On The Metal

Latest Episodes:

Oxide and Friends Feb 24, 2023

Bryan and Steve are joined by Adam to revisit some highlights from almost two years of the Oxide and Friends live show and podcast.

Bryan’s blog entry on Twitter Spaces: http://dtrace.org/blogs/bmc/2021/05/02/twitter-spaces-a-few-weeks-in/

Oxide and Friends, “Mr. Leventhal, Come here I want you”:
https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/mr-leventhal-come-here-i-want-to-see-you-2021-05-03 (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-WSU3kiXVg#t=28m10s)

Oxide and Friends, “NeXT, Objective-C, and contrasting histories”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/next-objective-c-and-contrasting-histories-2021-07-05

Oxide and Friends, “Tales from the Bringup Lab”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/tales-from-the-bringup-lab-2021-12-06

Flying Blind: Boeing's Max Tragedy and the Lost Soul of an American Icon by Peter Robison: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55994102

Oxide and Friends, “Flying Blind with Peter Robison”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/flying-blind-with-peter-robison-2022-01-10 (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6i9NPslfE4&t=1141s)

Oxide and Friends, “Losing the Signal with Sean Silcoff”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/losing-the-signal-with-sean-silcoff

Oxide and Friends, “The Pragmatism of Hubris”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/the-pragmatism-of-hubris-2021-12-13

Oxide and Friends, “The Books in the Box”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/the-books-in-the-box-2021-09-27

Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster's Inevitable Bust by Alex Payne: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57118893

Oxide and Friends, “Podcasts for Podcast-Lovers”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/podcasts-for-podcast-lovers

Playdate podcast: https://podcast.play.date/

Dijkstra quote on BASIC: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd04xx/EWD498.PDF

Oxide and Friends, “Dijkstra's Tweetstorm”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/dijkstras-tweetstorm-2021-10-18

Oxide and Friends, “Economics and Open Source”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/economics-and-open-source-2021-10-04 (Clip with Tim Burnham reading his tweet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDd8xGSP9DA&t=249s)

Oxide and Friends, “Open Source Inside Baseball (with Stephen O'Grady)”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/open-source-inside-baseball-with-stephen-ogrady

Oxide and Friends, “The Oxide Supply Chain“: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/epi=-sodes/the-oxide-supply-chain Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32774875

Oxide and Friends, “The Rise and Fall of DEC”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/the-rise-and-fall-of-dec (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m6GFs3GuU0&t=12s)

Oxide and Friends, “Potpourri: Product, Platform, Paravirtualization”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization

Oxide and Friends, “Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/oxide-and-the-chamber-of-mysteries

Oxide and Friends, “Theranos, Silicon Valley, and the March Madness of Tech Fraud”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/theranos-silicon-valley-and-the-march-madness-of-tech-fraud-2021-09-20 (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdk9CKML2g&t=2901s)

Bad Bets Season 2, “The Unraveling of Trevor Milton”: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-journal/8whnlvj

Oxide and Friends, “Engineering Incentives... and Misincentives”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/engineering-incentives-and-misincentives (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU4WT5RZAPY&t=461s)

Oxide and Friends, “The Power of Proto Boards!”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/the-power-of-proto-boards

Oxide and Friends, “A Debugging Odyssey”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/a-debugging-odyssey

Oxide and Friends, “Debugging Methodologies”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/debugging-methodologies

Oxide and Friends, “from /proc to proc_macro”: https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/from-proc-to-proc_macro-2021-05-24 (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85eApYSj3ic&t=108s)

Oxide and Friends, “Tech Layoffs”:

Ken Shirriff Jan 26, 2021

You can find Ken on Twitter at twitter.com/kenshirriff and his blog righto.com.

- Soyuz blog post:

http://www.righto.com/2020/01/inside-digital-clock-from-soyuz.html

- IBM System/370: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370

- Amdahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl_Corporation

- Build Your Own Z80 Computer:

https://books.google.com/books?id=mVQnFgWzX0AC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

- Euler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler

- Commodore PET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET

- TRS-80 (Trash-80): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 https://techland.time.com/2012/08/03/trs-80/

- Visual 6502: http://www.visual6502.org/

- MOS 6502: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502

- Metallurgy microscope: https://www.amscope.com/compound-microscopes/metallurgical-microscopes.html

- AM2900: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Am2900

- MOS transistor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET

- Cray-1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1

- Intel 4004: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004

- Datapoint 2200: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200

- Intel 8008: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8008

- Endianness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness

- TTL chips: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor%E2%80%93transistor_logic

- Big Endian and Little Endian:

https://chortle.ccsu.edu/AssemblyTutorial/Chapter-15/ass15_3.html

- Xerox Alto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

- Charles Simonyi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Simonyi

- Punched cards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card

- Why did line printers have 132 columns?:

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/7838/why-did-line-printers-have-132-columns

- Teletype 33: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33

- Analogue computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer

- Analogue computer thread: https://twitter.com/kenshirriff/status/1223675683387265024

- Differential analyser: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_analyser

- Bitcoin mining on a 1401:

http://www.righto.com/2015/05/bitcoin-mining-on-55-year-old-ibm-1401.html

- Mining bitcoin with pencil and paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3dqhixzGVo

- Bitcoin mining on a Xerox Alto:

http://www.righto.com/2017/07/bitcoin-mining-on-vintage-xerox-alto.html

- Bitcoin mining on the Apollo Guidance computer:

http://www.righto.com/2019/07/bitcoin-mining-on-apollo-guidance.html

- Colossus computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer

- Accounting machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_machine

- Memory phosphor: https://www.britannica.com/science/memory-phosphor

- Rowhammer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_hammer

- Core memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory

- Williams tube: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube

- Core rope memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory

- Honeywell 800: https://people.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/h800.html

- Honeywell 1800: https://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/doc-4372956da1170/

http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-h.html#HONEYWELL-1800

- SPARC delayed branching:

https://arcb.csc.ncsu.edu/~mueller/codeopt/codeopt00/notes/delaybra.html

- IBM 360 Model 50: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360_Model_50

- RR Auction: https://www.rrauction.com/

Star Simpson Jan 18, 2021

You can find Star on Twitter at https://twitter.com/starsandrobots.

Super Munchers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchers
Metrowerks CodeWarrior: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeWarrior
RadioShack (RIP): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack
"Marilyn Monroe's World War II Drone Program": https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/upshot/marilyn-monroes-world-war-ii-drone-program.html
Radioplane Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioplane_Company
Piasecki PA-97: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PA-97
TacoCopter: https://tacocopter.com/
TacoCopter on HackerNews: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3742676
TacoCopter's cameo on Stephen Colbert: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/53yh09/the-colbert-report-thought-for-food---tacocopter
Wired on TacoCopter: https://www.wired.com/2012/03/qa-with-tacocopter/
FAA Section 333 (now Section 44807): https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/certification/section_44807/
FAA Part 107: https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/part_107_summary.pdf
Canidu: http://www.canidu.com/
Boeing 737 MAX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAX
Road train: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_train
Checklists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checklist
United Airlines Channel 9: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/726789-consolidated-interesting-things-heard-channel-9-thread-merged.html
United Airlines ad from 1990: https://www.youtube.com/watch/mU2rpcAABbA
TRACON-II PC game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracon_II
National Transportation Safety Board: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Transportation_Safety_Board
ValuJet 592: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ValuJet_Flight_592
Amelia Earhart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart
Skunk Works by Ben Johnson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101438.Skunk_Works
Lockheed Skunk Works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Johnson_(engineer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_(Unix_shell)
Who Owns the Sky?: The Struggle to Control Airspace from the Wright Brothers On by Stuart Banner: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6402086-who-owns-the-sky
Turbulent Skies by T. A. Heppenheimer: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1492469.Turbulent_Skies
Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinget: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/438607.Hard_Landing
SKYGODS: The Fall of Pan Am by Robert Gandt: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13010881-skygod
Deregulation Knockouts: Round One by Tom Norwood: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4718255-deregulation-knockouts
Convertiplane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convertiplane
The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey by Richard Whittle: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8008152-the-dream-machine

John Graham-Cumming Jan 11, 2021

You can find John on Twitter at [twitter.com/jgrahamc](https://twitter.com/jgrahamc).

- Babbage overview and the Difference Engine:

https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/overview/

- Difference Engine No. 2 at the London Science Museum:

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co526657/difference-engine-no-2-designed-by-charles-babbage-built-by-science-museum-difference-engine

- BBC Micro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro

- Sinclair ZX81: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81

- BBC Micro Advanced User Guide:

http://stardot.org.uk/mirrors/www.bbcdocs.com/filebase/essentials/BBC%20Microcomputer%20Advanced%20User%20Guide.pdf

- Sharp MZ-80K: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_MZ

- John's TED Talk, The greatest machine that never was: https://www.ted.com/talks/john_graham_cumming_the_greatest_machine_that_never_was

- Hilbert's Problems: https://mathworld.wolfram.com/HilbertsProblems.html

- Gödel's incompleteness theorems: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/goedel-incompleteness/

- The Lovelace–De Morgan mathematical correspondence - A critical re-appraisal: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0315086017300319

- The mathematical correspondence of Ada Lovelace and Augustus De Morgan:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2867731.2867738

- Douglas Engelbart: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Douglas-Engelbart

- "Mother of all demos": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY

- John's OSCON talk "Turing's Curse": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVZxkFAIziA

- Design of the RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture:

https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~krste/papers/EECS-2016-1.pdf

- Engines of Creation - The Coming Era of Nanotechnology: https://www.amazon.com/Engines-Creation-Nanotechnology-Scientific-Revolution/dp/1872180469/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Jess, Steve, and Bryan reflect on Season 1 Feb 03, 2020