# 002 - Cheap And Easy

- Show: [Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast)
- Published: 2017-08-30
- Length: 55m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy
- Listen: https://unnamedre.com/episode/2

## Summary

Dmitry Grinberg, a hardware hacker and reverse engineer, discusses his journey from writing PalmOS utilities as a teenager to his recent projects involving the Sega Dreamcast VMU and Cypress PSoC 4 microcontrollers. He details the technical challenges of reverse engineering the VMU's Maple bus protocol, creating an IDA Pro plugin for its custom Sanyo 68K CPU, and writing an ARM emulator to run C code on the device. Grinberg also explains how he exploited the PSoC 4's supervisory ROM to dump its firmware and uncripple lower-end chips by removing market segmentation restrictions.

## Chapters

- [0:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=30) Introduction and Early Career
- [3:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=207) PalmOS Development and SDHC Driver
- [8:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=526) Dreamcast VMU Reverse Engineering
- [13:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=791) Maple Bus Protocol and IDA Pro Plugin
- [26:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=1561) ARM Emulator and Linux on 8-bit
- [39:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy#t=2361) PSoC 4 ROM Dumping and Uncrippling

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Dmitry Grinberg (other)
- PalmOS (other)
- Sega Dreamcast (product)
- VMU (product)
- Maple Bus (other)
- Saleae Logic 16 (tool)
- IDA Pro (tool)
- Cypress PSoC 4 (chip)
- J-Link (tool)
- U-Link (tool)
- STM32 (chip)
- Linux (other)
- AVR (chip)

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- [Ep 387: Superhuman Clocks, CAN in USB-C, and the Joys of Bare Metal](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2026-09-18-ep-387-superhuman-clocks-can-in-usb-c-and-the-joys-of-bare-metal) (Hackaday Podcast)
- [Ep094: Fake Sun, Hacked Super Mario, Minimum Viable Smart Glasses, and 3D Printers Can't Do That](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2020-11-20-ep094-fake-sun-hacked-super-mario-minimum-viable-smart-glasses-and-3d-printers-c) (Hackaday Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2017-08-30-002-cheap-and-easy. 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 Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast.