makerhacks

LLM-Assisted Debugging Rollercoaster

Forget Vibe Coding, Bots Are for Bug Squashing For the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing software development synchronicities of the most horrible k...

The LLM Middle-Ground

I've got a lot of friends who would like me to change my position, and for good reason, but I am neither an "AI hater" nor an "AI lover". There is a lot to disl...

How to talk to your family about AI

The UK government has decided to spend a fortune on promoting AI to the masses, and they are not exactly impartial. If you have family or friends adopting "AI" ...

The “Joys” of Original Retro Hardware

For the full nostalgic computing experience, original hardware, preferably plugged into a CRT screen, is the ideal. But as with most ideals, that experience can...

It’s easier than you think to build yourself a custom keyboard

Not saying it is easy, just easier than you think I am converting a ZX Spectrum keyboard into a USB keyboard using a Raspberry Pi Pico. It's been a lot easier t...

Remote Control Your Android Device

Give old Android phones or tablets a new life via remote control Do you have old phones or tablets knocking around your house? At this point I think most of us ...

Instead of Opening Up PostgreSQL to Remote Connections, Do This

Use your SSH credentials to create a secure tunnel to your database TL;DR, here is a shell script. Enjoy! bash !/bin/bash PostgreSQL SSH Tunnel Manager Usage: ....

I finally switched away from the default Mac terminal app and you might want to too

> "Ghostty is a fast, feature-rich, and cross-platform terminal emulator that uses platform-native UI and GPU acceleration." If you've been working with command...

British parliament just mentioned Doom WADs and Kaizo Mario romhacks

E-petition debate relating to consumer law and videogames - Monday 3 November 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONX2KUhyFow > The Petitions Committee has sc...

What are your favourite card games?

I want to make your favourites into video games I've been asked to create a tutorial around a particular video card game from the 1980s, and in talking to the e...

Key Signs You’re an Inexperienced Programmer from a Software Grey-Beard

Whether you're self-taught, vibe-coding, or coming into this fresh from a formal bootcamp or college course, you can grow your skills faster and build better ap...

The Key Difference Between Planning and Strategy

This difference can mean the difference between success and constantly playing catch-up Have you ever thought about how often people talk about "Strategy" when ...

Better Github/Gitlab Workflow

If you are "vibe coding" you especially need this I've been seeing a lot of people on LinkedIn especially who are vibe coding and deploying straight to their li...

Personalise Your Chrome Browser Experience with Scripts

Ever wanted to hide or highlight things on web pages that you do not own? Well - You can! Here is how I stopped seeing particular spammers entirely and you can ...

Hide Particular Hive Spammer's Comments Completely

Want to completely hide a comment spammer's posts in the Peakd front-end? No problem, use this JavaScript snippet and eliminate their weird public abuse-kink fr...

I didn’t have time to finish my text adventure game so I wrote a map editor

Sometimes procrastination work can pay off You can take a look at dungeon-loom.retrogamecoders.com On my retro game programming site I have been running a serie...

Packaging JavaScript for the Desktop

Need a desktop version of your JavaScript application or game? Which tool should you use? I've been building a markdown text editor for my own use, and I wanted...

Progress on my CHIP8 “Emulator”

WIP Building a CHIP8 Interpreter in C Ever wondered how emulators work? I have been programming a CHIP8 interpreter, because while I have used a lot of other pe...

How to Boost Your Productivity When You Have ADHD

If you find traditional productivity methods frustrating or ineffective because of ADHD, you're not alone. Heck, a lot of traditional techniques sound good when...

Valuable, Practical Advice for Modern C Programmers

Nick Barker's Tips for More Effective C Programming If you have seen many of my social media posts or articles, you will know my fondness and frustrations with ...