An Interview with Ken Shirriff
06 Nov 2017
This week we were joined by the incredible IC reverse engineer,
Ken Shirriff
. You may know him from his Hack A Day Super Conference
talk
in 2016 or his
blog
’s many posts (
Counterfeit chips
,
ARM 1 chip
, and
Sinclair Calculator
). We covered quite a number of restorations (
Visual6502 project
,
8008 microprocessor
- Ken’s restoration
details
)
He is currently working the
Xerox Alto Restoration
and we talked not only about the hardware but the microcode and software restoration. Software languages we touched on were the C predecessor,
BCPL
and object oriented language
Smalltalk
. There are number of resources out there restoring and archiving computing history:
Resources for getting started with analog circuits at transistor level:
-
“
Microelectronics Circuits
”
Sedra and Smith
(covers all your favorite circuits like current mirroring)
-
Start with die photos… analyzing is much smaller and easier
-
When finally working hands on cheap
acids
for consumer hobbyists (aka glass etchers) also work on ICs to remove layers
-
LTSpice
(circuit simulator and product that gives Jen college-aged anxiety)
HackaDay
Superconference
coming up. Everyone on the show (
here
and
here
) have spoke at this conference. Ken and Alvaro will be there!
Have comments or suggested names for the show? Find us on twitter
@unnamed_show
, or hit us up at on the
comment form
. If you still cannot find us, goto
http://unnamedre.com
An Interview with Micah Elizabeth Scott
13 Oct 2017
We spoke with Micah Scott (
@scanlime
), the original inspiration for this podcast. She gave us a rundown of her past and current projects which run the gamut of consumer toys, art installations, and telling a story through technology exploration. Her past projects include
coastemelt
,
Wacom tablet
, and
Fadecandy
.
We also talked about her challenges on
Sifteo
with limited architectures and resources. We tackled some basic computer
architecture types
.
The latest project is
Winchbot
where viewers can watch
Tuco
and the other kitties. Micah broke down reverse engineering the gimbal motors with
Sigrok
. We swapped favorite tools (
ipython
) and Jen lost a bet. You can follow Micah along on her
YouTube channel
and support her on
Patreon
.
Have comments or suggested names for the show? Find us on twitter
@unnamed_show
, or hit us up at on the
comment form
. If you still cannot find us, goto
http://unnamedre.com
You can find Jen on twitter
@rebelbotjen
and
http://rebelbot.com
as well as Alvaro (who was on
Embedded.fm
) on twitter
@alvaroprieto
and
http://alvarop.com
.
Music by
TeknoAxe
(
http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe
)
Jen and Alvaro's Projects
17 Sep 2017
In this episode, Jen and Alvaro talk about some current events and some basic reverse engineering projects they’ve worked on.
Some of the topics covered were:
Radiolab
episode
Vintage computer festival
where Jen found
@foone
for all your floppy needs.
Reverse Engineering PCB’s with a synchrotron
Alvaro’s Keyboard Reverse Engineering project
but more information on HID USB is on this
page
including tools and values sent to keyboard data.
Jen’s
Hello Barbie
project <
link
> but also
Digital Dress Barbie
(Barbie’s first wearable!). Jen used the
TL866A USB Universal Minipro Programmer
Somerset Recon Barbie RE
http://binvis.io/
What is ABI? Get caught up
here
.
Getting started with Reverse Engineering? Checkout
https://challenges.re/
Have comments or suggested names for the show? Find us on twitter
@unnamed_show
, or hit us up at on the
comment form
.
An interview with Dmitry Grinberg
30 Aug 2017
In this episode, Jen and Alvaro chat with Dmitry Grinberg (
http://dmitry.gr
).
Some of the things we talked about:
Here's a photo of Jen's Dreamcast, controller, and VMU.
We had some slight technical issues with our microphone halfway through the podcast. Luckily the backup was working, but doesn't sound quite as good :(
Have comments or suggested names for the show? Find us on twitter
@unnamed_show
, or hit us up at on the
comment form
.
You can find Jen on twitter
@rebelbotjen
and
http://rebelbot.com
as well as Alvaro on twitter
@alvaroprieto
and
http://alvarop.com
.
First episode!
15 Aug 2017
In this episode, Jen and Alvaro talk about their new, yet to be named, Reverse Engineering Podcast.
Some of the links we talked about through the show:
@scanlime
’s awesome reverse engineering stuff.
MTVRE Meetup
Halt and Catch Fire
Security conferences:
DEFCON
,
blackhat
,
REcon
“Hardware/mechanical” reverse engineering example:
Auto-syphon reverse engineering
Boost Converter with Water
Ethereal/Wireshark
packet analyzer.
Alvaro’s
apgForm
php script.
Ken Shirriff
’s great blog.
Various places to buy components in the SF Bay Area:
Fry’s
,
HSC Surplus
,
Weird Stuff Warehouse
,
JameCo
, and
Evil Mad Scientist Labs
Next episode will be with guest Dmitry Grinberg!
http://dmitry.gr/
Have comments or suggested names for the show? Find us on twitter @unnamed_show, or hit us up at on the
comment form
.
You can find Jen on twitter
@rebelbotjen
and
http://rebelbot.com
as well as Alvaro on twitter
@alvaroprieto
and
http://alvarop.com
.
