Hacker News Reader

Thanks a lot for this, what a great idea!

I've submitted Botnet of Ares [0], my hacking simulator.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/

tiniuclxon Ask HN: Share your personal website

Lots of info there about my in-development game, Botnet of Ares, but also some older blog posts about technical topics or other things I found interesting.

tiniuclxon How Slide Rules Work

While I'm a bit too young to have used one in school, my dad did give me his slide rule from when he was a student. It's one of my most prized possessions, if only to show how far humanity has come in terms of computing devices.

tiniuclxon Reverse Engineering Yaesu FT-70D Firmware Encryption

Ham radio is well worth getting into if you come from a software background but want to get more hands-on with embedded electronics. Radios are ubiquitous in modern technology, and getting a deeper understanding of how they work can have surprising career benefits too!

tiniuclxon Things you can do with diodes

You can also build a rectifier with no voltage drop using an op-amp with some diodes in the feedback loop. But that might be considered cheating :)

tiniuclxon Radios, how do they work? (2024)

I've been studying for my amateur radio license recently, and this article is a great introduction to the basics.

But really, if you want to get your hands dirty with some practical electronics, and also want to be able to communicate without relying much on nearby infrastructure, amateur radio is a great hobby.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2025)

Thanks for the interest! I'll be handling the music myself, I'm a producer & multi-instrumentalist and two tracks for the game have already been composed.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2025)

I'm working on Botnet of Ares, a hacking simulator game for PC [0]. It's an homage to classics such as Uplink and Hacknet, and also a commentary on the state of the IoT security industry.

Recently I've managed to port the game onto a real-world cyberdeck, the uConsole. [1]

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/

[1] https://tiniuc.com/hacksim-on-cyberdeck/

tiniuclxon OpenGL: Mesh shaders in the current year

That's usually a job for the fragment shader.

tiniuclxon Structured Procrastination (1995)

I too struggle with procrastination. I have a big personal project that is nearing completion & very important to me, but also turning into a bit of a slog. However, because I'm procrastinating working on said project, I managed to do many other things that are also important to me, such as writing more & sharpening some skills.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2025)

I'm working on Botnet of Ares, a hacking simulator where you can exploit millions of devices.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/

tiniuclxon Reverse-Engineering the LCD Display Interface of the Nest 2nd Gen Thermostat

Well done, seems like a very challenging project!

tiniuclxon Raspberry Pi 500+

This seems like an interesting product for tinkerers and hobbyists, or possibly for educational purposes (e.g. Linux computer for university students to learn on). I find it hard to see how this can replace a more typical small desktop computer though.

tiniuclxon 30 minutes with a stranger

For us that spend a lot of time on the internet, it's easy to forget that most people are not that different from you. I believe comments online, on Hacker News on otherwise, tend to be made by people with fairly extreme views - you have to feel something very strongly to shout your opinion into the internet! But most people are, well, normal, including you. Step out of your bubble every now and then and you'd be surprised at what good may come out of it.

tiniuclxon How do I get into the game industry

Wiremod, that was it! What a blast from the past. Garry's Mod is probably the reason I have a career in programming now. That, and Minecraft redstone!

tiniuclxon How do I get into the game industry

Well, the quality of the games that reach some level of commercial success has indeed gone up. On the other hand, ~50 brand new games release on Steam every day and a lot of them are gonna be first-time releases from amateurs for whom the level of quality & polish achievable with a small team & publisher support is just out of reach.

The best indie games are amazing these days, but they hide a long tail of disappointed developers.

tiniuclxon How do I get into the game industry

Thanks, that seems very interesting!

tiniuclxon How do I get into the game industry

Times have changed a lot since Garry broke through with the infamous Garry's Mod. That's where I got my first taste of programming - writing a PID controller for a tank turret so I could point the tank's gun using my mouse.

Today, it's easier than ever to get started making games (even I can do it! [0]) but standing out in a crowded marketplace is very difficult. The music industry saw a very similar trend about 10-15 years ago, with the release of consumer recording equipment. In both cases it lead to a 'de-professionalization' of the industry, where most participants are amateurs but most of the success still goes to established studios - barring one-in-a-million outliers such as Garry's Mod, or other indie darlings like Hollow Knight, Balatro, Stardew Valley.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/

tiniuclxon How do I get into the game industry

In British English, 'college' does not refer to University / higher education, it's closer to high-school. Garry's british and probably went to a UK college at the normal age for someone in his cohort.

tiniuclxon OpenAI raises $8.3B at $300B valuation

It boggles the mind what OpenAI could possibly do with all this money.

tiniuclxon So you're a manager now

I've recently been getting more and more management responsibilities. This article seems very helpful - thank you for sharing! The advice on over-communicating & owning up to your mistakes is very on point.

tiniuclxon Analoguediehard

I love synths, and this is an incredibly impressive collection! My studio for the most part used synth modules, chiefly due to space constraints - and everything was set up for automation & recording from within the DAW. Unfortunately I had to take it down due to moving house to someplace where there just wasn't really the room. But I'm sure I'll put another studio together in the future, and it will be much better than my first one.

tiniuclxon Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

I'd been using the much cheaper Lamy Al Star (admittedly also a step up from the plastic Lamy Safari) for a while, and I really liked the feel of them. To be honest, I kind of just wanted a nicer version of that, and the 2000 did not disappoint.

The nib feels much, smoother. Mine is fairly wet without excessively showing through low quality paper. The refilling mechanism is a lot nicer than the cartridge-pump I'd been using on the Al Star.

Is it better? Yeah, but it's not 10x better than the Al Star which is what the price would suggest. So it is definitely a luxury product from that point of view.

tiniuclxon Rotring 600 Ballpoint Pen

My first full time software engineering paycheque went towards a Lamy 2000. I've been using it for many years now and it's never let me down.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What are you working on? (July 2025)

Hopefully some time next year!

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What are you working on? (July 2025)

I'm working on Botnet of Ares [0], a hacking game set in a cyberpunk world where everything is connected.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/

tiniuclxon I'm done with social media – Or: why I have a blog now

I've been trying to use social media to promote my music & mobile app for years, to very little luck. I don't even really like using social media, but it felt "necessary" in order to "make it," even though there is nothing to see for all this effort.

Sometimes Facebook et al feel like a complete ghost town, with algorithmic content completely overwhelming any engagement from friends or acquaintances.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)

Yup, straight up GDscript so far. It's a wonderful language for iterating quickly - and so far I have not needed the extra performance of C#. And the performance bottlenecks that are in place so far are mostly due to the architecture - massive gains to be had by just refactoring some GDscript, don't really need to change language.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)

Thanks for asking, the game is made in Godot. It's great for UI heavy gameplay such as my game, and an absolute joy to work with.

tiniuclxon Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)

I'm working on Botnet of Ares [0], a hacking roguelike set in a cyberpunk world where everything is connected.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627290/Botnet_of_Ares/