What we've been reading in August (2025)

Here are the articles, videos, and tools that we’ve been excited about this August.

What have you been reading? Share in the comments or on the Interrupt Slack.

Articles & Learnings

• Introduction to Embedded Systems with Rust: A Beginner’s Guide Using ESP32
  Friendly tutorial for getting started with Rust on the ESP32. – Noah

• Reverse-Engineering a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W SoC
  Reverse-engineering effort reveals the custom “RP3A0” SoC used only by Raspberry Pi. – Noah

• State of the Art for Reducing Executable Size (LLVM Discourse Thread)
  Interesting discussion on shrinking highly optimized executables. – Noah

• How Rust & Embassy Shine on Embedded Devices (Part 1)
  A hands-on introduction to dua_blinka (LED control on a Pico W) using Embassy’s async Rust magic—with nine rules for safer, maintainable embedded code and emulator setup thrown in.

• GitHub: ESP32-Bus-Pirate
  ESP32 port of the famous Bus Pirate protocol hacking multi-tool, with a web-based CLI. – Noah

• GitHub: elf_diff
  Handy tool for visually comparing ELF binaries. – Noah

• YouTube:Photodiode-Powered nRF52
  Very cool project showing a Nordic nRF52 chip powered by just a tiny photodiode. – Noah

News & Announcements

• Matter 1.4.2 | Enhancing Security and Scalability for Smart Homes
  Adds support for Wi-Fi–only provisioning, continuing Matter’s push for more flexible and secure onboarding. – Noah

• Nordic Semiconductor launches nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option for nRF54L Series
  RTOS-independent development option for simple Bluetooth LE apps on nRF54L Series, easing migration from nRF5 SDK and offering a smooth upgrade path to Zephyr RTOS—all built around the familiar SoftDevice architecture.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, September 16 – Coredump EP #016: From Startup to Global Brand: Scaling Engineering at reMarkable
  How do you grow from a startup with homegrown systems to a global brand with millions of devices without compromising quality? reMarkable CTO Nico Cormier joins Memfault’s François Baldassari and Chris Coleman to share hard-won lessons on release velocity, operational stability, and scaling engineering teams. Join us live at 8AM PT | 11AM ET | 5PM CET.

• September 16–November 4 – Nordic Tech Tour: Americas 2025
  Nordic is hitting the road this fall with 14 in-person events across the Americas. Join wireless IoT experts—and the Memfault team—for hands-on workshops and sessions covering Bluetooth LE, satellite and cellular IoT, power management, and the latest nRF54 Series SoCs. Free to attend, with limited workshop seats available.

Gillian Minnehan is a firmware solutions architect at Memfault. Gillian previously worked on embedded software teams in space and defense.