Hardware Podcasts

052 - Twitter Is My Lab Notebook

Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast · 26 Oct 2021 · 2h 06m

What this episode covers

Eric (TubeTimeUS) details his reverse engineering of the original Sound Blaster sound card, leveraging online photos and community help to clone the PCB, and discusses sourcing obsolete components from Chinese brokers. He then explains the design and validation of the MOnSter 6502, a massive discrete 6502 processor built from scratch using NMOS logic and the Visual 6502 netlist. Finally, he describes his reverse engineering of the Snappy Video Snapshot, uncovering its use of an Xilinx FPGA configured via the parallel port, and reflects on engineering ethics, regulatory capture, and the importance of using one's brain for troubleshooting.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Creative Labs, Xilinx, Excess Solutions, Fry's Electronics, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, PG&E
Products
Sound Blaster, MOnSter 6502, Snappy Video Snapshot
Tools
Saleae, Ghidra, IDA
Also
Visual 6502, Bill Mensch, Windell Oskay, Lenore Rzedzicki, Bunny Huang, Herta Ayrton, Eric Schlosser, California Public Utilities Commission

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 04m

    Otiose Ontocyclic Opiniasters

    Dave Jones from EEVblog details his frustrating experience designing an Arduino-compatible power supply, citing API incompatibilities in Arduino 1.0 and a bug in the IDE that deletes source files. Chris Gammell discusses his project to integrate an MP3 player into a vintage radio, highlighting the difficulty of sourcing obsolete VLSI Solutions chips and the competitive advantage of Shenzhen's supply chain. The hosts also debate the feasibility of reshoring electronics manufacturing to the US and Australia, the importance of passion in engineering education, and the Haxlr8r hardware startup accelerator.

    Debugging & failure analysisSourcing & supply chain
    6 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 14m

    An Interview with Ken Shirriff

    Ken Shirriff, who runs the blog Righto.com and formerly worked at Google, discusses his reverse engineering of vintage silicon and restoration of historical computing hardware. He details his process for creating die shots of 1970s chips using metallurgical microscopes and chemical etching, and explains the technical challenges of restoring a Xerox Alto computer, including replacing decaying foam and fixing incompatible TTL logic boards. Shirriff also analyzes the internal architecture of Apple power supplies, noting the presence of microcontrollers for safety handshakes, and compares the varied internal designs of standard components like the 555 timer and 741 op-amp across different manufacturers.

    PCB design & layoutDebugging & failure analysis
    10 chapters

  • Hackaday Podcast · 46m

    Ep109: Cars that Suck, a Synth Packed with 555s, X-ray Letter Reading, and Pecking at a PS/2 Keyboard

    Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss a range of hardware hacks, including Ben Eater’s reverse-engineering of the PS/2 keyboard protocol using discrete logic, and Tommy (Oscitone)’s polyphonic synthesizer built with 20 individual 555 timers. They also cover Renee K. Miller’s non-planar 3D printing technique for overhangs, X-ray tomography used to read sealed 17th-century letters, and the history of the Chaparral 2J fan car in Formula One.

    PCB design & layoutPrototyping & iteration
    9 chapters

  • Hackaday Podcast · 1h 01m

    Ep046: Bring Us Your Nonsense, Hack NES Clones, Grasping FPGAs, Music Hacks, & Fish Tank of Random

    Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams review a week of hacks, including Tristan Shone's industrial-chic audio controllers, a fish tank-based random number generator, and the reverse engineering of mini arcade cabinets using NES-on-a-chip clones. They also discuss David Williams' Supercon talk on making FPGAs accessible to hobbyists and debunk a Peugeot marketing stunt involving piezoelectric energy harvesting from city noise.

    Microcontrollers & dev platformsChips, FPGAs & semiconductors
    9 chapters

  • Hackaday Podcast · 1h 23m

    Ep 375: Rebuilding Tech on Our Terms and the Hero Nerd

    Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi discuss the shutdown of the RPiLocator.com tool, a nostalgic time capsule from the chip shortage era. They review listener hacks including a fake bike counter, a graphics upgrade for the Nintendo Entertainment System using a second Picture Processing Unit, and building dynamic RAM from discrete components. The episode also covers a drop-in replacement PCB for the Casio G-Shock watch, DIY robot actuators, and the evolution of the 'hero nerd' archetype in film.

    Prototyping & iterationPCB design & layout
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.