Top all-time · #609
datagubbe
Personal blog · datagubbe.seprogramminghardwaresystems
datagubbe is a personal blog at datagubbe.se about programming, hardware and systems. Since 2020, 100 different Hacker News readers have linked it 203 times, most often “Is Abstraction Killing Civilization?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-24, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (26) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link datagubbe.se for pieces on Amiga software and tools, CRT display effects and pixel art, and a rebuttal to Jonathan Blow's talk.
- Recommended for · 7 comments
- Listed as a favourite; a compelling counterargument, a fantastic walk-through, a good article; highly recommended.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 26 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Is Abstraction Killing Civilization?5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-02-06
- Little Things That Made Amiga Great5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2020-11-20
- Copyright and the Demo Scene4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-03-13
- An Ode to Deluxe Paint (2023)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-12-29
- The Decline of Usability: Revisited (2023)3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-11-15
- A Life Less Ads3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-05-06
- Best of .bashrc3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-07-11
- Is software abstraction killing civilization? (2021)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-05-03
- Fleeting memories of youth and the increasing impermanence of culture (2021)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-10-11
- The Decline of Usability3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-04-17
What Hacker News says?
https://cheapskatesguide.org -- Cheapskate's Guide to Computers and Internet. Low-end and frugal computing in the 21st century. Long, opinionated posts on a pink(!) background. http://ranprieur.com/ -- Ran Prieur. Frugality, societal collapse, "dropping out", and beyond. Has been constantly blogging for ages; it's really interesting to see how his views have changed in time. http://joeyh.name/ -- Joey Hess, former l…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted The Decline of Usability as a story · 996 points
HN discussiontr will handle the whitespace for you and is generally faster[0] (but awk is faster to type and reads better). [0] https://datagubbe.se/cutvawk/
Comment linking /cutvawk/
on “Awk in 20 Minutes (2015)”Submitted No Config for Old Men as a story · 368 points
HN discussionHe did: https://datagubbe.se/subversive/
Comment linking /subversive/
on “No Config for Old Men”Submitted The Effect of CRTs on Pixel Art (2024) as a story · 315 points
HN discussionFollow-up article: https://datagubbe.se/crt2/
Comment linking /crt2/
on “The Effect of CRTs on Pixel Art (2024)”Submitted Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination as a story · 289 points
HN discussionI found this to be a compelling counterargument to Blow's alarmism about forgotten knowledge in tech https://www.datagubbe.se/endofciv/ A related point: numerically there are far more low level developers now than there were in past he idealizes. No such knowledge is being forgotten, it is used and innovated upon regularly. It may be in less frequent use, but is still there if needed.
Comment linking /endofciv/
on “Antikythera Mechanism: An ancient 'computer' that 'shouldn't exist' [video]”Submitted The effect of CRTs on pixel art as a story · 286 points
HN discussionIt's not, the same thing happened even in the 1980s and 1990s. Think of it like "stolen valour". Let's say you enjoy Skyrim. All the people are like "Yay Bethesda!". Bethesda gets the warm fuzzies (and lots of money) Then PERSON X introduces the HORSE ARMOUR mod. All the people are like "Yay PERSON X!". PERSON X gets the warm fuzzies, and this keeps them going. To get the mod, you have to go to PERSON X's page on ne…
Comment linking /scenecop/
on “Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame”Submitted The demo scene is dying, but that's alright as a story · 245 points
HN discussionSome of his pixel art. Absolutely lovely, and it really gives off 90s vibes. Wish he built an adventure game. https://www.datagubbe.se/pix/pixman.png https://www.datagubbe.se/pixels/Grip-Frog.png https://www.datagubbe.se/pixels/Grip-ShroomWithAView.png
Comment linking /pixels/Grip-ShroomWithAView.png
on “The effect of CRTs on pixel art”Submitted Little Things That Made Amiga Great as a story · 227 points
HN discussion> I just don't buy the argument that it's "how the games were intended to be seen" I do, though. At its most extreme, compare how this CGA imagery looks like on an NTSC television, with the crisp, clean signals that generated it. The demo makers here absolutely intend you to see this via NTSC, it will look like complete trash if you don't. https://int10h.org/blog/img/1k16_flowergirl_cga_1024_colors.... (from https:/…
Comment linking /crt/
on “Subpixel Snake [video]”Submitted Is software abstraction killing civilization? (2021) as a story · 219 points
HN discussionI remember the first moments switching from C64 to a 386AT PC with VGA card/screen and be blown away by Deluxe Paint II's included artwork named pueblo ( http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims_ibm/electronic_a... ), kingtut ( https://www.datagubbe.se/dpaint/img/kingtut.png ) and of course celtic ( https://amiga.lychesis.net/assets/AvrilHarrison/AH_Celtic.pn... )
Comment linking /dpaint/img/kingtut.png
on “An Ode to Deluxe Paint (2023)”Submitted Past and Present Futures of User Interface Design as a story · 212 points
HN discussionThis was a fantastic walk-through of the making of intro, including great descriptions of some Amiga tech and features, plus: quite the cute little intro! Reminded me a lot of some of the quick-shot productions me and my friends used to do back then! It was very satisfying to do these little single-screen things, sometimes in a single day/night, that were perhaps (eh) less about showing off massive technical chops (…
Comment linking /colophon/
on “Using an Amiga in 2021: Making an intro”Submitted An Ode to Deluxe Paint (2023) as a story · 196 points
HN discussionNope[1]. [1] https://datagubbe.se/fontfest/
Comment linking /fontfest/
on “No more blurry fonts in Linux (2023)”Submitted Using an Amiga in 2021: Making an intro as a story · 180 points
HN discussionWell, yes, staring at a screen is the digital art workflow just as it is the programming workflow, and deep work (or just most work!) requires not constantly getting distracted. The artist is Avril Harrison. Other than that, seems to be lost to history. https://datagubbe.se/famous/ (this is a better process than the 1965 NASA version, which involved doing pixel art by hand on paper. A form of human "shader". https:/…
Comment linking /famous/
on “A Clone of Deluxe Paint II Written in Python”Submitted How Doom didn't kill the Amiga as a story · 177 points
HN discussionEvery company wants recurring revenue: https://www.datagubbe.se/endofownership/
Comment linking /endofownership/
on “Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'”Submitted The Home Computer Generation as a story · 170 points
HN discussionWell, today a cheap gaming PC runs in circles around even the most advanced workstations of yesteryear. My cheap as chips consumer laptop easily accumulates an uptime of a month or more before I decide a kernel update would be a good idea and I have to reboot. Also, the computers in use by professionals today _are_ specialized. As a web developer, I don't need the expensive GPU(s) required by an AI researcher and th…
Comment linking /coolcomp.html
on “The Untimely Demise of Workstations”Submitted The curious case of retro demo scene graphics as a story · 167 points
HN discussionI know, I used Native Oberon back in the day. :) Yes, those ideas are similar to ToonTalk (on Sun), CORBA, COM/DCOM/OLE, DBus,... just done in a more easier and approachable way. I also happened to be the only PC dude among a circle of Amiga owning friends, so I know it relativity well. Amiga had lots of good stuff, including a similar feature, and the ability to script whole applications via ARexx. I advise a readi…
Comment linking /ltmag/
on “Project Oberon 2013 on RISC-V”Submitted Amiga Screens: A Primer as a story · 140 points
HN discussion
