Jon Masters

On this episode of On the Metal, we interview Jon Masters, computer architecture raconteur, microprocessor enfant terrible, and Patron Saint of Lost Computational Causes. Join us as we learn why Jon hates simultaneous multithreading, why he loves UEFI (?!) -- and when we can expect the supremacy of the quantum blockchain.

Show Notes

You can find Jon on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jonmasters.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• "Negative Result: Reading Kernel Memory From User Mode" (blog post from July 2017): https://cyber.wtf/2017/07/28/negative-result-reading-kernel-memory-from-user-mode/
• Spectre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(security_vulnerability)
• Meltdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meltdown_(security_vulnerability)
• Speculative execution: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/261792-what-is-speculative-execution
• ICL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computers_Limited
• Hacker News front page, January 1st, 2018: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2018-01-01
• Boogie Nights, the death of Little Bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFX-qfYbHKg
• BBC Micro 6502: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro
• BBC Master: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Master
• Storage Wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_Wars
• PA-8000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PA-8000
• SPARCbook 3000ST: https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/04/01/sparcbook-3000st-the-coolest-90s-laptop-sparc-vintagecomputing-retrocomputing-eckmeister/
• Itanium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itanium
• McKinley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Itanium_microprocessors#McKinley_(180_nm)
• Leon Czolgosz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz
• Humartia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia
• Transmeta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmeta
• Transmeta Crusoe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmeta_Crusoe
• Richard (Dick) Sites: https://sites.google.com/site/dicksites/
• Dick Sites, "It's the Memory, Stupid!": http://cva.stanford.edu/classes/cs99s/papers/architects_look_to_future.pdf
• John Crawford: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crawford_(engineer)
• John Hennessy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Hennessy
• Kernel page-table isolation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_page-table_isolation
• Hot Chips 30 keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XzVF0sAZo
• Panel at Hot Chips 30 keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XzVF0sAZo#t=1h17m
• The Omega Directive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Directive
• L1TF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreshadow_(security_vulnerability)
• iDRACula: https://www.servethehome.com/idracula-vulnerability-impacts-millions-of-legacy-dell-emc-servers/
• MDS, including Zombieload and RIDL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microarchitectural_Data_Sampling
• Heartbleed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbleed
• Lazy FPU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_FP_state_restore
• Pentium FDIV bug: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug
• Pentium F00F bug: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_F00F_bug
• Hyper-threading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading
• Acorn Archimedes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes
• Acorn RISC machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture
• RISC-V: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V
• ARM Thumb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#Thumb
• ARMv8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#ARMv8-A
• Chris Celio et al., "Avoiding ISA Bloat with Macro-Op Fusion for RISC-V": https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.02318
• Chris Celio, "ISA Shootout": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_pEXKKYUg
• BeagleBoard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeagleBoard
• ARM Ares: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/arm_holdings/microarchitectures/neoverse_n1
• SeaMicro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaMicro
• Calxeda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calxeda
• AppliedMicro X-Gene: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/apm/x-gene
• UEFI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
• Broadcom Vulcan: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/cavium/microarchitectures/vulcan
• Savaged by Systemd: An Erotic Unix Encounter by Michael Warren Lucas: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36190710-savaged-by-systemd
• Coreboot kexec'ing Linux: https://twitter.com/hugelgupf/status/1158466881373630464
• IOMMU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input%E2%80%93output_memory_management_unit
• Slackware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware
• U-boot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_U-Boot
• TianoCore: https://www.tianocore.org/
• NUVIA: https://nuviainc.com/
• Gordon Moore, "Cramming more components onto integrated circuits": http://cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/summercourse/2014/documents/Karl_05-27/Moore_1965.pdf
• International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Technology_Roadmap_for_Semiconductors
• Andy "Krazy" Glew: http://blog.andy.glew.ca/
• Cannon Lake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_Lake_(microarchitecture)
• Theodore Wright, "Factors Affecting the Cost of Airplanes": http://www.uvm.edu/pdodds/research/papers/others/1936/wright1936a.pdf
• Wright's Law vs. Moore's Law: https://ark-invest.com/research/wrights-law-2
• Nano-RAM (carbon nanotube-based memory): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nano-RAM
• Phase-change memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-change_memory
• Green500 list for November 2019: https://www.top500.org/green500/lists/2019/11/
• Gen-Z consortium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen-Z
• Quantum blockchain: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.05979
• USB frame relay adapter: https://www.advancedrelay.com/downloads/pxsuoverview.pdf
• John von Neumann: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann
• Von Neumann architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture

What is On The Metal?

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!