oss
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🧹 zephyr-snmp v0.1.0 - a huge cleanup!
zephyr-snmp adds SNMP v1 and v2c support to the Zephyr RTOS. It started as a port of the lwIP SNMP code, and along the way I concluded it would be easier to maintain if it went fully Zephyr-native: Zephyr code style, Zephyr APIs, etc. What …
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🛰️ Simple IoT now processes GPS data
Simple IoT can now read position data from a serial NMEA receiver, from gpsd, or from a simulator, and hand it to VictoriaMetrics and Grafana for storage and viewing.
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🧊 Why small teams have to be good at borrowing
Large and small teams differ in many ways, but one difference stands out: how much of the system gets built versus borrowed. Compared to large teams, small teams must borrow a lot more than they build. If we use the iceberg analogy, a lot m…
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⚖️ Exercise: Build vs Borrow
In the course of product development we build and we borrow components. Some examples of each: Build: Write code (create software) Design a PCB (printed circuit board) Design a custom mechanical component Create a custom test setup Borrow…
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🪑 The missing leg of reliability
After a conversation with Tim Bird about Space-Grade Linux, an idea about reliability emerged. The obvious legs of reliable systems are design and testing. What is less obvious is the third leg: active users. Use, coupled with the ability t…
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🚀 How far do you take releases?
Thus far, we have defined a release as something that is useful and high-quality. Typically, we think of a release as something formal - v1.3.8 that is packaged, built, and announced. But we can push this further. What about pull requests? …
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🤝 The benefits of sharing
I wrote my first Claude plugin that packages up some commands that I use in about every project I work on. This plugin allows me to have these commands globally so I don’t have to keep copying them from project to project. Although the comm…
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🗂️ Git has an unfortunate name
Git, which was created 20 years, and various hosting platforms, has revolutionized software development workflow and collaboration. The name Git was chosen by its creator, Linus Torvalds, and has a humorous backstory rooted in both practica…
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📧 Top vs bottom posting in email
I was thinking about computing history this morning, and I wonder how many young people even know that bottom posting in email is even a thing? Some of the older OSS projects still have this culture, but I suspect that most emails sent toda…
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🤝 Modern product development is a collaborative endeavor
There is no way around this – even if you are a Company of One. You must collaborate with: ▶ OSS communities who provide the tools and software you use, ▶ Your customers – if you are not learning from them, you probably won’t understand and…
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🧑💻 How can we increase developer productivity?
“The way you get programmer productivity is not by increasing the lines of code per programmer per day. That doesn’t work. The way you get programmer productivity is by eliminating lines of code you have to write.The line of code that’s the…
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🌱 OSS can decrease or increase your code liability
A wise person once said: “Code is a liability, not an asset. Aim to have as little of it as possible.” Whether the open-source code in your projects is an asset or a liability depends on how you handle it. Almost all code in complex syste…
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😊 How can you make your commercial source code customers happy?
When engaging with a community around an open-source project, Github is likely the lowest friction option. It makes sense. But there are other scenarios – one is where you are delivering closed-source commercial source code to customers. Gi…
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🚀 Advanced technology and small players
Integrated circuits (IC) vary widely in complexity from the small devices that are easily documented and understood to complex beasts that would require a stack of books and years to fully document. If you are a high-volume manufacturer of …
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🤝 What happens when someone else tries to use your work?
It does not build on machine X … It does not work in scenario Y … It is hard to understand by developer Z … As developers, we naturally avoid the rough edges of whatever we are working on – it hurts. When other developers try to build/run o…
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🐙 Github and why does it matter?
For the last two days, we have been discussing aspects of several high-quality Yocto BSPs. Another characteristic of these three BSPs is that they are all hosted on Github. Yes, there are many other platforms you can host Git repositories o…
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🔁 Tracking upstream and why does it matter?
Yesterday, we discussed three Yocto BSP layers that are exceptional: meta-tegra (69 contributors) meta-freescale (174 contributors) meta-raspberrypi (157 contributors) The above three layers make an effort to keep up with upstream develop…
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🔧 What makes a good Yocto BSP?
As we evaluate technology to use in our platforms, Yocto Embedded Linux BSPs often come into the mix. Recently we talked with Matt Madison, who maintains the meta-tegra BSP layer, which provides Yocto support for Nvidia’s embedded processor…
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🌱 Culture
What type of culture do platforms thrive in? Where ideas are valued and evaluated on merit and truth. Where initiative is rewarded. Where mistakes result in process improvements, not scoldings. Where openness and transparency are the standa…
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Why Open Source for Product Development
(this topic is also discussed in a podcast episode) One of the paradoxes in product development is Open Source. How can you personally or as a company benefit from participating in Open Source projects? Why should you share your great ideas…