Daily issue / 2026-04-19
Useful things that surfaced in Hacker News discussions on 2026-04-19. Open the context to see why each one caught our attention—or jump straight to the original thread.
What we found
A terminal app for following MLB games.
Source discussion: Show HN: Faceoff – A terminal UI for following NHL games
Editorial paraphrase
The Faceoff author said the project was inspired by Playball, a similar terminal application for following MLB games.
Read the original threadA note workspace praised for heavy use and integrations.
Source discussion: Notion leaks email addresses of all editors of any public page
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said they love Notion, use it heavily, and have built integrations for it.
Read the original threadA self-hosted Notion alternative for docs and wikis.
Source discussion: Notion leaks email addresses of all editors of any public page
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said Outline has everything they could ask for from a Notion alternative.
Read the original threadAn open-source note app with SQLite and automatic backups.
Source discussion: Notion leaks email addresses of all editors of any public page
Editorial paraphrase
The comment explicitly recommended Trilium and called out SQLite plus daily and weekly backups.
Read the original threadA self-hosted Notion and Confluence alternative.
Source discussion: Notion leaks email addresses of all editors of any public page
Editorial paraphrase
The author said Docmost is open-source, easy to self-host, and feature-packed.
Read the original threadA laptop-to-typewriter OS for distraction-free writing.
Source discussion: College instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said they flashed an old MacBook Air with writerdeckOS and it feels like a digital typewriter.
Read the original threadA Photoshop-like web playground for shaders.
Source discussion: Show HN: Shader Lab, like Photoshop but for shaders
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said to check out Shader Lab and shaders.com for creative shader effects.
Read the original threadAn ALSA utility for retasking audio jacks.
Source discussion: SPEAKE(a)R: Turn Speakers to Microphones for Fun and Profit [pdf] (2017)
Editorial paraphrase
A comment said to use hdajackretask from alsa-tools to retask the jacks.
Read the original threadA minimal terminal coding harness with extensions and skills.
Source discussion: Anonymous request-token comparisons from Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.7
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said pi-coding-agent / pi.dev is also great.
Read the original threadSecure cloud sandboxes for AI agents and code execution.
Source discussion: Show HN: Prompt-to-Excalidraw demo with Gemma 4 E2B in the browser (3.1GB)
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said they used E2B to do some basic research.
Read the original threadA train simulator recommended in the Japan railways thread.
Source discussion: Why Japan has such good railways
Editorial paraphrase
The railways discussion pointed to Hmmsim 2 as a notable simulator.
Read the original threadGoogle’s open model family for lightweight AI apps.
Source discussion: Show HN: Prompt-to-Excalidraw demo with Gemma 4 E2B in the browser (3.1GB)
A complete BYTE magazine scan archive starting in 1975.
Source discussion: Archive of BYTE magazine, starting with issue #1 in 1975
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter called BYTE their favourite magazine and said they learned a tremendous deal from it.
Read the original threadA beginner-friendly Common Lisp book for symbolic computation.
Source discussion: The seven programming ur-languages (2022)
Editorial paraphrase
The comment suggested starting with Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation.
Read the original threadA classic book for learning Forth.
Source discussion: The seven programming ur-languages (2022)
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter named Starting Forth as an ANS-version recommendation.
Read the original threadPeter Norvig’s AI programming textbook and code companion.
Source discussion: The seven programming ur-languages (2022)
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said they would jump into PAIP, Paradigms of AI Programming.
Read the original threadA beginner-friendly Scheme textbook.
Source discussion: The seven programming ur-languages (2022)
Editorial paraphrase
The comment listed Simply Scheme among the starter Scheme books.
Read the original threadA compiler framework for clean language implementation.
Source discussion: Nanopass Framework: Clean Compiler Creation Language
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter said they used the Nanopass framework and loved it.
Read the original threadDonald Shoup’s parking policy book and preface PDF.
Source discussion: Why Japan has such good railways
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter pointed readers to the free preface PDF for The High Price of Free Parking.
Read the original threadYouTube restorations of vintage electronics and early computers.
Source discussion: The electromechanical angle computer inside the B-52 bomber's star tracker
Editorial paraphrase
A commenter linked CuriousMarc’s videos as a relevant follow-up.
Read the original thread