Earthstorm SoftwareEarthstorm Software

About Earthstorm Software

Earthstorm Software is my personal software development brand, and the place where I publish my own projects and thoughts. I'm Richard Ruston, a professional software developer with over 30 years of experience.

My background

I work full time as a software developer. Over my career I’ve worked for large multinationals on business-critical systems handling hundreds of thousands of transactions a day. Through other employers, I’ve also worked with smaller companies and organisations on systems crucial to their business.

Over the years I’ve used all kinds of languages and tooling: from COBOL, C and Java through to C# and Python/MicroPython, along with GitHub and Azure DevOps. My current default development environment is VS Code with various extensions, supplemented by Claude Code.

Personal projects

Outside work, I build software for myself:

  • Elite FIP Server: my most recent project, a helper application for the game Elite.
  • Android applications, including:
    • AccaBuddy: helps users track their football “accumulator” results, with live score updates tailored to their predictions. Previously published on the Google Play Store.
    • Controller for Mote: controls LED lights using the Pimoroni Mote lighting controller and LED sticks.
  • Raspberry Pi and Pico: small personal applications for the Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi Pico.

This site is where I share those projects, along with my thoughts on software development.

Why Earthstorm?

Way back in the mists of time, in May 2001, I wanted a domain name to play with. I wanted something that sounded cool and dynamic, and “Earthstorm” was available, so I registered earthstorm.net. I’ve owned it ever since.

Around ten years later, in 2011, I decided to create a brand specifically for my software, and so Earthstorm Software became a thing. I registered earthstormsoftware.com, and I’ve owned that ever since too.

I know that, in the 25 years since I registered that first domain, other people have used Earthstorm as part of their own endeavours. But this is why I use it here: it’s part of my IT journey.