Oxide and Friends

Latest Episodes:

Dead Printers Tell No Tales Oct 24, 2026

Show notes

We've talked about Oxide's Root of Trust--the hardware underpinning the security of the product--but how do we keep a bad actor from spoofing Oxide to load malicious software? Philip Tricca joined Bryan and Adam to describe the key ceremony, the process of creating and storing the secret that plays a critical role in manufacturing. And we paid our respects to the dot matrix printers that made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of security.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Philip Tricca.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!

Oxide's $445M Series D Oct 18, 2026

Show notes

After raising $200M in February... we raised another $445M in July! Your favorite computer company is capitalized to the gills--enough to weather the supply chain upheaval even! Come for co-founders Steve and Bryan describing the raise; stay for tax, debt, and credit talk with Scott Orn.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guests were Steve Tuck and Scott Orn.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

Working on Wicked Problems Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

Wicked problems defy simple solutions. Even as we describe the problem, we may be presupposing particular solutions and narrowing scope. Our greatest, most persistent societal problems fit this model. Wicked problems may not be solvable, but progress can be made. Noah Harlan joins us to describe his technical entrepreneurship battling wicked problems.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Noah Harlan.

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

For Want of a Resistor Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

When the supply chain crunch catches up with you, sometimes a tiny resistor the size of a fleck of pepper is the difference between a world-class computer and... e-waste. Members of the Oxide operations and electrical engineering teams join Bryan and Adam to discuss how close we came to stopping production, for want of a resistor.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Robert "RFK" Keith, Eric Aasen, Scott Tagwerker, and Steve Tuck.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

Bryan's blog: The Contagion of Fear
PRs needed!

Emulating Oxide: How Faux Can You Go? Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

We've been hosting a live show weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour, and recording them all; here is the recording.

How do you test configurations you haven't built yet? Steve, Andrew, and Rain join Bryan and Adam to talk about the transformative power of the Oxide emulation environment, VOXEL, and how it has accelerated development in many domains.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Steve Karam, Andrew Stone, and Rain Paharia.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

OxF s03e06 - Rack-scale Networking (P4 and DDM with Ry Goodfellow)
OxF s01e26 - The Pragmatism of Hubris (with Cliff Biffle)
OxF s03e09 - Get You a State Machine for Great Good (Wicket with Andrew Stone)
OxF s01e25 - Tales from the Bringup Lab
OxF s01e18 - Dijkstra's Tweetstorm
OxF s03e31 - Hiring Processes with Gergely Orosz

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

voxel -- Virtual OXide Emulation Lab: emulated rack deployments on one Helios host (omicron on Falcon/propolis VMs, SoftNPU switches, FRR routers); optional real SP/RoT firmware via sp-emu. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/voxel
Falcon -- tool for standing up virtual network/rack topologies of propolis VMs on illumos for testing. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/falcon
Tofino -- Intel/Barefoot programmable switch ASIC (Tofino 2) in Sidecar; P4-programmable. Discontinued by Intel.
SoftNPU -- software P4 target emulating the switch dataplane, so the stack runs without Tofino hardware. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/softnpu
P4 -- DSL for describing packet-processing pipelines; how the Tofino/SoftNPU dataplane is programmed. https://p4.org
Gimlet -- Oxide's compute sled.
Sidecar -- Oxide's rack switch board, carrying the Tofino 2.
raclette -- reduced-size lab rack (a few sleds + switch) used for dev/test rather than a full 32-sled rack. (my read; unverified)
Hubris -- Rust microkernel/RTOS for the SP and RoT: statically-defined tasks, memory protection, synchronous IPC. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/hubris
Humility -- debugger for Hubris systems; dumps tasks, stacks, ringbufs over SWD. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/humility
a4x2 -- pre-voxel testbed topology: 4 emulated Gimlets, 2 SoftNPU switches, omicron on one Helios host.
trust quorum -- rack secret split into shares across sleds; a quorum must be present to reconstitute the storage-encryption key, so a stolen sled is useless alone. https://docs.oxide.computer/guides/system/initial-rack-setup
illumos -- open-source Solaris-derived OS; the host OS (Helios) is an illumos distro. https://illumos.org
zones -- illumos OS-level virtualization; each control-plane service runs in its own zone.
Scrimlet -- Gimlet attached to a Sidecar ("switch Gimlet"); hosts the switch zone, dpd, MGS.
DDM -- Delay-Driven Multipath, the underlay routing protocol, implemented in Maghemite (ddmd, ddmadm). https://github.com/oxidecomputer/maghemite
Dendrite -- dataplane controller; dpd programs Tofino or SoftNPU and exposes an API to the control plane. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/dendrite
swadm -- CLI against dpd for port config, links, addresses, routes.
A0 -- sled power state where the host is fully powered (vs. A2, standby with the host off); driven by the SP sequencer task.
iCE40 -- Lattice FPGA on Gimlet/Sidecar for power sequencing and board glue logic. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/quartz
PRs needed!

AI Detection with Max Spero Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

More and more, people are relying on AI to do their writing for them. Is this the new normal, or the intellectual equivalent of claiming take-out is your own home cooking? Max Spero, founder and CEO of Pangram, joined Bryan and Adam to discuss how they distinguish AI and human authorship.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Max Spero.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

The Return to the Chamber of Mysteries Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

Oxide returns to the chamber... of EMC compliance to earn FCC approval to sell our next generation rack. Did it go smoothly? If it had, would there be a podcast episode? Oxide teammates Robert, Dan, and Stu join Bryan and Adam to discuss the trials and triumph!

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Robert "RFK" Keith, Dan Chirpich, and Stu Donnan.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

OxF s03e04 - Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

The Open Weight Revolution with Simon Willison Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Simon Willison joined Bryan and Adam to discuss a wild couple of weeks in AI. First, we have a high-profile, AI-induced, AI-diagnosed security incident. Next we have the rise of frontier-class open-weights models. Who's for or against open weights? Do they make for a more or less secure future? Exciting times!

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Simon Willison.

Previously, on Oxide and Friends:

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

The Past, Present, and Future of Digital Storytelling with Ramy Katrib Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Ramy Katrib has been at the forefront of digital storytelling for over 25 years, with his post-production company, DigitalFilm Tree, earning a reputation as one of Hollywood's most technically adventurous post-production houses. He joined Bryan and Adam to explore the past, present, and future of digital storytelling.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Ramy Katrib.

The Oxide 3D Explorer Jun 27, 2026

Show notes

Recently, Oxide rolled out an eye-popping 3D rack explorer at explorer.oxide.computer. Oxide's designer extraordinaire, Ben Leonard, joined Bryan and Adam to describe the process of turning CAD drawings into an interactive site.

In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Oxide colleague, Ben Leonard.

Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:

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