Top all-time · #4171
Michael Martin
Personal blog · bumbershootsoft.wordpress.comprogramminggameshardware
Michael Martin writes Bumbershoot Software, a personal blog at bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com about programming, games and hardware. Since 2020, 17 different Hacker News readers have linked it 68 times, most often “Upgrading Our Way Through OpenGL 1.x”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-31, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Michael Martin's posts on retro computing are linked as background for HN discussions of old micro hardware and OS design, such as the Acorn/RISC OS command-line interface and TRS-80 graphics.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
An Umbrella Site for Michael Martin's software experiments
Most-linked posts?
- Upgrading Our Way Through OpenGL 1.x3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-09-29
- Comparing an LZ4 Decompressor on Four Legacy CPUs2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-05-11
- Smooth Scrolling on the Sega Master System2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-12-13
- ZX Spectrum System Tour: Text Mode2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-06-01
- Giving the ZX Spectrum a Fair Shake2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-05-23
What Hacker News says?
It's funny that you mention the scrolling, also mentioned here: https://bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/kicking-off... The Acorn-type CLI is interesting (in my view), and I never realised why until I started using a PC rather than the BBC Micro: there's no shell. The idea doesn't even really exist. The fundamental system call (the OS_CLI SWI on RISC-OS, OSCLI entry point on the BBC Micro) takes an entire co…
Comment linking /2017/06/04/kicking-off-project-mehitabel/
on “Why did the Motorola 68000 processor family fall out of use in PCs?”Submitted The 8-Bit Era's Weird Uncle: The TI-99/4A as a story · 169 points
HN discussionMaybe too old to be applicable here, but the TRS-80 Models I and III (and probably more models) had no way to address pixels. You had to use semigraphic characters to emulate larger blocks at sub-character resolutions. https://bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com/2022/01/28/touring-the...
Comment linking /2022/01/28/touring-the-trs-80s-capabilities/
on “Mousefood – Build embedded terminal UIs for microcontrollers”Submitted The Sega Master System as a story · 130 points
HN discussionSubmitted ZX Spectrum: Experimenting with 1-Bit Sound as a story · 108 points
HN discussionSubmitted Digital Audio on the ZX Spectrum's 1-Bit Beeper as a story · 68 points
HN discussionSubmitted Upgrading Our Way Through OpenGL 1.x as a story · 56 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sharp Bilinear Filters: Big Clean Pixels for Pixel Art as a story · 42 points
HN discussionSubmitted Poking a Little Harder at PICO-8 as a story · 7 points
HN discussionSubmitted Vintage Computer Fair West 2026 as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Programming the ZX Spectrum's Bitmap Display as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Some Subtleties When Parsing 6502 Assembly Language as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Variable Screen Placement: The Vic-II’s Forbidden Technique as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Trying Out the New VBCC-65816 Compiler as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Giving the ZX Spectrum a Fair Shake as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Smooth Scrolling on the Sega Master System as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Smooth Scrolling on the Sega Master System as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sega Master System: Using All the Colors as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sega Master System: Program Walkthroughs as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sega Master System Part 2: Mode 4 on the Mark III as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Upgrading Our Way Through OpenGL 1.x as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Atari 800: Next-Generation Playfields as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Tour of 6502 Cross-Assemblers as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Unfinished Business with 1-Bit Audio Chords as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ZX Spectrum System Tour: Memory Mapping as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ZX Spectrum System Tour: Text Mode – Bumbershoot Software as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ZX Spectrum System Tour: Sound as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Finishing the ZX Spectrum Shooting Gallery as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ZX Spectrum System Tour: Text Mode as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Giving the ZX Spectrum a Fair Shake as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
