller board designed by Paul Stoffregen. They analyze the technical implications of the Teensy's proprietary NDA-protected bootloader and explore how the RP2350 chip's Programmable IO (PIO) state machines offer a versatile alternative for custom hardware. The conversation also covers Chris's use of the Zephyr RTOS for embedded development, AI-assisted coding tools, and portable debugging via terminal apps on mobile devices.
Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.
Engineering & simulationCloud Code
Chris Gammell used the Cloud Code AI tool to generate code for a menu system and real-time operating system integration in Zephyr, which he found to be as effective as a junior firmware engineer.
“I switched over using Cloud Code for that. And it's been good. Not like perfect, but good. Probably as good as a junior firmware engineer and probably better than, you know, I'm not that good.”
Chris Gammell · Hear it at 36:06
early-stage companies
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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.
The host reviews the April Electromaker of the Month winners, including a biomechanical robotic hand and a machine-learning-controlled RC plane, before discussing the ESP32 versus Raspberry Pi Pico debate, highlighting the Pi Pico's PIO capabilities for VGA rendering. He then covers new hardware announcements such as the Arduino Portenta X8 single-board computer and its Max carrier board, the ShaRPiKeebo tiny Linux deck, and the papered.ink e-paper display board, while also reflecting on the implications of remote kill switches in John Deere tractors.
Hosts Carl and Corey revisit topics from their first 31 episodes, discussing the NXP acquisition of Freescale, MakerBot's layoffs, and Tesla's certified pre-owned program and Powerwall. They also analyze the John Deere firmware ownership controversy, the performance trade-offs of No-OS and Lua on microcontrollers, and the evolution of the Raspberry Pi. The episode highlights specific components like NXP current-sensing MOSFETs and the PCA8550 I2C dip switch, while addressing software bugs in Boeing 787 generator control units and the importance of checking simple parts like LDOs.
The host covers OpenCut, an open-source quadruped framework by Petoy using the Arduino-based Nyboard, and two Low Level Learning tutorials on using embedded Rust with the Raspberry Pi Pico and Arduino Uno. He highlights a modular synthesizer project by Joshua Coleman controlled by an Apple II via a DAC, and Iran Fiet’s Atari 2600 tennis interface. The episode concludes with news on the Mico RP2040 USB PDM microphone, the new Raspberry Pi network-bootable bootloader, and updates to the Arduino CLI and CadQuery CAD tool.
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys review the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, highlighting its RP2040 chip, dual Cortex-M0+ cores, and unique Programmable IO (PIO) hardware for precise bit-banging. They also discuss an Amazon Echo Flex teardown revealing a hardware-based microphone killswitch, and a 45-degree 3D printer that eliminates the need for support structures by angling the nozzle. The episode covers various community hacks, including a wall-sized pen plotter, an open-source RC protocol, and a Dubai LED bulb design focused on longevity.
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