Daily issue / 2026-09-20
Useful things that surfaced in Hacker News discussions on 2026-09-20. Open the context to see why each one caught our attention—or jump straight to the original thread.
What we found
An open-source iCE40 FPGA development board for experimenting with digital circuits.
Source discussion: How OpenAI Used Its Own LLMs to Design Its Jalapeño Chip
“I got a pair of icebreaker boards [0] and they’ve been great to toy around with.”
gregsadetsky · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A USB logic analyzer and software suite for debugging digital hardware.
Source discussion: How OpenAI Used Its Own LLMs to Design Its Jalapeño Chip
“the Saleae’s [1] are great”
gregsadetsky · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A retargetable C compiler for 8051, Z80, Game Boy, and other small devices.
Source discussion: SDCC – Small Device C Compiler
“Whereas sdcc works brilliantly for z80 lineage processors.”
nickcw · recommendation · production use
Direct HN comment
An AI writing critic that comments on passages without replacing the author's prose.
Source discussion: I think you should almost never use AI to write
“I really like it, I use it for all my writing nowadays.”
stavros · recommendation · author or maintainer
Direct HN comment
A StarCraft II bot ladder for watching and competing with human-written agents.
Source discussion: Brood War Bench
“If you want to see human written bots in action or compete in the bot ladder yourself, try https://aiarena.net/”
tweakimp · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A Radiolab episode exploring the cerebellum's surprising roles beyond movement.
Source discussion: Two parallel neural ectoderm progenitors contribute to the developing brain
“this is a great walk through the curiousity of the hindbrain:”
cyanydeez · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A science-and-making channel using experiments to clarify physics and electronics.
Source discussion: The Secret Life of Circuits
“AlphaPhoenix YouTube channel is also a great source of information to clarify theoretical topics.”
dgellow · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A Planet Money episode explaining America's unusual ban on onion futures.
Source discussion: San Francisco Onion Futures Company
“For those unfamiliar, there's an excellent Planet Money episode on how trading onion futures got banned in the 50s.”
envoked · recommendation
Direct HN comment
An Emeril Lagasse onion soup recipe with adaptable broth and bacon choices.
Source discussion: San Francisco Onion Futures Company
“7 onion soup is a favorite of mine. I'm vegetarian so I omit the bacon and use veggie broth.”
astura · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A PBS astrophysics channel explaining cosmology, black holes, and frontier physics.
Source discussion: Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar over 'Little Red Dots'
“love those channels”
ck2 · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A science channel explaining astronomy and research in approachable daily videos.
Source discussion: Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar over 'Little Red Dots'
“They are great but you forgot Anton! He definitely belongs with them in my opinion, he is a wonderful person after all :)”
brabel · recommendation
Direct HN comment
Suzanne Ciani's practical guide to patching and performing with Buchla modular synthesizers.
Source discussion: Suzanne Ciani's Buchla Cookbook
“This is an amazing resource, whether you're into hardware modular synths or virtual ones like VCV Rack and Cardinal.”
outofpaper · recommendation
Direct HN comment