Independent research index / First release
Hardware, from the board to the chip
Follow a concrete artifact through its components, documentation, and behavior. This is a learning path, not a single historical chronology.
Source review: 16 October 2026 · Original editorial overview
A badge as an inspectable system
Joe Grand’s DEF CON 14 badge from 2006 combines a PIC10F202, LEDs, and a button with published design documentation. Microchip classifies the PIC10F202 as a microcontroller. The example ties a visible behavior to a small programmable device, its circuit, and its documentation. The project materials stay at their source; no source code is executed by this archive.
Sources: Badge project · Manufacturer device page.
CPU, MCU, and FPGA are different roles
A CPU executes instructions. A microcontroller integrates a CPU with memory and peripherals suited to controlling a device. An FPGA provides configurable digital logic and can also contain or implement a CPU design. Novena’s combination of a processor, FPGA, and memory is a concrete example of these roles complementing one another rather than being interchangeable labels.
Sources: Novena design account · PIC datasheet.
Interfaces and the limits of labels
JTAGulator is a research instrument for identifying interfaces on hardware. JTAG and SWD are associated with debugging; UART is a serial communications interface and is not inherently a debugger. A board connector does not by itself reveal what access is authorized or what the device does. Good historical documentation preserves the schematic, device identity, version, and observed behavior.
Sources: JTAGulator project.
Inside the chip
Huang’s Baochip discussion connects silicon imagery and source-level understanding of memory structures. It extends the scale of inquiry from a whole board to the organization inside a chip. This archive links the creator’s images without copying them. A useful educational sequence is board → schematic → datasheet → firmware behavior → interfaces → architecture → repair or redesign, with findings recorded at each step.
Sources: Baochip analysis.
Plaintext version · Editorial standards
Follow the catalog
Title-keyword matches; this is an editorial browsing connection, not proof of historical influence.
- 2600 / article-index-entry / 1986
NSA Wants a New Chip
Author not cataloged · Issue/event Volume 3, number 10
- 2600 / article-index-entry / 1986
New Chip Helps Sprint~
Author not cataloged · Issue/event Volume 3, number 8
- DEF CON / main-track-talk / 2026
Breaking Hardware CFI with Sigreturn
Omri "beta_b0t" Ben Bassat · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
Don’t waste your silicon: how optimized software can run 40% faster
palinuro · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
Double the Firmware, Double the Fun: Darknet DIY Badge Edition
Gater_Byte · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
From Pwnagotchi to Sovereign Silicon: The Case for Hackable AI
evilbotnet · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
GreyMecha/Army: How we made 400+ badges with FPGAs
Hackin7 · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
Hack the Airwaves – Embedded Wireless for Next-Gen Hackers
Adventures of Illya · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
Hacking Hearts by Reverse Engineering Pacemaker Firmware
Marie Moe, Shayan Alinejad, Kristian Karlsen · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / main-track-talk / 2026
How much of our Bluetooth firmware reverse engineering work can now be automated with LLMs?
Veronica Kovah, Xeno Kovah · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
One Firmware Flaw, 70+ Device Models: Lessons in Industrial IoT Disclosure and Mitigation
Weihan Goh, ZhengChao Wen · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
Raiders of the Lost Firmware: A Hands-On Workshop in IoT Firmware Archaeology
Simone Bossi, Luca Borzacchiello · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
The Compiler Nobody Satisfactorily Tested: Supply-Chain Gaps in EV Charging Firmware
Kangwon Lee · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2026
UAiRT: Over The Air UART
Metehan Arslan, Samet Berk Simsek · Issue/event 34
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
Behind the Badge: How We Used and Abused Hardware (again) to Create the AV Badge for DC33
Adam Batori, Robert Pafford · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / main-track-talk / 2025
Binary Facades: Reversing approaches to extract embedded scripts in compiled macOS malware
Patrick Wardle · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / main-track-talk / 2025
Emulating Embedded Linux Devices at Scale with Light-Touch Firmware Rehosting
Sigusr Polke · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
Firmware Decryption: For, and By, the Cryptographically Illiterate
Craig Heffner · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / main-track-talk / 2025
Ghosts in the Machine Check - Conjuring Hardware Failures for Cross-ring Privilege Escalation
Christopher "xoreaxeaxeax" Domas · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
How AI + Hardware can Transforming Point-of-Care Workflows
PamirAI · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
MITRE eCTF: 10 Years of the Embedded Capture the Flag
Kyle Skey · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
Never enough about cameras - The firmware encryption keys hidden under the rug
Alexandru Lazar · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
Reconfigurable HSMs: Future-Proofing Hardware Security Against Evolving Threats
Pablo Trujillo · Issue/event 33
- DEF CON / creator-talk-panel / 2025
Rooting a Hikvision Camera via Firmware Modification
Matt Brown · Issue/event 33