Top all-time · #8305
Wherein The Chicken
Personal blog · cushychicken.github.iohardwareprogramming
Wherein The Chicken is a personal blog at cushychicken.github.io about hardware and programming. Since 2015, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 65 times, most often “I designed and built my own function generator”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-05-16, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
The linked posts describe a homemade function generator (bfunc) and invite users to try it. Comments only mention the project and do not judge the writing.
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.
some scribbles about things and stuff
Most-linked posts?
- I designed and built my own function generator2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-04-26
- Reflections on Pre-Tirement: What I Learned from a Ten Week Leave of Absence2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-09-22
What Hacker News says?
http://cushychicken.github.io/ Lots of recent posts about designing an open source function generator, and all of the related electronics/embedded systems development. Also serves as a dumping ground for my work thoughts - short meditations on topics and situations I experience at work.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What is your blog and why should I read it?”Submitted I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now as a story · 785 points
HN discussionI've had a lot of fun learning offshoots from the function generator I'm working on building. ( http://cushychicken.github.io/bfunc-quickstart/ if interested.) - Started learning about building versioning into firmware. Found some great posts from the Memfault Interrupt blog on GNU build IDs, and another one from the Embedded Artistry blog on adding more generic versioning. - Also learning about analog drivers and g…
Comment linking /bfunc-quickstart/
on “Ask HN: What are you learning?”Submitted Notes on Writing Web Scrapers as a story · 134 points
HN discussionI'm working on building my own function generator! If you're not an EE - a function generator is a pretty common piece of electrical engineering lab equipment. I've got all the source files up on GitHub - feel free to take a look: https://github.com/cushychicken/bfunc I've also been keeping a weekly project journal. I just posted the latest installment today if you'd like to see what I've gotten up to: http://cushyc…
Comment linking /bfunc-weekseven-log/
on “Ask HN: What projects are you working on now?”Submitted Reviewing Bad Schematics as EE Interview Tactic as a story · 104 points
HN discussionhttp://cushychicken.github.io
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Share your personal site”Submitted What to Say When You're Asked for Your Salary History as a story · 87 points
HN discussionSo glad you asked. http://cushychicken.github.io
Comment linking /
on “Why I Keep a Research Blog”Submitted Dissecting a Chinese Knockoff Guitar Pedal as a story · 81 points
HN discussionIndexing hiring companies' job sites, and providing helpful comments to people who are seeking jobs in the sector (primarily on Reddit). More on that here: https://cushychicken.github.io/grow-your-mailing-list-by-bei... We're seeing a steady and growing trickle of organic traffic, too.
Comment linking /grow-your-mailing-list-by-being-helpful/
on “Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2022 – Show and tell”Submitted I designed and built my own function generator as a story · 70 points
HN discussionI wrote this script three years ago to grab screenshots from my networked Agilent oscilloscope at work. Ten lines of Python, but I use it every day. It saves me a ton of time moving screencaps from my scope using USB (ugh). More importantly, it spares me the agony of trying to rename them and classify them in a batch, hours after I took the original capture. Definitely the best junky little tool I've ever made. http…
Comment linking /agilent-screencap
on “Ask HN: What simple tools or products are you most proud of making?”Submitted NAND Flash: Dealing with a Flawed Medium as a story · 50 points
HN discussion...it fell? I've used a GTD type system to great effect for almost my whole career, and I like it very much. Details here if interested: https://cushychicken.github.io/posts/evernote-workflow/ Newport's deep work theory isn't so contrary to GTD. Sometimes, your "next step" is to just schedule time to write your big report, or do your big numerical analysis, or plan out your new driver structure. Allen was on to some…
Comment linking /posts/evernote-workflow/
on “The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done”Submitted Wanna Impress an Engineer at a Career Fair? as a story · 49 points
HN discussionHi! Author here. You are absolutely right, and I called out a lot of those limitations in my original design doc. http://cushychicken.github.io/bfunc-design-doc/ I'm just starting to get to work on the second version of this board, and I'm planning on addressing all of these in that design.
Comment linking /bfunc-design-doc/
on “I designed and built my own function generator”Submitted Simulating the TS808 Tube Screamer in LTSpice as a story · 40 points
HN discussionI'd suggest linking to the github page https://github.com/Cushychicken/bfunc and/or call for users http://cushychicken.github.io/bfunc-call-for-users/ Personally as a product I'd be likely to buy it struggles without amplitude control
Comment linking /bfunc-call-for-users/
on “I designed and built my own function generator”Submitted NAND Flash: How It Breaks as a story · 39 points
HN discussionIt is illegal to prevent people from discussing their salaries in the United States. National Labor Relations Act, 1935, plain as day, and reaffirmed several times in court. I'm also proud to work in Massachusetts, where it's illegal for prospective employers to ask about your prior job's salary. This harms workers by pegging future comp to past comp. It's particularly destructive to women and people of color. There…
Comment linking /what-to-say-when-asked-salary-history/
on “Pay secrecy: Why some workers can't discuss salaries”Submitted Notes on a Pulse Generator Circuit as a story · 37 points
HN discussionYeah, I just found the post you are referring to [1] and wow it's depressing. At the age of 30 the first real vacation he's ever had is an unpaid 10 week vacation where he had to be prepared to quit-or-else AND pay his own health insurance costs for the gap, and paying to stay on the company health care plan evokes a "woohoo". This is where we've come to folks. I've worked for a company with a remote development off…
Comment linking /leave-of-absence/
on “Wanna Impress an Engineer at a Career Fair?”Submitted Simulating the Dunlop Crybaby Wah Pedal in LTSpice as a story · 23 points
HN discussionSure. http://cushychicken.github.io
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Could you share your personal website here?”Submitted One year of user interviews and customer feedback as a story · 20 points
HN discussionFunnily enough I wrote a similar blog about this in the era preceding LLM assistance. I’m with Tom on a lot of what he says. This is a nice reminder to take another shot at this. https://cushychicken.github.io/python-guis-for-heretics/
Comment linking /python-guis-for-heretics/
on “Stop Making TUIs”Submitted More notes on writing web scrapers as a story · 14 points
HN discussionSure. I write about electronics, product development, running a job board as a solo team, and whatever else suits my fancy. https://cushychicken.github.io
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?”Submitted Pushy recruiters as a story · 8 points
HN discussion