Mark Kidd
Manager, Plant Breeder at Handbarrow
Whitesburg, Kentucky, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMark Kidd is a multidisciplinary community leader and plant breeder who combines a decade of hands-on agricultural management with technical contributions to open-source software. Based in rural Whitesburg, Kentucky, he manages a family farm and leads the Commonwealth Cushaw Project, blending seed stewardship, peer-to-peer learning, and cultural practice to strengthen local food systems. Equally comfortable in code and community, he has contributed backend fixes to prominent retro gaming projects like RetroArch and RetroPie, improving cross-platform compatibility and emulator build reliability. His background in arts, theater, radio production, and technical writing informs a practice that marries creative programming with pragmatic documentation and operations. Mark’s work is notable for connecting high-impact technical problem-solving with grassroots cultural engagement—whether shipping code to handle tricky filename edge cases or producing musical theater in nontraditional spaces.
9 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
Computer Software Engineering, Computer Software Engineering at Code:YouBachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Language and Literature/Letters, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Language and Literature/Letters at University of Kentucky
Github Skills (18)
multiplatform10
scripting10
bash10
cross-platform10
c1110
c1710
script10
libretro10
sh10
shell10
raspberry-pi10
emulation10
strings9
text-manipulation9
menu8
Programming languages (13)
Github contributions (5)
libretro/RetroArch
Nov 2016 - Sep 2021
Cross-platform, sophisticated frontend for the libretro API. Licensed GPLv3.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:1 review, 69 commits, 56 PRs in 4 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Mark primarily focused on improving cross-platform support within the RetroArch frontend, specifically concerning thumbnail filenames and playlist handling. They made multiple commits to address issues with character transformations in playlist entry names to ensure compatibility across different operating systems. Their work involved modifying the XMB menu driver (xmb.c) and playlist file handling (playlist.c) to scrub unsafe characters and implement the correct file extensions. The user also updated code that allowed core association reset within the playlist.
apilicensedretroarchlinuxlibretro-api
RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup
Feb 2018 - Dec 2018
Shell script to set up a Raspberry Pi/Odroid/PC with RetroArch emulator and various cores
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:9 commits, 13 PRs, 45 comments in 9 months
Contributions summary:Mark primarily contributed to the RetroPie setup script by modifying and updating scripts related to emulators, specifically focusing on MAME-based cores. They resolved errors, updated URLs, corrected license links, and addressed compatibility issues with various MAME versions (2003, 2003-plus, and 2010). Their work included changes to the build process, the inclusion of NVRAM patches for improved game functionality, and overall script maintenance to enhance the performance and usability of RetroPie's emulation capabilities.
raspberry-piemulatorodroidretroarchsd-card
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