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ImaPenguin

Personal blog · imapenguin.comprogramminghardware

ImaPenguin is a personal blog at imapenguin.com about programming and hardware. Since 2022, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times, most often “Breaking Enigma with Index of Coincidence on a Commodore 64”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-06-08, and you can follow it by feed.

Visit the blog
12mentions?
10HN people?
2022–2026first – last linked?
Links on Hacker News per year · peak 4 in 2025

Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?

Why HN links it

HN commenters link ImaPenguin's posts on 6502 memory-transfer speed, a 6502 image decoder, and cipher implementations, mostly as background for their own points. No comment judges the writing itself.

Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.

Posts written by a human. Not AI.

Most-linked posts?

  1. Breaking Enigma with Index of Coincidence on a Commodore 64
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-31
  2. /2022/06/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-memory/
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-08
  3. How fast can a 6502 transfer memory?
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-06-16

What Hacker News says?

  1. > If thousands of people would work on this indefinitely the time would drop to seconds. Even the small Apple II screen takes 7.5 kilobytes of RAM. Reading https://imapenguin.com/2022/06/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-... , just writing all of that to the screen takes a tenth of a second, for just over 50,000 pixels, and that’s ignoring the idiosyncratic video memory layout of the Apple II. Going below ten seconds for…

    Comment linking /2022/06/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-memory/

    on “Optimizing a 6502 image decoder, from 70 minutes to 1 minute”
  2. Submitted How fast can a 6502 transfer memory? as a story · 190 points

    HN discussion
  3. I've done Pontifex from Cryptonomicon on a Commodore 64 for fun. Bruce Schneier came up with it. https://imapenguin.com/2021/05/making-and-breaking-ciphers-o...

    Comment linking /2021/05/making-and-breaking-ciphers-on-the-commodore-64-part-12-pontifex-solitaire-from-cryptonomicon/

    on “Hiding messages in a deck playing cards”
  4. Submitted A little more speed from the 6502 as a story · 54 points

    HN discussion
  5. This is a follow up to: https://imapenguin.com/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-memory/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31764722

    Comment linking /how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-memory/

    on “A little more speed from the 6502”
  6. Submitted Why You Must Learn Before You Prompt as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  7. The 6502 was pretty fast little chip: https://imapenguin.com/2022/06/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-... The ARM team decided to design their own CPU because they felt that the available options weren't that much better than the 6502 as they wished them to be.

    Comment linking /2022/06/how-fast-can-a-6502-transfer-memory/

    on “Appler: Apple ][ emulator for IBM PC, written in 8088 assembly”
  8. Submitted Breaking Enigma with Index of Coincidence on a Commodore 64 as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  9. Submitted Breaking Enigma with Index of Coincidence on a Commodore 64 as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  10. Submitted Dorothy Vaughan: Adapt or Become Obsolete as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  11. Submitted A gentle introduction to two's complement as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  12. Submitted Breaking Enigma with Index of Coincidence on a Commodore 64 as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion

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