Oxide and Friends
Oxide and Friends
Oxide Computer Company
Oxide hosts a weekly Discord show where we discuss a wide range of topics: computer history, startups, Oxide hardware bringup, and other topics du jour. These are the recordings in podcast form. Join us live (usually Mondays at 5pm PT) https://discord.gg/gcQxNHAKCB Subscribe to our calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/c_318925f4185aa71c4524d0d6127f31058c9e21f29f017d48a0fca6f564969cd0%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
The Open Weight Revolution with Simon Willison
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:OxF: Shell Game with Evan RatliffOxF: Discovering the XZ Backdoor with Andres FreundOxF: Predictions 2025OxF: Predictions 2026!!OxF: Bookclub: How Life Works by Philip BallOxF: OpenAI's Boardroom BrawlSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Gerald the turkey terrorizes Oakland's rose gardenABC7: Gerald the turkey and the Morcom Rose GardenAPD cautions residents after aggressive wild turkey attacks elderly AlamedanHawking radiationDHH's racist complaintsGrok's "MechaHitler" antisemitic spreeSimon on Grok aka "MechaHitler"Hugging Face security incident, July 2026OpenAI on the Hugging Face model evaluation security incidentGreg Brockman's political donations and the Leading the Future super PACOpenAI co-founder and wife donate $5.5M to save the home of bald eagles Jackie and ShadowFirecracker microVMMeltdown (security vulnerability)Kernel page-table isolationJensen Huang on XElectronic design automationGolden Gate ClaudeTethicsHalloween documentsZiziansBiohazard (book)CRISPROliver Sacks: criticism and falsificationsHow Alice Hamilton waged a one-woman campaign to get the lead out of everythingAmerican Poison by Daniel StoneLead–crime hypothesisPope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas encyclicalRerum novarumIf 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!
Jul 31
1 hr 24 min
The Past, Present, and Future of Digital Storytelling with Ramy Katrib
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.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!
Jul 23
1 hr 4 min
The Oxide 3D Explorer
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:The Explorerits repoPierre Lamond oral historyPRs needed!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!
Jun 27
1 hr 14 min
The Hardest Kind of Unsafe Rust
We love Rust for how much the compiler helps enforce safety. But sometimes it's up to us to uphold the complex--and often unclear--expectations of what constitutes safety on our own. Oxide colleague, Rain, joins Bryan and Adam to talk about the technical details of what it takes to impose safety on the hardest type of unsafe Rust.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest star, Rain Paharia,Previously on Oxide and Friends:OxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s03e01 - Predictions 2023!Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Oxide Blog: iddqd, or the hardest kind of unsafe RustPRs needed!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!
Jun 13
1 hr 28 min
This Old Repo: LLMs and the Restoration of BattleTris
Bryan and Adam discuss the process of restoring a software project--BattleTris--untouched and unbuilt in over 20 years! How did LLMs help restore code Bryan started in the mid-1990s and what does that teach us about developing and maintaining software in the future?Your hosts were Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal.Previously on Oxide and FriendsOxF s03e24 - Fork in the road for Terraform?OxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s06e01 - Predictions 2026!!Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:BattleTris on githubSurge 2011 ~ Closing Plenary ~ Theo SchlossnagleFrom the Governor of DelawareIf 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!
Jun 9
1 hr 18 min
Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel
Two years ago we introduced listeners to the Oakland Ballers, the startup returning baseball to the city of Oakland. Bryan and Adam were joined again by Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel to discuss the Ballers first two--highly successful--seasons, and to announce some exciting new collaborations between the Ballers and Oxide!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Paul Freedman, Bryan Carmel, and Steve Tuck.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:OxF S4 E11: A Baseball Startup with Paul Freedman and Bryan CarmelOxF S4 E7: Data VisualizationBryan's blog: A parade in OaklandBallers x Oxide hackathonIf 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!
May 27
1 hr 2 min
The Tale of Reverso
Oxide ships a rack scale system--how to test the manufacturing of the backplane and switches? Previously we've been using a collection of sacrificial servers, but this was unwieldy, expensive, and unscalable--all big problems as we ramp up manufacturing to 100s a month! Enter "Reverso", an extremely simple test fixture, that uncovered an extremely complex bug.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Oxide colleagues, Robert "RFK" Keith, Adam "The Hammer" Suczewski, and Matt Keeter.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s01e26 - The Pragmatism of HubrisOxF s01e24 - The Sidecar SwitchOxF s03e13 - The Network Behind the NetworkOxF s05e23 - Adventures in Data CorruptionSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Adam Leventhal, Hardware EngineerdendritePaddle-to-the-SeaPRs needed!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!
May 16
1 hr 6 min
AI in Computer Science Education
AI is an existential topic for all aspects of education--for none more so than Computer Science. Bryan and Adam were joined by Kathi Fisler and Shriram Krishnamurthi, professors of Computer Science at Brown, to discuss their experimental introductory course that strongly incorporates agentic programming. What do students take away from their "smoke the whole pack" approach?In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Shriram Krishnamurthi, Kathi Fisler, and Will.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:OxF s5e29: AI in Higher Education with Michael LittmanGreenspun's tenth ruleAndy van DamBrown CS15 TetrisWesleyan TetrisGenerating Programs Trivially: Student Use of Large Language ModelsData-Centricity: A Challenge and Opportunity for Computing Education -- Shriram Krishnamurthi and Kathi FislerLLMs ⭢ Regular Expressions, Responsibly!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!
May 10
1 hr 29 min
Mechanical Engineering at Oxide [chapter images]
Bryan and Adam were joined by members of the Oxide mechanical engineering team to talk the mechanical challenges of building a rack-scale computer, and--in particular--of scaling manufacturing from just a few racks to hundreds. NOTE: Keep an eye on the chapter art for the pictures under discussion.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Oxide Colleagues Elliott Donlon, Brooks Willis, Doug Wibben, and Ben Williams.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Topic[@M:SS](link into recording) Leventhal's ConundrumPRs needed!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!
May 7
1 hr 24 min
Are LLMs Insufficently Lazy?
Brogrammer Garry Tan has been boasting about "writing" tens of thousands of lines of code each day as the paragon of productivity. Is this really the right way to think about building systems? Bryan and Adam were joined by Polish software engineer, Gregorein, who took a closer look into what Tan was generating to discuss what was found.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our guest (who we introduced a mere 4 minutes in) was gregorein.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Gregorein's twitter threadBryan's blog: The Peril of Laziness LostPRs needed!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!
May 3
1 hr 31 min
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