H3RALD

Just a tinkerer pursuing more minimalist and bloat-free computing. I enjoying crafting and using my own tools, typically using Nim, sometimes in JavaScript and of course my very own m(i)n languages.

Web Site: https://h3rald.com
Code: https://code.h3rald.com
Bookmarks: https://2c.fyi
Tools: https://nifty.tools

Last Notes

2026-03-22 16:07:16 UTC

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happy birthday! Welcome to the club, I am just 2 year ahead myself. Well, nearly 3 I guess. And yes, the pressure to keep fit does feel real at this point 😁

2025-12-05 19:59:29 UTC

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I just want to say that what you can accomplish in such a short time is beyond impressive. It kinda breaks my brain: on one side, there's you, on the other side, there's a team of experienced software developers at work that quoted me 230 story points (roughly 230 working days) to build a relatively straightforward dashboard editor in JavaScript.
I mean, if I go to my teams and say something like "I know someone that can build a whole programming language using *their own* language/ecosystem within 2Kb for TWO story points..." I think most people would just quit.

2025-08-12 15:46:07 UTC

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the problem with forks is that... well, they kinda "dilute" the success or supporters of a particular project. So the obvious question would be: would some of these improvement make sense to be merged upstream? Problem is some (all?) of these would break compatibility for existing Uxn programs, but I'd say creating migrations scripts would be easy enough.

2025-08-12 15:16:45 UTC

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yep... read about it when it was featured on HN a while back. I skimmed through the differences with Uxn and some of them are interesting. I am wondering what @npub1z8r…mrq6 thinks about this...

2025-05-16 04:51:22 UTC

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I have been reading into permacomputing for a while, and while I agree that we should strive to produce software that uses less resources, is maintainable, portable, etc. (and Uxn is probably one of the best examples out there, as checks all these boxes), I am not 100% sure of the premise of projects like CollapseOS and DuskOS.
These projects make HN regularly, and obviously they get hit with the typical HN responses... the main points seem to be:
- in case of a total collapse of civilization, owning a paper copy of The Book (https://howtorebuildcivilization.com) would be 1000 times more valuable than fiddling with computers or similar
- in case of a gradual collapse, humanity would adapt in a smoother way
- particular types of shortages (lack of Internet, lack of certain materials) would require different types of solutions, not the same one
For me, it makes a lot more sense to focus on recycling existing hardware for the sake of reducing waste, for more practical emergencies (lost phones, lack of financial means, etc.) rather than "civilization collapse". But at that point, it would be more practical to make sure you can rely on software that runs on a 2010s android or iPhone device, maybe even a old BlackBerry device, than learning how to program in forth on an older chip. Where do you draw the line? What is the hardware we should realistically be targeting, with permacomputing?
I would really like to hear your thoughts on this.

2025-04-30 04:25:47 UTC

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That's fantastic! Really can't wait to see what it will be like. Well, I can imagine how awesome it is going to be based on your existing work... please do keep us all posted!

2025-04-29 19:55:24 UTC

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I did try learning uxn a year ago (or maybe two??) while on holiday for two weeks. So I read pretty much all the material on your site, kept the cute zzine at hand, and also got myself the tutorial ebook. I was able to follow the tutorial up to like Day 3 or 4, then got lost a little bit.
I guess my main problem was that I was trying to learn it essentially on my phone, not on a desktop PC, so until things stayed in the CLI I was able to follow everything while SSHing to my VPS; but once things got graphical (and more complex) I wasn't able to try things right away.
In my mind, I would really love for Uxn to become similar to... _why's Shoes for Ruby. He published a funky little book with loads of graphics and that was literally ENOUGH to learn everything and start coding. I would like to be able to see the code, fully commented, but also with a preview (even drawings!) of the result, and possibly in some cases even stack contents. Granted, Shoes and Ruby are MUCH higher level than Uxn and Uxntal...
For me, the killer docs for Uxn would be an expansion to the Zine, a fully graphical book that can *also* act as full reference and comprehensive tutorial. All in one place.
Hell if you and @npub1z2c…laft and others started a Kickstarter or similar for that, I'd definitely contribute!

2025-02-04 06:15:29 UTC

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...just like that! Wow. Yet another fun rabbit hole to explore! Nice! :flan_cool:

2025-01-25 19:58:08 UTC

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Unbelievable. So sad that it happened, everyone should just boycott the damn thing. Pity.

2024-12-22 18:29:25 UTC

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crazy... it has been like +14°C here during the day yesterday 😜

2024-12-22 18:25:50 UTC

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wow! Where are you guys? Canada?

2024-12-21 16:52:51 UTC

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they do, don't they? And it's kind of addictive.