Hacker News: r4ge

New comment by r4ge in "Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982"

r4ge — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:04:49 +0000

My dad came home with a 2nd hand spectravideo sv-328 and it got me started as well. It had a book of basic programs that I could never really get working. A year or so later we got an Amiga 500 and I really learnt a lot about computers using that. I've been working a personal project that replaces the A500s 68k CPU with a FPGA.

New comment by r4ge in "Nullsoft, 1997-2004 (2004)"

r4ge — Mon, 11 May 2026 22:01:09 +0000

I used to use ninjam many years ago, I don't remember the delay being a deal breaker for me, it was just a fun way to practice with other players. If you found a good drummer you could just jam along and have fun with it.

New comment by r4ge in "I recreated the Apple Lisa computer inside an FPGA [video]"

r4ge — Sun, 03 May 2026 23:35:17 +0000

I've recently finished a project that implemented a mc68000 microcomputer board for a 80s industrial control system. It's a great way to do a deep dive into micro computer design, and the older technology makes it possible for 1 person to have a pretty decent understanding of how the system works. Implementing the programmable timer modules was definitely a challenge to get them cycle accurate.

I really want to adapt what I've done into an amiga500 accelerator board.

New comment by r4ge in "Show HN: A working reference implementation of context engineering"

r4ge — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:18:59 +0000

I feel like AI is going to be doing all the fun stuff and I will just left organizing the data and docs it needs to generate code.

New comment by r4ge in "Air Powered Segment Display? [video]"

r4ge — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:07:48 +0000

Charles Babbage designed his difference engine that was mechanical and used punch cards for loading programs. The machine was mechanical and used a steam engine to power it.

New comment by r4ge in "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"

r4ge — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 21:41:05 +0000

system to test and calibrate an analog traction control system. the system uses a frequency to voltage converter and a bunch of opamps to compare wheel speeds then determines wheel slip or slide and either reduces engine power or braking.

Test system uses ADCs, DACs and a DDS to produce a sine wave that simulates wheel speed.

I would rather be fishing.

New comment by r4ge in "Cheese Crystals (2019)"

r4ge — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 21:47:06 +0000

My favorite super market bought cheese is mainland tasty cheddar, the best tasting blocks always have crystals.

New comment by r4ge in "Qualcomm to acquire Arduino"

r4ge — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 21:19:28 +0000

ATmega micros are still incredibly useful and the Arduino ecosystem (especially the open source libraries, thanks Rob Tillaart!) makes it so easy to whip up a firmware. I really hope no matter what happens Arduino doesn't go off the rails.

New comment by r4ge in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2025)"

r4ge — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 21:34:02 +0000

Testing jig for a traction control system for a locomotive. Microcontroller connected to a DDS waveform generator simulates the sensor that picks wheel speed, various ADCs and DACs read in analog voltages that are compared to determine loss of traction. 1980s analog computing at its finest. If I had a choice I would be doing anything else ;)

New comment by r4ge in "Irssi: IRC client in a Docker image"

r4ge — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 04:47:30 +0000

Back in the day I would keep an old PC running Linux in the closet just for my IRC and shell needs. Having a vanity domain name was a must if you were lucky enough to have a static IP. I remember undernet adding support to hide your IP once you created an account.