# 044 - Scots Army Knife

- Show: [Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast)
- Published: 2021-01-03
- Length: 1h 43m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife
- Listen: https://unnamedre.com/episode/44

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=28) Introduction and 1BitSquared Overview
- [5:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=301) In-House Manufacturing with a Quad 4C Pick-and-Place
- [20:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=1203) The Black Magic Probe and JTAG/SWD Debugging
- [37:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=2252) Geopolitics of RISC-V and FPGAs
- [39:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=2390) The iCEBreaker FPGA Board and Open Source Toolchain
- [45:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=2715) Glasgow: Dynamic Protocol Generation with nmigen
- [59:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=3568) Hardware Safety, Voltage Flexibility, and Applets
- [1:14:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/unnamed-reverse-engineering-podcast/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife#t=4448) Education, Documentation, and Community Streaming

## Topics

- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- 1BitSquared (company)
- Glasgow (product)
- Black Magic Probe (product)
- iCEBreaker (product)
- Quad 4C (tool)
- Neoden (tool)
- nmigen (tool)
- Yosys (tool)
- OpenOCD (tool)
- Bus Pirate (product)
- RISC-V (chip)
- iCE40 (chip)
- STM32 (chip)
- FTDI (chip)
- Crowd Supply (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Hardware, Surveys and Giveaways - Radular Rental Ranting](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-13-hardware-surveys-and-giveaways-radular-rental-ranting) (The Amp Hour)
- [An Interview with Ian Lesnet - Bus Buccaneer Builder](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-12-11-an-interview-with-ian-lesnet-bus-buccaneer-builder) (The Amp Hour)
- [Secret Squirrel](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2017-10-02-secret-squirrel) (The Amp Hour)
- [45: Yanking on a Cat's Tail Is the Only Way to Learn](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-04-02-45-yanking-on-a-cats-tail-is-the-only-way-to-learn) (Embedded.fm)
- [Stories from Teardown 2019](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-07-08-stories-from-teardown-2019) (The Amp Hour)

## 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/2021-01-03-044-scots-army-knife. 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.