The Bootloader

Paul Cutler and Tod Kurt

A monthly podcast loading you up with news, project updates and product talk from the CircuitPython and maker communities. Hosted by Tod Kurt and Paul Cutler.

  1. 2D AGO

    Kick Out the Jams

    In this episode, Tod and Paul discuss hacking Flock cameras, the Adafruit Fruit Jam, Neural Networks in CircuitPython, some bad 3D printing legislation, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. We have stickers! Request a free sticker here. (US Only, sorry!) 00:00 Intro 00:17 Flock Camera Hacking This Flock Camera Leak is like Netflix For Stalkers We Hacked Flock Safety Cameras in under 30 Seconds. 🫥 Breaking the Creepy AI in Police Cameras EFF on Flock 5:46 Naya Connect Naya Connect modular keyboard ZDNet coverage Kickstarter 8:58 ESP32 supports 5GHz Wireless https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2026/01/16/xiao-esp32-c5-5ghz-dual-band-wifi6/ https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/xiao_esp32c5_getting_started/ https://openelab.io/blogs/seeed-studio/a-deep-dive-into-seeed-studio-xiao-esp32-s3-c6-and-c5 13:19 The Adafruit Fruit Jam Adafruit Fruit Jam Hardware Fruit Jam OS Fruit Jam OS includes a number of apps and games, including Breakout, an IRC client, Minesweeper, PyPaint, and more. Retrojam Fruitris, a Tetris clone by Cooper Dalrymple Pac-Wio Zork and the Z Machine by Dan Cogliano Paul’s interview with Dan on The CircuitPython Show Moon Miner Learn Guide Fruit Jam Mac emulator Apple II emulator Intel 286 emulator 18:04 Neural Networks in CircuitPython Bringing TensorFlow & PyTorch Models to CircuitPython TensorFlow Lite for EdgeBadge 2022 github gist I wrote for someone describing CirPy native modules outdated Adafruit guide on CircuitPython native modules 21:17 Washington State’s proposed 3D printer laws Adafruit blog post HB 2320 HB 2321 Contact form for Rep. Osman Salahuddin 23:55 Wrap-up StandWithMinnesota.com Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    24 min

  2. JAN 5

    Games Without Frontiers

    Paul has mic issues and Tod has a cold, but they’re here to discuss building your own Steam Machine, learning to sew, circuits and synths, and more. Want a free sticker? Order one here (US only). Show Notes Show Notes 0:00 Intro 00:20 Build your own Steam Machine Building my own Steam Machine with Bazzite Reddit Guide to turn your Steam Machine into a console Interview with Jorge Castro about Bazzite and more 4:56 Learning to sew Learn To Sew - Sewing 101 The Surprising Genius of Sewing Machines 9:06 CAD Round-up BREP.io, browser based CAD BREP.io project page GitHub repository Microcad Codeberg repo CadQuest Reddit announcement 11:03 Learn analog electronics by building synths “This drum sequencer breaks all the rules“ Moritz Klein’s “For Beginners” playlist Moritz Klein’s DIY Drum Series“ playlist Moritz Klein’s Youtube channel Erica Synths DIY kits 14:57 The Indie Beat Radio and Television Remembering RadioFreeFedi The Indie Beat Radio Ways to watch The Indie Beat Television Bandwagon.fm The Indie Beat - Fediverse Radio - GNOME Shell Extensions and GitHub repository Follow The Indie Beat Television on Mastodon: @TIBtv@tv.theindiebeat.fm 17:51 act act video demo github hosted runners 22:40 Wrap-up Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    23 min

  3. 12/01/2025

    Don't call it a comeback

    Show Notes In this episode, Tod and Paul discuss the recent Hackaday Supercon, including a talk and a workshop, Microsoft open sources Zork, the return of 80s style computer magazines, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. We have stickers! Request a sticker here. 00:23 Supercon Recap Supercon 2025 YouTube playlist 2:10 Tod’s favorite Supercon talks 3:57 Arduino Uno Q Workshop (Tod #1) Jeff Geerling’s video review Using arduino-app-cli on Uno Q by Shawn Hymel Uno Q user manual Radxa X4 SBD w/ RP2040 MCU 13:21 Covert Regional Communication with Meshtastic (Paul #1) Covert Regional Communication with Meshtastic by Daryll Strauss 17:18 Supercon 2025 Badge Supercon 2025 Badge Solder Party Keebdeck 20:07 Ultrawideband (Tod #2) Makerfabs ESP32 UWB Getting started with ESP32 UWB Build UWB Position system w/ ESP32 & Qorvo DWM3000 24:30 Microsoft open sources Zork 1 - 3 (Paul #2) Microsoft announcement Andrew Blotkin’s blog: Zork is now open source GitHub repository with source code Z-Machine for CircuitPython Guide 27:18 How to buld a dev board (Tod #3) Let’s Design an RP2040 Devboard! by Kai project github repo Hackaday discussion 30:03 DocType magazine (Paul #3) DocType magazine Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    34 min

  4. 11/03/2025

    Super Smooth - with Liz Clark

    Liz Clark joins the show for a second time. Liz, Paul, and Tod each share two things they found interesting including remoting in to a Raspberry Pi, code as PCB design, an open source ereader, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome 00:20 Stickers! Request a sticker 00:31 Welcome Liz Clark 00:53 Raspberry Pi Connect Raspberry Pi Connect Documentation Raspberry Pi Connect 4:24 The Open Book Touch 8:39 Atopile atopile homepage atopile package repo Vibe-coding a PCB KiCad schematic design blocks 16:32 Midi Baby Gen 4 18:44 GameTank GameTank.zone CrowdSupply campaign GitHub repository Emulator Discord Server 21:49 Tiles from Bergsonne Labs About Tiles Tile Reference Sets Tile library 25:32 Wrap-up Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    26 min

  5. 10/06/2025

    I Feel the Need for Speed

    Paul and Tod discuss speeding up a Raspberry Pi, parts management with Inventree, product reviews, synths, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. Show Notes 00:00 Intro 00:23 Make Your Raspberry Pi Faster 5:13 Inventree 7:59 Framework 12 Laptop 15:18 Channels 19:26 Mutable Instruments ported to the Pico 23:38 3D Printable and Dissolvable Circuit Boards Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    26 min

  6. 08/22/2025

    CircuitPython Day 2025

    This episode is a replay of The Bootloader’s live CircuitPython Day 2025 show from August 15th, 2025 hosted on Adafruit’s YouTube channel. The episode has been lightly edited. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. 00:00 Intro 00:26 Welcome 1:02 Thank you Anne Barela Subscribe to the Python on Hardware newsletter 1:46 CircuitPython Fonts CircuitPython fonts repository with circup instructions CircuitPython BDF & PCF font Learn Guide CircuitPython font code shown 6:57 CircuitPython v2 extension for VS Code CircuitPython VS Code extension v1 by Joe Devivo CircuitPython v2 for VS Code by Will Merkens CircuitPython v2 for VS Code source code 11:40 Fruit Jam USB Host MIDI Tester Fruit Jam USB Host MIDI Tester Fruit Jam Portable MIDI Synth Fruit Jam USB Gamepad Demo 15:52 Fruitris Cooper Dalrymple’s homepage Fruitris on Adafruit Playground Fruitris GitHub repository Fruitris blog post Fruitris demo on Show & Tell Cooper on The CircuitPython Show May 5th, 2025 19:37 CircuitPython Workflows https://docs.circuitpython.org/en/latest/docs/workflows.html https://code.circuitpython.org/ Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    25 min

  7. 08/04/2025

    Drop the beat - with guest John Park

    In this episode, Tod and Paul welcome John Park to the show. They discuss a floppy disk MIDI boombox, live-coding music, RP2350 as a mini-computer, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. Show Notes 00:00 Intro Joséphine Wolf Oberholtzer, creator and maintainer of Supriya 00:54 Floppy Disk Midi Boomboxes (John #1) Vintage: Roland MT-80S Roland MT-300S Yamaha MDP-10 DIY: MIDI Blaster by Luke.the.maker and build instructions and pre-built MT-420 by Jonas Bengtson 9:04 AlgoRave (Tod #1) DJ_Dave: Instagram reels: https://www.instagram.com/p/DL0P-2WusOO/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DIKC6D6SpQM/ TikTok YouTube livestreams Strudel Originally mentioned in Bootloader Episode 2 back in Oct 2022 Awesome livecoding list 14:00 The RP2350 Mini-Computers are here Adafruit Fruit Jam Olimex RP2350pc 18:39 CyberBricks 24:28 KiCad cli and diff viewer kicad-cli Tod’s visual diff shell script 28:56 Commodore 64 Ultimate 31:48 Wrap-up Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    32 min

  8. 07/07/2025

    The rant and the love letter

    Tod and Paul discuss a MIDI chip, an epic rant, a love letter, and more. Follow the show on Mastodon or Bluesky. 00:00 Welcome 00:17 SAM2695 General MIDI chip Seeed XIAO MIDI M5stack w/ speaker M5stack w/ MIDI in/out DIYElectroMusic articles SAM2695 datahsheet Tod demo on Adafruit Show-n-Tell 3:51 Supercollider and Supriya Supercollider synth engine Supriya Python API Supriya subreddit 5:47 The STM32 rant 12:18 A love letter to embedded engineering Prof. V. Hunter Adams’ November 2023 lecture, “Why I love building things with microcontrollers.” 16:10 Alternate music keyboard layouts 20:09 Spintronics 22:47 Wrap-up Enjoying the show? You can now sponsor the show, learn more at www.circuitpythonshow.com. Thank you for your support!

    23 min
See All (31)

Trailers

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

A monthly podcast loading you up with news, project updates and product talk from the CircuitPython and maker communities. Hosted by Tod Kurt and Paul Cutler.

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Cutler and Tod Kurt
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The Bootloader

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