The best Hacker News stories from Show from the past week
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Show HN: LatticeDB – Like SQLite but for graph databases
We have been using graph DBs more and more at work. I found them painful to work with locally and decided to try and build something better.
Show HN: LatticeDB – Like SQLite but for graph databases
We have been using graph DBs more and more at work. I found them painful to work with locally and decided to try and build something better.
Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines
I started writing Thoreau BASIC because I wanted a small, old-fashioned BASIC interpreter: line numbers, immediate mode, simple graphics, strings, arrays, the sort of environment where the computer starts with a "Ready" prompt and you can immediately make it do something.<p>Then I wondered: why should it need an operating system?<p>So I made it boot directly on x64 machines using UEFI.<p>The UEFI version uses the Graphics Output Protocol for its framebuffer and gets its keyboard input directly from the firmware. There is no Windows or Linux underneath it. The machine boots into BASIC.<p>It supports the usual BASIC machinery plus graphics primitives, 32-bit colour, floating point, file operations and other features I've been adding as I encounter programs that need them. There is now also a Windows version, which makes it considerably easier to try.<p>One of my goals is compatibility with the style and behaviour of old Microsoft BASICs rather than creating a modern language that merely happens to use BASIC syntax.<p>I'm currently porting my text adventure Pixel Prose to Thoreau BASIC. That's becoming a much better test suite than artificial tests because every missing feature or subtly wrong behaviour eventually gets exposed by an actual program.<p>The project is deliberately small. The UEFI version greets you with:<p>"I make myself rich by making my wants few."
— Henry David Thoreau<p>followed, somewhat ironically on a modern PC, by something like:<p>27,340,685,312 bytes free<p>I'd be interested in hearing from people who wrote BASIC in the 80s/90s, interpreter/compiler people, and anyone sufficiently strange to still find a Ready prompt inviting.
Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines
I started writing Thoreau BASIC because I wanted a small, old-fashioned BASIC interpreter: line numbers, immediate mode, simple graphics, strings, arrays, the sort of environment where the computer starts with a "Ready" prompt and you can immediately make it do something.<p>Then I wondered: why should it need an operating system?<p>So I made it boot directly on x64 machines using UEFI.<p>The UEFI version uses the Graphics Output Protocol for its framebuffer and gets its keyboard input directly from the firmware. There is no Windows or Linux underneath it. The machine boots into BASIC.<p>It supports the usual BASIC machinery plus graphics primitives, 32-bit colour, floating point, file operations and other features I've been adding as I encounter programs that need them. There is now also a Windows version, which makes it considerably easier to try.<p>One of my goals is compatibility with the style and behaviour of old Microsoft BASICs rather than creating a modern language that merely happens to use BASIC syntax.<p>I'm currently porting my text adventure Pixel Prose to Thoreau BASIC. That's becoming a much better test suite than artificial tests because every missing feature or subtly wrong behaviour eventually gets exposed by an actual program.<p>The project is deliberately small. The UEFI version greets you with:<p>"I make myself rich by making my wants few."
— Henry David Thoreau<p>followed, somewhat ironically on a modern PC, by something like:<p>27,340,685,312 bytes free<p>I'd be interested in hearing from people who wrote BASIC in the 80s/90s, interpreter/compiler people, and anyone sufficiently strange to still find a Ready prompt inviting.
Show HN: PicoMQ – Durable Streams over HTTP, on object storage
PicoMQ is a Rust server for Durable Streams, built on Object Store. Cheap, URL-addressable, granular streams (create/append/read/long-poll/SSE), with Pico Protocol or Durable Streams Protocol as the facade.<p>S3Stream is the stream storage primitive, used in AutoMQ, shipped as a Rust library. Coordination is a command log in Postgres.
Show HN: PicoMQ – Durable Streams over HTTP, on object storage
PicoMQ is a Rust server for Durable Streams, built on Object Store. Cheap, URL-addressable, granular streams (create/append/read/long-poll/SSE), with Pico Protocol or Durable Streams Protocol as the facade.<p>S3Stream is the stream storage primitive, used in AutoMQ, shipped as a Rust library. Coordination is a command log in Postgres.
Show HN: GlassBox – what the browser reveals, and how identifiable you are
Show HN: GlassBox – what the browser reveals, and how identifiable you are
Show HN: A techno machine in one HTML file, with verifiable renders
Show HN: A techno machine in one HTML file, with verifiable renders
Show HN: Huzzah – a novel approach to coding with AI
Hello everyone. I've been working on this experimental editor called Huzzah.<p>I've been working almost exclusively with coding agents since January of this year, and over the past few months I began to feel utterly exhausted by them. They're great, but I'm finding it more and more tedious to write full sentences for every change I want. Not only that, but it seems there's a complexity limit for codebases - beyond a certain point the agent begins confusing itself.<p>I'd like to go back to writing code, but I don't want to go all the way back to fully manual coding. So I've come up with this interaction paradigm where you:<p><pre><code> 1. write pseudocode in whatever way makes the most sense to you
2. on save, the editor synchronizes your work to real source code
3. the pseudocode is persisted alongside the generated code, making your prompt effectively a stored record of intent.
</code></pre>
It may not work for every use case, but in my initial playthroughs I've found it very enjoyable.<p>Right now it's just a proof of concept - installation instructions are here in the readme: <a href="https://github.com/danielvaughn/hz" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/danielvaughn/hz</a><p>You can also watch a video of it in action here: <a href="https://x.com/danielvaughn/status/2090456808431165715" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/danielvaughn/status/2090456808431165715</a><p>Cheers!
Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device
I trained a 125M-parameter transformer to autocomplete piano performances in real time (~108 notes/sec on an iPhone 15).<p>The idea is basically GitHub Copilot or Tabnine, except instead of prompting it with code, you prompt it by playing a few notes on a MIDI piano. The model then continues what you played, entirely on-device.<p>The app is free if anyone wants to try it. Happy to answer questions about the model, training, Core ML, or the many things that didn't work.
Show HN: Interactive, animated architecture of any HuggingFace models
Show HN: Automatically detect and patch walking-dead states in Sierra games
Hi HN, I've become lazier in my old age and struggle to replay my favorite Sierra games from the 80s and 90s because I keep getting into those situations where I need an item from 3 acts ago, I have no save game handy, and now I gotta make dinner.<p>So I'm building the Lucasartsifier: a static analysis tool that decompiles Sierra resource files, automatically finds those states, automatically generates code to prevent the player from getting into those states, then emits loose patch files that can be placed alongside the original game resources. There's no game-specific code involved; all the logic is generic, though of course Sierra introduces new idioms and mechanics in every game so every new supported game needs a bunch of engine work.<p>So for example in Leisure Suit Larry 2, the patched game prevents you from boarding the cruise ship until you have both the sunscreen and the Grotesque Gulp. Without them you die on the raft 3 play-hours later.<p>So far this works on Leisure Suit Larry 2 (SCI0), King's Quest 4 (SCI0), King's Quest 6 (SCI1.1), and Laura Bow 2 (SCI1.1). I'm currently working on King's Quest 5 (SCI1.0).<p>This is work done with Claude -- I do the design and playtesting and it does the rest :D<p>Any feedback, play testing, and suggestions would be great!
Show HN: Saggar, a Mac terminal that keeps sessions and your attention organized
Hi HN, like many of you talented folk, I’ve been building more, faster than ever. I built Saggar after my terminal stopped feeling like a tool and started feeling like a tab-management problem. Let me know you think!
Show HN: 1667, a terminal UI for writing fiction with language models
Hi HN. I built 1667 for my own fiction work and now use it each day. This probably has a limited audience. Maybe an audience of one...<p>Why a terminal interface for story writing? I'm a dev. I like to use terminals for a lot of stuff. Most WebUIs feel off to me. That's the only reason.<p>One thing that bothers me about writing in existing tools is that they don't fit the way I write. The mental model of my story is a tree. I try many takes usually continue with just one, but sometimes I want to try an alternate route and see where this goes. And that can branch again in many places. See what happens if I kill off this character or they don't take the job or whatever.<p>1667 is a full-screen terminal app for long-form fiction. Each story part can have several takes. All takes stay in a tree. You select one path through that tree as the story line. Export writes that line to Markdown in the project folder.<p>Some technical details:
- A project stores its stories and settings in a `.1667/` directory. Exported Markdown sits beside it.
- Provider secrets stay in private machine files. Requests go to the provider that the writer selects.
- An optional Vault Password seals project files at rest.
- An operating-system lock permits one writer process for each project.
- The request viewer shows the next provider request without its credential.
- Each generated take keeps a Generation Record with its model and effective settings.<p>Version 0.9.5 runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows x64. The website has Shell and PowerShell installers. An npm package is also available.<p>1667 imports Markdown, SillyTavern chats and cards, and NovelAI archives. It can use OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, and local endpoints such as Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, and KoboldCpp.<p>Current limits: the release is pre-1.0. The interface is a terminal. There is no account or cloud sync, and I don't plan to add any. No tracking.
Show HN: Desktopcolors.com – A museum for solid background colors of classic OS
Hi HN, in my last vacation, I built desktopcolors.com as a place to collect iconic solid background colors. Let me know what you think.
Show HN: Mic Drop, a real-time multiplayer karaoke game
Show HN: A public AI whose memory is shared across all users
Show HN: ThoughtDAG – An editable context graph for LLM conversations