Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#11

Post by myers » Thu, Feb 09, 2023, 10:28 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #6

bcantrill wrote: post #2

Disclaimer: I posted this link -- and hosted the discussion! To the best of my knowledge (and I would love to be proven wrong!), this is the first time an engineering team has gone on the record with their warts-and-all experience with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and safety compliance testing. If you have never heard of compliance before or have no idea what any of this could possibly be about, you're guarant…

Is there a summary I could read, or just some notes to help navigate the presentation? It sounds super interesting but the video is very long to commit to. Thanks!

There are show notes open for PRs for folks to add too. See if someone does over the next few days: https://github.com/oxidecomputer/oxide-and-friends/blob/mast...

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#12

Post by linksnapzz » Thu, Feb 09, 2023, 10:33 PM UTC

This reminds me of a story told by Mike Valentine (of Valentine radar-detector fame) about having to drive home from work near Cincinnati, across the path of the Voice of America WLW AM transmitter. The 500,000watt VOA signal would make the Bosch D-Jetronic fuel system in his Porsche reset itself; the car would stall and you had to be going a certain speed before you intersected the beam so you could coast through and then restart the engine once clear.

The D-Jetronic isn't really microprocessor-controlled though; a similar story came from the Missouri Highway Patrol. In the 1980s, they had pursuit 5.0L Ford Mustangs, with Ford EEC-IV MCU fuel injection. They also had police radios that had been tweaked to increase the transmitting power past what the FCC would consider normal, and past what Ford had rated the EEC unit for EMF. It was discovered that, at highway speeds with the cruise-control on, holding the transmit button on the handset down for more than ten seconds caused:

1.) The engine controller to think the gas pedal had been floored. 2.) The transmission to need to downshift.

With the police-duty 5.0, this was...startling.

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#13

Post by ahl » Thu, Feb 09, 2023, 10:57 PM UTC

myers wrote: post #11

gorgoiler wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a summary I could read, or just some notes to help navigate the presentation? It sounds super interesting but the video is very long to commit to. Thanks!

There are show notes open for PRs for folks to add too. See if someone does over the next few days: https://github.com/oxidecomputer/oxide-and-friends/blob/mast...

Open offer for Oxide and Friends stickers for anyone dropping a PR: https://mastodon.social/@ahl/109598726893101647

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#14

Post by bcantrill » Thu, Feb 09, 2023, 11:01 PM UTC

walkerbrown wrote: post #9

bcantrill wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, those are incredibly kind and inspiring words -- thank you! The good news is that these are all made available via RSS wherever you get podcasts.[0] What I (we!) love about social audio is that it allows for many more voices -- both on the team here at Oxide and in the broader community. As a result, we've been able to get into some really deep detail with members of the team; I collected a few of my favorites i…

Thanks for the links Bryan! May I suggest a small teaser trailer post to the old “On the Metal” feed? I’m still subscribed there, but wasn’t aware of the new channels. Those were some incredible interviews! I’ve listened to a few of the episodes twice.

So glad you enjoyed "On the Metal"! Your suggestion is a great one, and we'll work on this over the next few weeks; stay tuned, and in the meantime, enjoy the "Oxide and Friends" back catalog!

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#15

Post by owenpalmer » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 12:49 AM UTC

Hi Bryan, as a young developer I have found your content and work so inspiring. As others have alluded to, On the Metal and your talks are fantastic! Keep up the good work at Oxide!

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#16

Post by madrush2014 » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 1:02 AM UTC

bcantrill wrote: post #2

Disclaimer: I posted this link -- and hosted the discussion! To the best of my knowledge (and I would love to be proven wrong!), this is the first time an engineering team has gone on the record with their warts-and-all experience with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and safety compliance testing. If you have never heard of compliance before or have no idea what any of this could possibly be about, you're guarant…

> I think the HN demographic will enjoy!

Indeed. Any update on a ship date?

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#17

Post by bcantrill » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 1:37 AM UTC

madrush2014 wrote: post #16

bcantrill wrote: post #2

Disclaimer: I posted this link -- and hosted the discussion! To the best of my knowledge (and I would love to be proven wrong!), this is the first time an engineering team has gone on the record with their warts-and-all experience with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and safety compliance testing. If you have never heard of compliance before or have no idea what any of this could possibly be about, you're guarant…

> I think the HN demographic will enjoy! Indeed. Any update on a ship date?

Compliance was our final hurdle to begin our PVT build so... soon!

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#18

Post by bcantrill » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 1:45 AM UTC

owenpalmer wrote: post #15

Hi Bryan, as a young developer I have found your content and work so inspiring. As others have alluded to, On the Metal and your talks are fantastic! Keep up the good work at Oxide!

That's very meaningful to hear -- thank you!

Part of what we wanted to create with both "On the Metal" and especially with "Friends of Oxide" is something that we (Adam and I) both really appreciated as younger engineers: hanging around the (metaphorical) campfire, absorbing the wisdom of more senior engineers through their lived stories. On the one hand, we have lost a bit of that in that we (broadly) aren't in person, and as a result we don't break bread as much as we used to with the team. But on the other, social audio offers us an even better path: the campfire is not only accessible and open, but recorded -- the tales and wisdom can be absorbed beyond earshot. This was something I was uncertain about when we started, but I have now heard from so many younger engineers for whom "Oxide and Friends" has been meaningful that I can now say it with confidence: social audio is an essential vector for engineering oral tradition -- would that more teams partook!

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#19

Post by gertlex » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 1:58 AM UTC

Is there supposed to be non-static video with this? I just see two still images over the course of the ~hour and forty minutes.

The conversation goes along as if there's periodic pictures to be seen of what's being discussed.

Yeah, just feeling grumpy about this not being a podcast like it used to be :)

Re: Oxide and the Chamber of Mysteries [video]

#20

Post by steveklabnik » Fri, Feb 10, 2023, 2:14 AM UTC

gertlex wrote: post #19

Is there supposed to be non-static video with this? I just see two still images over the course of the ~hour and forty minutes. The conversation goes along as if there's periodic pictures to be seen of what's being discussed. Yeah, just feeling grumpy about this not being a podcast like it used to be :)

I wasn't there for the recording, but I suspect it was only audio.

> just feeling grumpy about this not being a podcast like it used to be :)

In what sense is it not? If you mean about the medium here, you can still get it that way! https://oxide.computer/podcasts/oxide-and-friends has the various links to different ways of getting it in pure podcast form.