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The Changelog

The 4 DIMM problem (Friends)

110 min episode · 2 min read
·
Losh Bickman

Episode

110 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Productivity, Remote Work, Design & UX

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Nerves Framework Architecture: Nerves builds on Buildroot to create deterministic embedded Linux systems with A/B partition blue-green deployments, enabling safe over-the-air updates for production IoT devices. The entire OS image runs 30-40 megabytes, making updates fast and reliable across distributed fleets.
  • Production Scale Deployment: SmartRent deploys over 100,000 custom thermostat devices running Nerves across US homes, demonstrating the framework's production-grade reliability. The system allows remote console access via NervesCloud for debugging live devices through the BEAM virtual machine's introspection capabilities without physical access.
  • AMD AM5 Four DIMM Limitation: AMD's AM5 architecture cannot reliably run four DIMMs of DDR5-6000 RAM due to voltage and power delivery constraints at high transfer speeds. Users must either reduce to two DIMMs or downclock RAM speed, negating the performance benefits of premium memory configurations.
  • Development Workflow Efficiency: Nerves enables 45-60 second iteration loops from code change to device reboot with new firmware via SSH upload. Developers work on host machines with full Elixir tooling, avoiding the typical embedded development pain of on-device coding or manual image flashing for each test cycle.
  • Linux Desktop Migration Path: Fedora 43 with GNOME 47 and Wayland-only support provides Mac-like user experience for developers transitioning to Linux. DaVinci Resolve runs natively on Linux for video production, while Reaper handles audio workflows, enabling complete creative production environments without macOS dependency.

What It Covers

Lars Wikman discusses the Nerves embedded Linux framework for building IoT devices with Elixir, covering his transition from web development to embedded systems, the four DIMM memory problem on AMD AM5 architecture, and practical home automation implementations using Raspberry Pi hardware.

Key Questions Answered

  • Nerves Framework Architecture: Nerves builds on Buildroot to create deterministic embedded Linux systems with A/B partition blue-green deployments, enabling safe over-the-air updates for production IoT devices. The entire OS image runs 30-40 megabytes, making updates fast and reliable across distributed fleets.
  • Production Scale Deployment: SmartRent deploys over 100,000 custom thermostat devices running Nerves across US homes, demonstrating the framework's production-grade reliability. The system allows remote console access via NervesCloud for debugging live devices through the BEAM virtual machine's introspection capabilities without physical access.
  • AMD AM5 Four DIMM Limitation: AMD's AM5 architecture cannot reliably run four DIMMs of DDR5-6000 RAM due to voltage and power delivery constraints at high transfer speeds. Users must either reduce to two DIMMs or downclock RAM speed, negating the performance benefits of premium memory configurations.
  • Development Workflow Efficiency: Nerves enables 45-60 second iteration loops from code change to device reboot with new firmware via SSH upload. Developers work on host machines with full Elixir tooling, avoiding the typical embedded development pain of on-device coding or manual image flashing for each test cycle.
  • Linux Desktop Migration Path: Fedora 43 with GNOME 47 and Wayland-only support provides Mac-like user experience for developers transitioning to Linux. DaVinci Resolve runs natively on Linux for video production, while Reaper handles audio workflows, enabling complete creative production environments without macOS dependency.

Notable Moment

Lars created custom e-ink conference badges running Nerves for 150 attendees at Gotemir Elixir conference, featuring Wi-Fi connectivity, battery power, and live schedule updates. Each attendee received programmable hardware they could modify, giving web developers tangible real-world interaction with embedded systems beyond typical intangible software work.

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Episode Transcript

Welcome to change log and friends, a weekly talk show about Danny LaRusso's crane kick. Thanks as always to our partners at fly.io, the public cloud built for developers who ship. We love Fly. You might too. Learn more at fly.io. Okay. Let's talk. Well, friends, Agentic Postgres is here, and it's from our friends over at Tiger Data. This is the very first database built for agents and is built to let you build faster. You know, a fun side note is 80% of Claude was built with AI. Over a year ago, 25 of Google's code was AI generated. It's safe to say that now it's probably close to a 100%. Most people I talk to, most developers I talk to right now, almost all their code is being generated. That's a different world. Here's the deal. Agents are the new developers. They don't click. They don't scroll. They call. They retrieve. They parallelize. They plug in your infrastructure to places you need it to perform, but your database is probably still thinking about humans only because that's kinda where Postgres is at. Tiger Data's philosophy is that when your agents need to spin up sandboxes or migrations, query huge volumes of vector and text data, well, normal Postgres, it might choke, and so they fix that. Here's where we're at right now. Agentic Postgres delivers these three big leaps, native search and retrieval, instant zero copied forks, and MCP server plus your CLI plus a cool free tier. Now if this is intriguing at all, head over to tigerdata.com. Install the CLI, just three commands, spin up an agent to Postgres service, and let your agents work at the speed they expect, not the speed of the old way. The new way, agent to Postgres is built for agents, is designed to elevate your developer experience, and build the next big thing. Again, go to tigerdata.com to learn more. We can listen to change log in friends. We have Losh Bickman with us. We're frenzy with Losh. He missed the pound to find champs game. Mhmm. Oh, yeah. That was a bummer. But so did Carol. So, you know, was it really a champs game if Carol Lee PhD isn't there? I mean, she's been wiping the floor with most people. It was a good game though. Came all the way down to the wire. We had to do a a last second tie breaker, which we aren't ready for. Oh. And Matthew outlasted Taylor and the tie breaker. But you're here now, so, here's a word that you must find no. Just kidding. But welcome. Welcome anyways. You're fresh off of what is this? Ninjutsu class or something? You said you had Karate. Karate. Karate. It's different. Right? Jujitsu and karate is way different. They are. Yeah. Similar. Yeah. Fair bit. But different. Right. What's the difference? All from the vicinity of Japan, I would say. Right. No? No. Wrong. Jujitsu has roots, I believe, in …

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Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode

SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.

Tools

  • Nerves builds on Buildroot to create deterministic embedded Linux systems with A/B partition blue-green deployments
  • Reaper handles audio workflows, enabling complete creative production environments without macOS dependency
  • SPONSORS: Fly.io
  • SPONSORS: Augment Code
  • Fedora 43 with GNOME 47 and Wayland-only support provides Mac-like user experience for developers transitioning to Linux
  • SPONSORS: Tigris Data
  • SPONSORS: Framer
  • The system allows remote console access via NervesCloud for debugging live devices through the BEAM virtual machine's introspection capabilities

Gear

  • practical home automation implementations using Raspberry Pi hardware

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