On this episode of On the Metal, we interview Ken Shirriff, long-time computer programmer, retro computer aficionado, analog computer programmer, and miner of bitcoin by hand. Join us as we talk about breaking down silicon wafers, restoring old computers, what computers Ken grew up with, and even mining bitcoin on an array of different computers.

Ken Shirriff

As a part of starting Oxide Computer Company, Bryan Cantrill and Jess Frazelle decided to also create the podcast that they always wanted.  Joined frequently by their boss, Steve Tuck, Bryan and Jess interview incredible guests retelling stories of adventure at the hardware/software interface.  It’s unapologetically technical and as Jess says, “the nerdiest podcast on the face of the planet” -- but if you're their kind of nerd, you'll find yourself hanging on every word!

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

History

Society & Culture

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”: 

Oxide and Friends

You can find Star on Twitter at https://twitter.com/starsandrobots.Super Munchers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MunchersMetrowerks CodeWarrior: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeWarriorRadioShack (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.htmlRadioplane Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioplane_CompanyPiasecki PA-97: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PA-97TacoCopter: https://tacocopter.com/TacoCopter on HackerNews: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3742676TacoCopter's cameo on Stephen Colbert: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/53yh09/the-colbert-report-thought-for-food---tacocopterWired 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.pdfCanidu: http://www.canidu.com/Boeing 737 MAX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAXRoad train: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_trainChecklists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChecklistUnited Airlines Channel 9: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/726789-consolidated-interesting-things-heard-channel-9-thread-merged.htmlUnited Airlines ad from 1990: https://www.youtube.com/watch/mU2rpcAABbATRACON-II PC game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracon_IINational Transportation Safety Board: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Transportation_Safety_BoardValuJet 592: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ValuJet_Flight_592Amelia Earhart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_EarhartSkunk Works by Ben Johnson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101438.Skunk_WorksLockheed Skunk Works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_WorksClarence "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-skyTurbulent Skies by T. A. Heppenheimer: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1492469.Turbulent_SkiesHard Landing by Thomas Petzinget: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/438607.Hard_LandingSKYGODS: The Fall of Pan Am by Robert Gandt: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13010881-skygodDeregulation Knockouts: Round One by Tom Norwood: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4718255-deregulation-knockoutsConvertiplane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConvertiplaneThe Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey by Richard Whittle: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8008152-the-dream-machine



Star Simpson

On this episode of On the Metal, we interview John Graham-Cumming. Some folks might know John as the CTO of Cloudflare, but he is also a great source of knowledge about computer history including Turing, Babbage, and Lovelace.  Join us as we step back in time and learn about how John got started in computers, hacking his school's network to make his own network faster, and all sorts of details of computing history.

John Graham-Cumming

Welp, that's a wrap for the first season of the On the Metal podcast. Join us as we reminisce about some of our favorite parts (although it was very hard to choose). We also uncover some aspects of the podcast you never heard about! While this is the end of the first season, we absolutely cannot wait for the second season. Thank you so much for listening, we will be back soon!

Ken Shirriff

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