Skip to content
HomeVideosBooksBlogs
AllTop postsTopics
Podcasts
HistoryListsWatch laterLiked videosFollowing

The videos, books, blogs and podcasts Hacker News keeps recommending, all in one place.

VideosBooksBlogsPodcastsAboutPrivacySettings

Data from Hacker News, HackerTube, HackerBooks, HackerBlogs and Open Library. Credits · Not affiliated with Y Combinator.

HomeVideosBooksBlogsPodcasts
Ctrl K
    T

    There Oughta Be

    there.oughta.be · Publication · on HN since 2021

    A maker's project blog of hardware builds, mostly Game Boy cartridges and custom keyboards, each under a sentence-style URL.

    Visit blogHN submissions
    Hardware & ElectronicsRetro ComputingGames
    What HN says

    HN commenters praise it for its sentence URLs and for clever builds like the Game Boy capture cartridge and macro keyboard.

    Stats for nerds
    26HN people shared it
    17linked in comments
    740story points
    May 2026last shared
    2021people per year2026

    Top posts on HN

    1. 1
      There oughta be a WiFi Game Boy cartridge
      5 people · 539 points · first shared 2021 · 98 comments on HN
    2. 2
      There oughta be a Blender plugin to animate growth
      1 person · 147 points · first shared 2021 · 12 comments on HN
    3. 3
      There oughta be a bullet time video booth
      1 person · 27 points · first shared 2023 · 10 comments on HN
    4. 4
      There oughta be a macro keyboard
      5 people · 7 points · first shared 2021 · Discussion on HN
    5. 5
      There oughta be a Game Boy Slideshow
      2 people · 5 points · first shared 2025 · Discussion on HN
    6. 6
      There oughta be GTA5 for the Game Boy
      5 people · 4 points · first shared 2022 · 1 comments on HN
    7. 7
      There oughta be a Game Boy capture cartridge
      3 people · 3 points · first shared 2022 · Discussion on HN
    8. 8
      There oughta be a Bluetooth Remote app for Sony cameras
      1 person · 3 points · first shared 2024 · Discussion on HN
    9. 9
      Game Boy Photo Booth
      1 person · 3 points · first shared 2025 · Discussion on HN
    10. 10
      Wooden Game Boy
      1 person · 1 points · first shared 2023 · Discussion on HN

    What HN people wrote when they linked it

    • avarNov 2023

      > I recommend not trying to follow the exact shape
      > as the plastic part for the internals[...]

      Good advice in general, but in this case I don't see how they'd have that option, as the long poles need to mount the display and a circuit board. See [1] and subsequently [2], and [3] which shows the rear of the GameBoy (where those screws go).

      I think a better solution in this case is to either just forgo wood for those particular areas, e.g. you could use plastic or metal parts that the screws would go into, and glue or otherwise securely mount those to the wood.

      Or similarly, use wood for the poles, but don't drill holes in them, and use some alternate mechanism to hold the body together. They're already using magnets for the battery cover, and could presumably use a large amount of magnets to hold the two pieces of the body itself together.

      Finally, I don't think looking at antique wooden electronics is going to be useful. When electronic consumer products were made out of wood the electrical components were much bigger, so they didn't need to deal with these sorts of problems. Most of those only used wood as the "box", see e.g. [4].

      1. https://there.oughta.be/assets/images/2023-11-03/asm4.jpg

      2. https://there.oughta.be/assets/images/2023-11-03/asm5.jpg

      3. https://there.oughta.be/assets/images/2023-11-03/batteries.jpg

      4. https://halestrom.net/darksleep/blog/001_jena5020radio/

    • fsckboyMay 2023

      this is the "bullet time" effect (in the Matrix, when Trinity karate-jump-kicks and rotates in air) https://www.factinate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/trinity.gif

      This camera setup for personal social events is a great idea, I wonder if it could be done with some sort of phone app so among a group of friends or at a party you could use everybody's cell phone.

      in watching the video though, I found it a little disappointing. I think people need help with choreography, what actions and timing are going to make for good shifts in perspective. For example, you want grandma to rotate in mid air, not something she throws up. Another example, I think you want the action to start from the periphery, and then bring the characters in the shot "into the spotlight" so the clip delivers a climax or "keeps getting better". (although, he did use the "move away from the action" technique to good effect to create transition places to stitch together a series of clips into a sequence https://there.oughta.be/assets/images/2023-05-26/demo-blog.mp4 )

      And could it be done using video instead of still shots? seems like turning raw footage into something interesting would be easier? Or is that how it works anyway?

    • progbitsDec 2022

      Very cool project!

      I'm surprised that it apparently works so well (most of the time, for many games) without knowing the state of inputs, just relying on conditional branching. I would have expected a lot of code to just manipulate registers based on inputs and use those to send different PPU commands.

      I wonder if you could achieve 100% parity (and audio) without modification of the console by doing all the emulation in the capture card. Send some pre-built ROM to the console which just reads inputs, sends them back to the "cartridge" and then reads back video output from the emulator.

      The same author already made https://there.oughta.be/a/wifi-game-boy-cartridge and https://there.oughta.be/gta5-for-the-game-boy so it seems technically feasible :)

      Edit: Ah I see the video stream cartridge runs at 20fps, but gameboy games can run up to 60fps. I suppose that wouldn't work for the original purpose of streaming tournaments.

    • bbbbbrMay 2026

      I don't think it's widely known (only found and documented somewhat recently) that there is a way for cartridges to directly drive the Game Boy Color LCD, bypassing the CPU/PPU (PGB Modes). At that point though it becomes even less of a Game Boy game than what the Wolfenstein and other carts are doing.

      https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Gameboy_and_Gameboy_Color_special_modes_and_features#PGB_mode_.28GBC.29

      Also related: "There oughta be GTA5 for the Game Boy" about a Wifi cartridge that can stream video (gameplay, etc) directly to the GB screen.
      https://there.oughta.be/gta5-for-the-game-boy

    • _MicroftSep 2024

      Phyphox is amazing: there is a wide variety of different experiments available using all sorts of sensors found in phones. The iPhone accelerometer seems to saturate at roughly 13g, easily achievable by pulling your phone very fast in an increasingly narrow arc towards yourself. What were you thinking how I found out?

      (Fun fact: this is another project that Sebastian Staacks of http://there.oughta.be worked(s?) on. You might remember his wooden Gameboy shell, the Gameboy interceptor to screenshare the Gameboy screen to a PC or his bullettime video booth.)

    • ljoshuaApr 2021

      Reminds me a bit of this really cool project I saw the other day: https://there.oughta.be/a/macro-keyboard

      Difference is one is generic for typing anything, and the link there is purpose-built on a per-application basis, but the idea of having a small amount of keys for a precise job is very interesting.

      (Side note, anyone remember the Optimus Maximus, where each key was an LED screen? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Maximus_keyboard)

    Related

    Shonumishonumi.github.io21 people

    Glucoboy

    Shonumi
    Personal · last shared 2026
    Made by Manymadebymany.com28 people

    Is the Toilet Free?

    Made by Many
    Company · last shared 2021
    The Startup Foundrythestartupfoundry.com42 people

    If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

    The Startup Foundry
    Personal · last shared 2021
    Y Combinator Blogblog.ycombinator.com643 people

    Request For Research: Basic Income

    Y Combinator Blog
    Company · last shared 2025
    Minimally Minimalminimallyminimal.com55 people

    The Next Microsoft

    Minimally Minimal
    Personal · last shared 2023
    iFixit Blogifixit.org101 people

    iPhones are allergic to helium

    iFixit Blog
    Company · last shared 2019
    3.14.by3.14.by16 people

    Lichee Console 4A – RISC-V mini laptop: Review, benchmarks and early issues

    3.14.by
    Personal · last shared 2024
    Look What I Mademedium.com/look-what-i-made42 people

    How we use BitTorrent to improve our design sharing workflow

    Look What I Made
    Publication · last shared 2014