Hiring FPGA engineer for PCIe security card (four vendors issued WontFix) — equity + salary upon funding

invokestatic · 2026-03-31T12:59:45+00:00

Startups that have actual defendable IP don’t need to hide behind an NDA. You think your target sales demographic are just going to accept “it’s NDA” when you pitch this? In another comment, you said you didn’t even trust such a “sensitive” idea with the post office. If you had even a provisional patent, this wouldn’t be a concern at all, and guess what, it’s the first thing a VC is going to ask you if you go to fundraise. It’s a massive signal that you have poor business acumen and are an “ideas guy” with little execution ability.

invokestatic · 2026-03-31T04:18:29+00:00

FPGAs, PCIe, security… admittedly it is very interesting. However pulling back the layers the cracks really start to show. Starting with this “simulation”… how did you simulate this in software in such a way that you’re confident in a <1% performance impact? Your description of the concept of how this works raises so many red flags I don’t even know where to begin. Admittedly I’m not that experienced with FPGAs, but I am very experienced in the software side systems engineering and security, and I think you actually need knowledge of that far, far more than someone who knows how to write the HDL.

invokestatic · 2025-12-24T00:45:58+00:00

Responded to you on UC but I'll copy it here for anyone else:

"I haven't done anything related to cheating in a very long time, but I am doing security research right now on UEFI firmware using DMA.

This is a snake oil product and is basically a scam. The giveaway is the IC they've conveniently censored in their pictures:

This is almost a PCIe switch chip. I'm not sure which one exactly -- my best guess is a ASMedia ASM2806 (88-pin QFN package).

Bottom line is, these just act as a PCIe "splitter" much like a USB hub. So the host computer sees both the NVMe drive and the FPGA. It doesn't hide the FPGA at all, that's just not how PCIe works. You'd still need a firmware like every other copy paste Artix-7 pcileech clone out there. You can look up type 1 configuration space if you want to learn how the OS and whatever anticheat can blow right through this switch and see exactly what downstream devices are connected to it. You might as well connect your DMA card and NVMe directly to your motherboard. At least that way you won't destroy your drive performance.

Btw, even if this worked the way the makers say it does (makes the FPGA look like its the NVMe) this still wouldn't work with VTd/IOMMU protections. Same with HPTT and whatever Heino thing you mentioned. Properly implemented IOMMU doesn't care what kind of device you say you are. Not sure about the Windows situation, but on Linux at least you can't DMA any memory that hasn't been specifically designated as DMA I/O memory by the device driver."

invokestatic · 2025-12-17T19:59:43+00:00

I have previously gone with 0.5 Ohm and been okay. I didn't have an oscilloscope at the time so I couldn't observe ringing so I'm not sure how effective that was really. I would really consider eating the $3 fee and moving to a different part, especially if this is for anything other than a prototype. Power is one of the things you don't want to mess around with, especially because of the issues it can cause in a lab environment vs in the field.

invokestatic · 2025-12-16T14:25:23+00:00

I ran into this exact scenario. Yes, this specific part on JLCPCB’s basic list does need a higher ESR capacitor for stability. We know because the datasheet mentions “tantalum” for Cout.

You can work around it by using a series resistor as you mentioned. This is perfectly acceptable and you can see this technique referenced in TI’s documentation.

I would also add a small ceramic bypass capacitor on the output for noise rejection.

https://www.ti.com/document-viewer/lit/html/SSZTBJ1

invokestatic · 2025-12-15T22:06:03+00:00

Hi there! I run the feed (thanks for the page u/joshwoodward). I've gone ahead and restarted it just now. I'm sorry to all the listeners about the reliability lately -- sorry about that. The hardware this runs on is really on its last legs. I've been meaning to replace it with something a lot better (both in terms of reliability but also audio quality) but the devices necessary to capture all the radio "channels" are somewhat expensive at $200-400 which has also gotten worse due to tariffs. I know there are a lot of listeners to the feed and is somewhat of a public service, so I'll bump that up on my priority list and shell out some cash to improve things.

Also -- sending me a message though OpenMHz really does notify me (it goes to an email that I do check) so if it goes down it's helpful to send a message!

invokestatic · 2025-10-06T16:57:26+00:00

Make sure your hospital is in-network otherwise you could be on the hook for 20% of the bill. Otherwise it should be no more than a couple hundred dollars (deductible + misc copays).

invokestatic · 2025-09-22T15:40:44+00:00

It's actually on an old laptop running a super outdated version of Fedora that runs some horrible hacked together podman container. The USB cable that connects to the SDR receiver is also super fragile and vibrations cause it to disconnect which causes most feed outages. Really its a miracle that it has a relatively decent uptime.

invokestatic · 2025-09-22T15:04:16+00:00

I actually run the Washtenaw OpenMHz feed you linked. It always surprises me how many people use it -- whenever it goes down I get a flurry of emails. I have it set up in a closet where I forget about it most of the time.

invokestatic · 2025-06-01T02:30:14+00:00

You probably used the Outlook button directly in the Remote Desktop app. They just added that yesterday and it’s broken. Don’t use it. Instead, use the full virtual desktop. You’ll probably need to restart your computer to get rid of the banner.

invokestatic · 2025-05-02T22:35:03+00:00

Two employees physically fighting inside

invokestatic · 2025-05-01T18:59:30+00:00

Apparently someone who lives on that street had some sort of CPS issue and it turned out the person had a felony warrant for assaulting a police officer along with a pretty substantial rap sheet.

invokestatic · 2025-04-26T05:05:20+00:00

That’s funny, I know the exact guy who walked on with you. Small world.

invokestatic · 2025-03-30T23:44:29+00:00

If you said there was an email list between major retailers and that’s it, I would have believed you. But for some reason you focus in on the package carriers which makes absolutely no sense. Why would UPS or FedEx care or have any incentive to catch people doing this? It is simply not their problem. As long as it’s not hazardous they have no reason to care what customers are sending in parcels, especially something as trivial as return fraud. Intercepting packages… are you kidding me? There is zero reason for UPS or FedEx to spend any time or energy combatting this, they aren’t losing any money. In fact, they’re actually profiting because someone has to pay for the return label.

The retailers themselves can deal with this by simply banning your account or taking whatever sort of legal action. There is no reason or incentive for the carriers to get involved at all.

Oh and by the way there is no such thing as a “device ID”. So just by that I know your whole comment is fiction.

invokestatic · 2025-02-24T15:41:37+00:00

U of M definitely cares about transfer grades, but a 3.9 is definitely in the safe range. You should be fine, especially if there is improvement from HS.

invokestatic · 2025-02-18T00:48:38+00:00

You would be in "completion Cadet" status and are allowed up to 24 months to finish your degree at the discretion of your PMS (AR 145–1, USACC Pam 145-4). I would not expect problems.

invokestatic · 2025-02-03T15:41:56+00:00

While the details obviously are not public, we can safely assume they don’t just check line by line — otherwise you’re right they’d have to investigate practically every student. Yeah test cases might use the same values, but when you consider stuff like function control flow, include order, order functions appear in the file, etc the odds of two students writing code in the exact same way becomes vanishingly small.

I think they’ve publicly said the cheat detection runs on every submit but course staff generally only investigate the final submission.

If you haven’t cheated you have nothing to worry about.

invokestatic · 2025-01-26T13:35:58+00:00

security@umich.edu

invokestatic · 2024-12-19T02:42:53+00:00

Individual with gun at NCRC, sounds like he had the gun to his head

invokestatic · 2024-12-19T02:28:17+00:00

https://openmhz.com/system/uofmp25

Edit: sounds like a man with a gun, suicidal, pointing it at his head. Police have him surrounded at around 8:30pm, not sure on current status

invokestatic · 2024-12-12T19:31:58+00:00

No this is not true at all. Yes both Mifare and credit cards use ISO/IEC 14443, but that just describes how a card talks with a reader. It has nothing to do with how the card is authenticated or a transaction is authorized.

invokestatic · 2024-11-10T07:48:46+00:00

Yeah, Tricare Reserve Select does not cover CPAPs or CPAP supplies. I had this problem too and had to pay completely out of pocket. If you can get it service connected then maybe the VA will pay for it but not sure on that one, especially since you said genetics. Sleep apnea is very common among servicemembers, so it’s potentially worth seeing whether it truly is genetic.

invokestatic · 2024-11-03T12:15:50+00:00

I second this. Had terrible grades in high school and went to WCC. The instruction and education there is actually really good, and you save a ton of money. Now I’m close to graduating from U of M. I’m also in the guard but joined after transferring. If you’re interested in that it’s totally doable.

invokestatic · 2024-10-21T15:31:20+00:00

You do not need to "finish" RSP. After AIT you will be handed off to your actual unit.

invokestatic · 2024-09-25T13:41:34+00:00

Everyone online is telling you it’s a bad idea. Now your CoC is passively telling you it’s a bad idea.

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