The best Hacker News stories from Show from the past week
Latest posts:
Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch
Simple KVM lets you control multiple PCs from one mouse, keyboard and monitor(s).<p>It is similar to Haimgel's display-switch (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29608967">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29608967</a>), but it provides a GUI which hopefully makes it a bit easier to set up. It also supports hotkeys which effectively lets you alt+tab between computers.<p>I was surprised by the star-to-download ratio (55:400) on GitHub, so I thought I'd post it here as it might be useful to someone.<p>Feedback welcome!<p>Thanks,
Fidel
Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch
Simple KVM lets you control multiple PCs from one mouse, keyboard and monitor(s).<p>It is similar to Haimgel's display-switch (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29608967">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29608967</a>), but it provides a GUI which hopefully makes it a bit easier to set up. It also supports hotkeys which effectively lets you alt+tab between computers.<p>I was surprised by the star-to-download ratio (55:400) on GitHub, so I thought I'd post it here as it might be useful to someone.<p>Feedback welcome!<p>Thanks,
Fidel
Show HN: Presentations for your webcam, not a projector
CueCam Presenter is my Mac app (actually a suite of Mac and iOS apps) to run better presentations on your webcam.<p>Editing cards should feel natural to anybody used to Markdown.<p>I came to create CueCam as an "embedded entrepreneur". I had some success with my camera app "Shoot Pro Webcam" back in 2020 and built on this by creating squares.tv.<p>As I talked to more and more users, I discovered more opportunities to make their lives easier. I started with features in Shoot (camera options, pausing, drawing etc..).. Then I created Video Pencil (which connects to your computer and lets you draw on your webcam using your iPad). Then I created "Beat Sheet" which lets you run through "smart scripts", controlling Ecamm Live, OBS and mimoLive.<p>CueCam Presenter is how I'm connecting all these elements. It gives you a virtual webcam, virtual mic, and seamlessly connects to Shoot and Video Pencil running on other devices. There are various ways you can use it as a teleprompter while maintaining eye contact.<p>It's taken a lot to get it to this stage. The video pipeline has been through two major iterations and the audio pipeline even more. The UI has evolved and developed to cover the different ways it is understood by different people.<p>Educational discounts are a must for me, as I want to help improve the quality of remote teaching around the world.
For other professionals, I believe it transforms the way you interact with people on video calls. It's useful for recording software demos and running live streams.
Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's
Show HN: Improve cognitive focus in 1 minute
Staring at something for 30-90 seconds has been proven to improve & boost mental focus on subsequent tasks (from Andrew Huberman - <a href="https://youtu.be/CrtR12PBKb0?t=3367" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/CrtR12PBKb0?t=3367</a>
).<p>So I made something simple you can look at (and simultaneously meditate) for 1 minute to improve focus for your next task :) Let me know if it works for you
Show HN: Name That Nation
I made this map game. react, material ui, hosted on vercel cdn, no back end.
Show HN: Visit the front page of Hacker News on a random day
Hi HN. I was surprised that there wasn't a feature here that lets you go back in time to the front page of Hacker News on a random day...so I made one. <a href="http://randomhackernews.com" rel="nofollow">http://randomhackernews.com</a> is a simple HTML page that navigates you to the front page of HN on a random day between today and February 19, 2007 (the oldest date I could find with content).<p>I made this for myself, but figured others may find some interest in it.
Show HN: Natural-SQL-7B, a strong text-to-SQL model
Would love thoughts!<p>Here is the HF page: <a href="https://huggingface.co/chatdb/natural-sql-7b" rel="nofollow">https://huggingface.co/chatdb/natural-sql-7b</a>
Show HN: Atopile – Design circuit boards with code
Hey HN! We are the founders of atopile. We’re building a tool to describe electronics with code. Here is a quick demo: <a href="https://youtu.be/7-Q0XVpfW3Y" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/7-Q0XVpfW3Y</a><p>Could you imagine the pain of building an entire software product using only assembly code? That’s about how we felt designing hardware. We don’t currently have good ways to describe what we need, reuse existing designs and compile that description down to a product.<p>We started atopile to fix this. atopile is an open-source language and toolchain to describe circuits with code. The compiler is here: <a href="https://github.com/atopile/atopile">https://github.com/atopile/atopile</a> Docs are here: <a href="https://atopile.io/getting-started/" rel="nofollow">https://atopile.io/getting-started/</a> . For a detailed deep dive designing an ESP32 module, see this video: <a href="https://youtu.be/eMWRwZOajdQ" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/eMWRwZOajdQ</a><p>We realized this was a problem in our previous jobs. Narayan and I (Tim) had to manually, draw and export all our electronic circuit boards. This lasted until our friend Matt, a software engineer, showed us his development workflow. All his projects were built, tested, and merged automatically via GitHub. So we asked: Can we build the same for hardware?<p>We observed that the ability to abstract electronics effectively hinged on using a language to describe the requirements, so we came up with the “ato” language. In ato, you can break down circuits into modules, components and interfaces. You can nest and connect those blocks with each other. Here is an example with an RP2040 microcontroller:<p><pre><code> import RP2040Kit from "rp2040/RP2040Kit.ato"
import LEDIndicatorBlue from "generics/leds.ato"
import LDOReg3V3 from "regulators/regulators.ato"
import USBCConn from "usb-connectors/usb-connectors.ato"
module Blinky:
micro_controller = new RP2040Kit
led_indicator = new LEDIndicatorBlue
voltage_regulator = new LDOReg3V3
usb_c_connector = new USBCConn
usb_c_connector.power ~ voltage_regulator.power_in
voltage_regulator.power_out ~ micro_controller.power
micro_controller.gpio13 ~ led_indicator.input
micro_controller.power.gnd ~ led_indicator.gnd
led_indicator.resistor.value = 100ohm +/- 10%
</code></pre>
From there, the compiler produces a netlist that describes how the circuit is connected and selects jelly-bean components for you (<a href="https://atopile.io/blog/2024/01/31/cloud-components/" rel="nofollow">https://atopile.io/blog/2024/01/31/cloud-components/</a>). Our next focus will be to add layout reuse, mathematical relations between values and define circuits by traits (similar to Rusts’).<p>At the moment, atopile is intended to design all types of printed circuit boards (PCB) with low to medium complexity. The circuit complexity that the compiler can handle will steadily increase until it becomes suited for production usage. We often get asked if the compiler is meant for chip design rather than PCBs, but that is not the case. The language is exclusive to PCBs. At least for now..!<p>A big part of why the software community is so prolific is thanks to open source and open core technology. The ability to share software packages with each other and efficiently chain tools together has made the software world an awesome place for developers. As hardware engineers, we would love our field to benefit from this as well. That’s why we’ve made atopile’s core open source (Apache 2.0). We plan to generate revenue by selling entreprise targeted features, similar to GitLab.<p>We would love to have your thoughts on the compiler! What’s your story in electronics? What would you want us to build?
Show HN: The classic Minesweeper on an irregular grid
I'm experimenting game mechanics that are usually seen on a typical grid, but transposed on an irregular one.<p>This is a first game based on Minesweeper.<p>The changes an irregular grid brings are that cells don't all have 8 neighbors. Some can have less, some can have more. So when you try and deduce if a tile has a mine, you have to pay closer attention at the number clues and which tiles neighbors it.<p>My intention is to make a very classic game a bit more challenging & fun.<p>I've also released a first version of Checkers/Draughts, and plan to test similar variants for Chess, Othello and Go.
Show HN: The classic Minesweeper on an irregular grid
I'm experimenting game mechanics that are usually seen on a typical grid, but transposed on an irregular one.<p>This is a first game based on Minesweeper.<p>The changes an irregular grid brings are that cells don't all have 8 neighbors. Some can have less, some can have more. So when you try and deduce if a tile has a mine, you have to pay closer attention at the number clues and which tiles neighbors it.<p>My intention is to make a very classic game a bit more challenging & fun.<p>I've also released a first version of Checkers/Draughts, and plan to test similar variants for Chess, Othello and Go.
Show HN: Stanchion – Column-oriented tables in SQLite
Hello HN!<p>I built stanchion to scratch my own itch. I have personal applications running on SQLite where I want to store log and metric data (basically forever) but don't want to add complexity by bringing in a new database or whole separate server. Some of these applications are running on a Raspberry Pi, where storage and compute are limited, but I still want data warehouse like capabilities.<p>I envision stanchion being used in similar scenarios: on phones and resource-limited devices in applications that are already using SQLite. I know that there are alternatives like DuckDB (which is very cool), but I want stanchion to be "good enough" that it is useful without having to add whole new database technology.<p>If you think stanchion may be a good fit for your use case and you are interested in contributing, please test it and provide feedback by opening issues for any bugs, difficulties, or missing features you would need! Ideas are also welcome in this thread or as a github issue. Of course stars are always appreciated as well. The CONTRIBUTING doc in the repository has more details.<p>- Dan
Show HN: filippo.io/mlkem768 – Post-Quantum Cryptography for the Go Ecosystem
Show HN: A simple ChatGPT prompt builder
Any Ideas/Suggestions are welcome :)
Show HN: A simple ChatGPT prompt builder
Any Ideas/Suggestions are welcome :)
Show HN: Open-source x64 and Arm GitHub runners
Ubicloud is an open source cloud. Think of it as an open alternative to cloud providers, like what Linux is to proprietary operating systems. You can self-host Ubicloud or use our managed service.<p>Our first use-case is GitHub Actions. We support x64 and arm64 Linux runners; and reduce your Github Actions bill by 10x. We can give you hardware similar to default GitHub runners because of the very high margins on the cloud. One difference with our hardware is that we use local NVMes for better disk performance.<p>Ubicloud and our GitHub Actions integration is also open source. You can check out our integration here: <a href="https://github.com/ubicloud/ubicloud/blob/main/routes/web/webhook/github.rb">https://github.com/ubicloud/ubicloud/blob/main/routes/web/we...</a><p>For security and isolation, we give you a clean and ephemeral VM for each job. When the job completes, we deprovision the VM and wipe out the block storage device attached to the VM. We set up your firewall rules to lock down access to the VM; and also encrypt your data at rest and in-transit.<p>(We use Linux KVM and the Cloud Hypervisor as our underlying VM tech. For our block device, we use and extend SPDK: <a href="https://www.ubicloud.com/blog/building-block-storage-for-cloud-with-spdk-non-replicated">https://www.ubicloud.com/blog/building-block-storage-for-clo...</a>)<p>Ubicloud runners are also fully compatible with GitHub runners. To get started, all you need to do is change 1-line in your workflow file. Each account gets 1,250 free build minutes per month with standard-2 runners.<p>We’d love to hear your feedback!<p><a href="https://www.ubicloud.com/docs/github-actions-integration/quickstart">https://www.ubicloud.com/docs/github-actions-integration/qui...</a>
Show HN: Open-source x64 and Arm GitHub runners
Ubicloud is an open source cloud. Think of it as an open alternative to cloud providers, like what Linux is to proprietary operating systems. You can self-host Ubicloud or use our managed service.<p>Our first use-case is GitHub Actions. We support x64 and arm64 Linux runners; and reduce your Github Actions bill by 10x. We can give you hardware similar to default GitHub runners because of the very high margins on the cloud. One difference with our hardware is that we use local NVMes for better disk performance.<p>Ubicloud and our GitHub Actions integration is also open source. You can check out our integration here: <a href="https://github.com/ubicloud/ubicloud/blob/main/routes/web/webhook/github.rb">https://github.com/ubicloud/ubicloud/blob/main/routes/web/we...</a><p>For security and isolation, we give you a clean and ephemeral VM for each job. When the job completes, we deprovision the VM and wipe out the block storage device attached to the VM. We set up your firewall rules to lock down access to the VM; and also encrypt your data at rest and in-transit.<p>(We use Linux KVM and the Cloud Hypervisor as our underlying VM tech. For our block device, we use and extend SPDK: <a href="https://www.ubicloud.com/blog/building-block-storage-for-cloud-with-spdk-non-replicated">https://www.ubicloud.com/blog/building-block-storage-for-clo...</a>)<p>Ubicloud runners are also fully compatible with GitHub runners. To get started, all you need to do is change 1-line in your workflow file. Each account gets 1,250 free build minutes per month with standard-2 runners.<p>We’d love to hear your feedback!<p><a href="https://www.ubicloud.com/docs/github-actions-integration/quickstart">https://www.ubicloud.com/docs/github-actions-integration/qui...</a>
Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level
Hey there HN -<p>Today I'm sharing a demo of my our language learning tool, Phrasing. It's a tool born from the language acquisition hypothesis, too many hours in an anki slog, and a strange desire to always be learning obscure languages.<p>The method is simple:<p>1. type in a show<p>2. learn the most important words<p>3. watch the show/acquire the words<p>4. review the words when needed in the future.<p>On top of that, we're trying to:<p>- do some novel things with spaced repetition (no more anki slog)<p>- expand the sort of content you can learn from (I want to to refresh my French by reading The Stormlight Archive)<p>- make an insanely beautiful tool for all languages (I want to learn Sanskrit and Hawaiian and such)<p>I think we're off to a great start so far, and I'm happy to be able to share what we have already! We've taken some of our core features, and ripped them out to put them on a playground for HN to explore. There's so much more to come though, this is just the beginning.<p>I'll be here all day to answer any questions. Thanks for checking it out and have a wonderful day <3<p>EDIT: This link was meant as a demo so hacker news has something to click around on (as per the rules of Show HN). The main marketing page can be found at <a href="https://phrasing.app/" rel="nofollow">https://phrasing.app/</a> - I think that's causing some confusion
Show HN: WhisperFusion – Low-latency conversations with an AI chatbot
WhisperFusion builds upon the capabilities of open source tools WhisperLive and WhisperSpeech to provide a seamless conversations with an AI chatbot.
Show HN: WhisperFusion – Low-latency conversations with an AI chatbot
WhisperFusion builds upon the capabilities of open source tools WhisperLive and WhisperSpeech to provide a seamless conversations with an AI chatbot.