Hacker News: UI_at_80x24

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again"

UI_at_80x24 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:04:18 +0000

I loved the look of the fonts on DOS after I upgraded from a C64. My favorite was the exclamation mark on 1024x768 (VGA). It had curves! Pointy at the bottom right above the dot, and the rounded curve at the top. I've never found a monospace non-bitmapped font that had the same character. (ha!)

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Claude Code is locking people out for hours"

UI_at_80x24 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 17:10:25 +0000

I have encountered the exact same kind of frustration, and no amount of prompting seems to prevent it from "randomly" happening.

`the error is on line #145 fix it with XYZ and add a check that no string should ever be blank`

It's the randomness that is frustrating, and that the fix would be quicker to manually input that drives me crazy. I fear that all the "rules" I add to claude.md is wasting my available tokens it won't have enough room to process my request.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Trying for 1 month but can't learn pixel art still"

UI_at_80x24 — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:59:25 +0000

Similar in concept but for different reasons; does anybody know of a way to convert images into a '8bit pixel map'?

My wife likes to take images and crochet them into tapestry/blankets/cozies.

It seems to me that if we could get a grid overlay onto an image she could then make whatever she wanted. (One color per 'pixel')

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements"

UI_at_80x24 — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 11:51:15 +0000

Could you please describe your use-case? How do you use it? How do you make use of it?

I use Claude code, so I understand that paradigm; I don't grok this though. Is it any different then going to a web page i.e. gemini.google.com and typing your query there?

Could this side bar have been a "search bar" at the top? Now that I say it out lou, adding them to the 'search providers' isn't a bad idea.

Generally speaking I am against this being shoved at us, but I find it as a useful tool in a limited number of areas.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "What it means that Ubuntu is using Rust"

UI_at_80x24 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 19:19:14 +0000

But the 90s was only 20-years ago!

lol, you got me. Stupid old brain not calculating time correctly.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "What it means that Ubuntu is using Rust"

UI_at_80x24 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:10:22 +0000

It absolutely is worth trying. I look forward to it being battle tested and proven. I just don't want to be the one doing the testing.

rg, fzf, and several others that I can't think have proven to me that rust is the direction going forward.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "What it means that Ubuntu is using Rust"

UI_at_80x24 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:01:40 +0000

I've been a fan of all rust-based utilities that I've used. I am worried that 20+ (??) years of bug fixes and edge-case improvements can't be accounted for by simply using a newer/better code-base.

A lot of bug fixes/exploits are _CAUSED_ by the C+ core, but still... Tried & true vs new hotness?

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Coding Tricks Used in the C64 Game Seawolves (2025)"

UI_at_80x24 — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 02:38:44 +0000

Here is the comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47077285

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Coding Tricks Used in the C64 Game Seawolves (2025)"

UI_at_80x24 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 23:18:42 +0000

This comment does not deserve to be flagged. It is worth knowing the bias of the source as it taints everything it touches.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV"

UI_at_80x24 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 03:26:13 +0000

I'd rather have a slate.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "The Jolla Phone Proved We've Been Using Smartphones Wrong All Along"

UI_at_80x24 — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:16:29 +0000

Ublock origin Settings -> Filter Lists -> Cookie Notices (enable them).

No ads, No annoyances. Why are you still struggling with this?

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Canada's deal with China signals it is serious about shift from US"

UI_at_80x24 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:33:32 +0000

Canada should re-enact the AutoPact [0] (tldr: I don't see this in the wiki article, but the real benefit was; for every 3 cars sold in Canada, 1 had to be 'made' in Canada). This was ruled as unfair under NAFTA and thus terminated. It also had the effect of incredible auto-industry cutbacks.

BUT, with a new contender (China); we could re-enact it, rebuild our diminished blue-collar manufacturing base; and hasten the rollout of EV vehicles. Which is the real objective here.

IMHO, that would be a solid win for everybody.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_A...

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Resistance training load does not determine hypertrophy"

UI_at_80x24 — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 03:39:40 +0000

Check anybody that has done the AT.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Autism's confusing cousins"

UI_at_80x24 — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 12:46:46 +0000

The day-to-day impact of being diagnosed is practically non-existant for me. It might explain "why" I might react to a specific stimuli but it doesn't stop the reaction. At best it's something to laugh about with my wife. It does also offer an early-warning system when I'm over stimulated and that I need to 'get home' soon.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "72% of devs believe Steam has a monopoly on PC games, according to study"

UI_at_80x24 — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 15:04:40 +0000

I've been a "PC Gamer" for 31+ years. The 'value-add' that steam brings to the table is INCREDIBLE. Thanks to Proton/Linux efforts.

(1) my games are installable AND playable on _every_ device I use.

(2) I don't have to fight with wine/crossover/etc to get things to work.

(3) It's not hostile to the end user (yet).

I have bought more games since the Steamdeck came out then in the 40'some years before that.

Yes I know that I don't have to use steam, but they make it EASIER.

I am looking forward to Deckard for all of the above reasons and their history with the Index.

Steam makes installing software EASIER then the alternative (regardless of the OS). Auto-patching/updates of installed games.

If I was more social I'd probably use those features more. If they ever charge a monthly fee, I'll stop using it.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "It's the “hardware”, stupid"

UI_at_80x24 — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:29:37 +0000

Its the screen (size) that mattered. While screens make terrible input devices, for content consumption they are king. And that is the dividing line between blackberry/iphones. An argument can also be made for "boring business blackberry" vs "fun" iphone.

The apps were worse, but you had that HUGE screen to look at. And compared to other non-blackberry phones where you were limited to T9 text input, it was a game changer.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "It's the “hardware”, stupid"

UI_at_80x24 — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 17:25:23 +0000

Not necessarily the first, but the earliest that I can remember: Decades ago (before they were sold/bought/sold), Opera (web browser/suite) used gestures as a navigation tool with your mouse. I never could figure out how to get it to work, but it was a thing.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "Electricity can heal wounds three times as fast (2023)"

UI_at_80x24 — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 16:07:49 +0000

I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't significant cross-over with this[0] observation of plant-roots growing faster when exposed to low-voltage electricity.

[0]https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-023-00162-5

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'"

UI_at_80x24 — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:26:55 +0000

Name and shame.

New comment by UI_at_80x24 in "US immigration enforcement using military hardware and tactics on civilians"

UI_at_80x24 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 02:03:47 +0000

Read up on the MOVE bombing in Philly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing