The world of embedded systems (Changelog Interviews #624)

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Elecia White, host of Embedded.fm and author of Making Embedded Systems, joins us to discuss all things embedded systems. We discuss programming non-computers, open source resources for embedded, self-driving cars, embedded system like the GoPro, Traeger smokers, and even birthday cards. According to Elecia, embedded is going everywhere.

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Sponsors:

• Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
• Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps close to your users — global Anycast load-balancing, zero-configuration private networking, hardware isolation, and instant WireGuard VPN connections. Push-button deployments that scale to thousands of instances. Check out the speedrun to get started in minutes.
• DeleteMe – Text CHANGELOG to 64000 to join DeleteMe. They make it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online.

Featuring:

• Elecia White – Website, LinkedIn
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

• Embedded.fm
• Making Embedded Systems: Patterns for Software Development (Amazon)
• Making Embedded Systems (ClasspertX)
• Wokwi
• MicroPython on GitHub
• Nordic Thingy:91 X – Prototyping cellular IoT and Wi-Fi locationing
• FreeRTOS
• Adafruit
• Kalman filter (Wikipedia)
• Chibitronics
• CrunchLabs
• FIRST Inspires
• Hackster.io
• Hackaday
• Instructables Circuits
• A Smart Lamp That Wakes You Up at the Optimal Time (Instructables)
• Open Source Hardware Summit (2025)
• CrowdSupply Teardown (Portland 2025)
• Hackaday SuperCon (2024)
• Hardwear.io
• Electronica

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

章节

1. This week on The Changelog (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Augment Code (00:01:07)

https://www.augmentcode.com

3. Start the show!! (00:04:36)

4. When NPR calls (00:06:40)

5. What is embedded? (00:08:22)

6. Programming non-computers (00:12:08)

7. How Elecia got started (00:16:40)

8. The moment of discovery (00:19:12)

9. Mentoring for embedded (00:20:48)

10. Wokwi is cool (00:23:42)

11. The chasm between sim and real (00:27:15)

12. The constraints of embedded (00:31:48)

13. Sponsor: Fly.io (00:36:01)

https://fly.io/

14. How big is the embedded world? (00:38:30)

15. Open source + embedded (00:42:27)

16. Elecia loves Kalman filters! (00:43:57)

17. Elecia's thoughts on self-driving cars (00:47:42)

18. Self-driving on a closed-system (00:57:05)

19. GoPro is embedded (00:59:07)

20. Traeger smokers are embedded (01:03:07)

21. Sponsor: DeleteMe (01:09:14)

https://joindeleteme.com

22. What do you want to build next? (01:11:09)

23. CrunchLabs! (01:14:30)

24. What else is cool? (01:17:37)

25. Embedded is going everywhere (01:19:30)

26. IoT, let us 'opt out' (01:24:49)

27. Embedded.fm and other places (01:28:26)

28. Wrapping up (01:32:34)

29. Closing thoughts and stuff (01:32:58)

30. BONUS teaser :) (01:35:54)