Dave’s Garage: Shop Talk

Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges

Dave Plummer, a retired operating systems engineer for Microsoft going back to the DOS and Windows 95 days, and his co-host Glen talk about technology and answer questions from his YouTube channels: Dave’s Garage and Dave’s Attic. Just 2 high school friends from 40 years ago hangin’ out, talkin’ tech and usually sharing some kind of prairie anecdotes from their youth growing up in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Dave is now in Seattle, WA and Glen is in Vancouver, BC.

  1. 2d ago

    The Hidden Computer Network in Your Car | Shop Talk #89

    In Shop Talk #89, Dave and Glen dig into viewer questions about CAN bus: the hidden computer network inside modern cars. This week starts with the scarier version of the question: can the network inside your car be hacked? Viewers asked about CAN bus theft, headlight attacks, OBD dongles flooding the bus, modern security protections, and whether CAN bus has reached the point where it needs to be replaced. From there, Dave explains how CAN works: CAN High and CAN Low, why vehicles can have multiple CAN networks, diagnostic buses, single-wire CAN, message priority, arbitration, identifiers, buffering, clocks, bit stuffing, and what happens when controllers misbehave. We also get into practical projects and tools: ESP32 CAN bus setups, OBD-II, PIDs, sniffing vehicle traffic, reverse-engineering messages, reading unknown addresses, and whether Dave might do a follow-up project showing how to add a real feature using CAN. Later in the episode, we branch into related networks and viewer requests, including FlexRay, Modbus, ARCNET, automotive Ethernet, Amiga, Turbo Pascal, NightDriver, AI-generated diagrams, and the difference between recreational and medical CAN bus. Questions discussed include: • Can CAN bus be replaced? • Can thieves hack CAN through headlights? • Can an OBD dongle flood the bus? • How is modern CAN bus secured? • What are CAN High and CAN Low? • Do cars have multiple CAN buses? • Should critical systems be separated? • How does CAN arbitration work? • Who provides the CAN clock? • Is bit stuffing Manchester encoding? • How do you listen to CAN with an ESP32? • How do PIDs work? • Can you reverse-engineer unknown CAN messages? • What is FlexRay? • Was ARCNET like CAN bus? • Why was Turbo Pascal so fast? • Should Dave do a NightDriver architecture walkthrough? Shop Talk is the weekly Q&A show from Dave’s Attic, where Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges discuss viewer questions, engineering stories, retro computing, Windows internals, software history, hardware, cars, and whatever else the comments drag into the shop.

  2. Aug 2

    Are Flock Cameras Public Safety or Public Surveillance? | Shop Talk #88

    In Shop Talk #88, Dave and Glen dig into the debate around Flock cameras, license plate readers, public surveillance, cell-phone tracking, and the difficult line between public safety and privacy. The core viewer question this week: if our phones already track us everywhere, why are people more worried about Flock cameras? That opens up a broader discussion about what these systems collect, who gets access to the data, whether warrants should be required, what happens when license plate recognition is wrong, and whether surveillance systems can be designed in a way that makes abuse harder. We also look at Bluetooth tracking concerns, convoy analysis, TPMS sensors, the “nothing to hide” argument, multi-factor authentication, and the difference between a person observing public roads and a searchable database of everyone’s movements. Later in the episode, we shift into future episode ideas and tech follow-ups, including Amiga development, MFC, Microsoft framework churn, QuickBasic, calling operating system resources from assembly, Task Manager memory accounting, TinyRetroTaskManager, Dave’s driveway recognition project, and the mystery of the matching tumblers. Questions discussed include: • If phones already track us, why worry about Flock cameras? • What is convoy analysis? • Do Flock cameras sniff Bluetooth? • Can TPMS sensors be used to track cars? • Should everyone have access to Flock data if the cameras are legal? • What about Ring cameras and warrants? • Is “nothing to hide” a valid argument? • What happens when license plate recognition gets it wrong? • Should Flock logins require MFA? • Could these systems be designed to be harder to misuse? • Should Dave do an Amiga episode? • Is MFC still useful today? • Can apps share system DLLs? • TinyRetroTaskManager when? Shop Talk is the weekly Q&A show from Dave’s Attic, where Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges discuss viewer questions, engineering stories, retro computing, Windows internals, hardware, cars, software history, and whatever else the comments drag into the shop.

  3. Jul 17

    Why Does a 3K Notepad Use 502MB of RAM? | Shop Talk #87

    This week on Shop Talk, Dave and Glen dig into the viewer questions from Dave’s tiny Notepad experiment: if TinyRetroPad is only a few kilobytes on disk, why does Task Manager show it using hundreds of megabytes of RAM? That question opens the door to executable size, DLLs, Windows memory reporting, Crinkler, assembly language, MASM, C, RichEdit controls, Unicode, accessibility, file-size limits, and the eternal question of whether modern software really needs to be this big. We also look at what “just one more feature” would cost in a tiny app: tabs, autosave, spellcheck, regex, dark mode, better undo, Unix line endings, word count, and large-file support. Plus: Windows Defender false positives, whether AI could beat the 4K challenge, possible future episodes on Win32 programming, Amiga development, clipboard internals, CAN bus projects, Dave’s necklace, and whether engineering skill matters more than programming joy. Questions discussed include: • Why does a 3K Notepad use 502MB of RAM? • Is Crinkler cheating? • Could the same thing be written in C? • Does x64 assembly still matter? • What would tabs, autosave, spellcheck, regex, or dark mode cost? • Why use RichEdit? • Why only ANSI and not Unicode? • Why did Windows move away from this programming model? • Could AI produce an even smaller version? • Why does antivirus flag tiny hand-built programs? • What future projects should Dave tackle next? Shop Talk is the weekly Q&A show from Dave’s Attic, where Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges discuss viewer questions, engineering stories, retro computing, software history, Windows internals, cars, hardware, and whatever else the comments drag into the shop.

  4. Jul 4

    Why Engineering Is Harder Than It Looks | Shop Talk #86

    Why put a microcontroller in the trunk instead of simply tapping into the brake lights or turn signals? In this episode of Shop Talk, Dave and Glen dig into the hidden trade-offs behind Dave’s Mark III RGB lighting project: reading outputs instead of inputs, handling hazard lights and reverse lights, burned-out bulbs, unexpected states, wiring, waterproofing, optocouplers, LEDs, ESP32s, schematics, Gerber files, and the difference between a quick solution and a robust one. They also follow up on software optimization, AI-assisted programming, assembly-level code, compilers, C variable arguments, and whether modern hardware prices might finally make optimization matter again. Plus: CAN bus projects, Knight Rider lights, a PDP-11 controller, time machines, Bunnyhugs, and other important engineering questions. Questions from viewers on Dave’s Garage and Shop Talk. 00:00 - Hey I’m Dave… 00:34 - Why put the controller in the trunk? 03:05 - Why not just tap the brake and flasher circuits? 03:51 - Why avoid CAN and LIN bus projects? 05:36 - How does it handle burned-out bulbs? 06:52 - What happens with four-way flashers? 07:30 - Hazards and rapid turn-signal changes 08:07 - Hazards, reverse lights, and braking 09:21 - How does the strip behave in hazard mode? 10:21 - What happens if the controller reboots mid-drive? 11:09 - Will water collect behind the LED strip? 12:03 - Which LEDs did you use, and how are they mounted? 13:19 - How do the optocouplers protect factory wiring? 13:59 - Which LED strip and ESP32 should builders use? 15:34 - Can you share the schematic? 15:55 - How did you make the LED-system diagram? 16:23 - Are there certification rules for vehicle lighting? 18:33 - How did you route the wiring to the strip? 19:16 - Will you release the PCB design files? 19:56 - Will the controller board be available to buy? 20:45 - When does production start? 21:16 - Can AI optimize code at the assembly level? 21:53 - Did BBT support position-independent code? 23:01 - Do programmers use optional stops like CNC? 23:41 - Is programming becoming an AI-assisted profession? 24:29 - When did Microsoft start optimizing software? 25:52 - How are C variable arguments parsed? 26:37 - Why did programming languages become more human-readable? 28:22 - What is LNC 460? 28:42 - Why not use a PDP-11 as the controller? 29:40 - Why are rebuilt carburetors worse now? 30:40 - Why is there a case of oil in the trunk? 31:11 - Did this car come from an Alabama auction? 31:26 - How does the car handle unleaded fuel and synthetic oil? 32:16 - Why not add a Knight Rider light effect? 32:33 - Is “turn signaling” a Canadian thing? 32:53 - Could the emergency mode be triggered remotely? 33:24 - Why is the high-mounted brake light so low? 33:40 - Could brake-light brightness reflect braking force? 35:10 - Why not add an orange warning mode? 35:34 - Can Dave’s Garage make a Bunnyhug? 37:30 - End of show shenanigans 42:23 - The Friendly Coder…

  5. Jun 28

    When Did We Stop Optimizing Software? | Shop Talk #85

    What happened to software optimization—and does understanding what's happening underneath still make you a better programmer? In Shop Talk #85, Dave Plummer answers viewer questions about software optimization, engineering discipline, abstraction, and whether modern developers are losing touch with the fundamentals that once made software remarkably fast and efficient. The discussion begins with a thoughtful viewer question about abstraction: should programmers simply embrace modern frameworks, or is it still worth understanding what's happening beneath the surface? From there, Dave shares stories from his years on Windows NT, including Microsoft's internal optimization tools like LEGO and BBT, how engineers measured performance, and why optimization was once considered a core engineering skill. Along the way, Dave and Glen discuss software bloat, AI-generated code, memory usage, operating system design, retro computing, and a handful of follow-up questions from the recent slot machine episode. Topics include: • Should programmers still understand what's under the hood? • Why software optimization mattered • Microsoft's LEGO and BBT optimization tools • Modern software bloat • AI-generated code and performance • Windows NT engineering stories • Operating system design • ELKS, the RCA 1802, and retro computing • DOS/Windows easter eggs • Slot machine follow-up questions

  6. Jun 24

    Everything Is a File? | Shop Talk #84

    What does it really mean when programmers say "everything is a file"? In Shop Talk #84, Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges answer viewer questions inspired by the recent fopen() discussion and explore one of the most influential ideas in computing: abstraction. The conversation begins with a question about why computer science classes often feel disconnected from real-world software development before diving deep into file descriptors, FILE pointers, pipes, devices, mmap, Unix philosophy, and the surprising design decisions that shaped modern operating systems. Topics include: • Why CS classes don't always reflect the real world • Learning programming in the age of AI • Neurodiversity and problem solving • fopen(), FILE*, and file descriptors • Pipes, devices, and streams • DOS versus Unix approaches to I/O • Why "everything is a file" became such a powerful idea • Whether we'd design operating systems the same way today Plus a few slot-machine questions, Flying Spaghetti Monster sightings, and other classic Shop Talk detours. #ShopTalk #Programming #Unix #ComputerScience #DavePlummer

  7. Jun 5

    Are We Teaching Programming Wrong? | Shop Talk #83

    Are we teaching programming wrong? In Shop Talk #83, Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges explore how programmers learned to think about computers in the early days of personal computing—and whether something important has been lost along the way. The discussion begins with a viewer question about systems thinking and how younger generations can develop the same understanding of computers that earlier programmers gained by working closer to the hardware. From there, Dave and Glen dive into programming education, abstraction layers, memory management, operating systems, Windows internals, neurodiversity, career development, and the skills that still matter in modern software engineering. Topics include: • Learning to code in the 1980s versus today • Systems thinking and engineering mindset • What modern programmers may be missing • Memory allocation, malloc, and abstraction • Understanding what happens under the hood • Windows internals and software complexity • Neurodiversity and problem solving • Career advice for developers • Viewer questions from Dave's Garage and Dave's Attic Plus: the bozoliveshere registry key, Saskatchewan stories, microphones, Joni Mitchell, and a few classic Shop Talk detours. This episode was built from more than 3,000 viewer comments and hundreds of audience questions. Thanks to everyone who comments on Dave's Garage, Dave's Attic, and Shop Talk. Leave your questions in the comments for a chance to be featured in a future episode. #ShopTalk #Programming #SoftwareEngineering #ComputerScience #DavePlummer

  8. Jun 3

    Windows: What's Really Happening Under the Hood? | Shop Talk #82

    Dave and Glen explore what’s really happening under the hood of modern computers. From memory allocation and malloc to page faults, caches, printf, BitLocker, networking APIs, and software complexity, this episode digs into the systems most people use every day but rarely understand.Along the way, they answer viewer questions about low-level programming, operating systems, security, engineering tradeoffs, and why software often behaves in unexpected ways.Topics include:When to write your own memory allocatorWhy malloc isn't magicFreeing memory twicePage faults vs cache missesPractical uses of printfBitLocker and securityNetwork programming with select()Operating system internalsEngineering lessons from earlier computing erasShop Talk is driven by viewer questions and comments from Dave's Garage and Shop Talk. Leave your questions below for a chance to be featured in a future episode.#ShopTalk #Programming #SoftwareEngineering #ComputerScience #Windows

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About

Dave Plummer, a retired operating systems engineer for Microsoft going back to the DOS and Windows 95 days, and his co-host Glen talk about technology and answer questions from his YouTube channels: Dave’s Garage and Dave’s Attic. Just 2 high school friends from 40 years ago hangin’ out, talkin’ tech and usually sharing some kind of prairie anecdotes from their youth growing up in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Dave is now in Seattle, WA and Glen is in Vancouver, BC.

Information

  • Creator
    Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dave Plummer and Glen Hodges
  • Show Website
    Dave’s Garage: Shop Talk

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