21 votes

Gopher, Gemini and the smol internet

15 comments

  1. [2]
    skyfaller
    Link
    I think it's important to emphasize that we already have a legacy protocol that ancient computers can use: Gopher. I'd rather preserve and support Gopher as an unchanging "backwards compatible"...

    My only niggle with Gemini is the use of TLS. This breaks support for older computers and the ‘strives for maximum power to weight ratio’ element.

    I think it's important to emphasize that we already have a legacy protocol that ancient computers can use: Gopher. I'd rather preserve and support Gopher as an unchanging "backwards compatible" protocol, and leave new protocols like Gemini free to make their own decisions and innovations. There's no reason you can't publish on both Gopher and Gemini.

    17 votes
    1. WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM
      Link Parent
      Am I missing something that HTTP cannot fulfill in terms of compatibility with both older computers (at least back to like 1995) and newer computers at the same time? My website, a fully-featured...

      Am I missing something that HTTP cannot fulfill in terms of compatibility with both older computers (at least back to like 1995) and newer computers at the same time?

      My website, a fully-featured forum system with tags, user accounts, etc., works in everything from current Chrome (with occasional breakage on new releases, which I fix) all the way back to IE6, IE3, Netscape 3, and even Mosaic, Lynx, Links, and w3m. With and without JS enabled. And I built it largely by myself, one developer in only high-level languages.

      Can either Gemini or Gopher claim anywhere close to this level of compatibility across 25 years of equipment and software?

      Why don't we just preserve and nurture what we already have, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, poorly?

  2. [4]
    jgb
    Link
    I was a little disappointed that this didn't link to *my* Gemini capsule that runs on an original Raspberry Pi :-) Guess I'm not as innovative as I thought!

    You can also host your own Gemini capsule on something as low powered as an original Raspberry Pi.

    I was a little disappointed that this didn't link to *my* Gemini capsule that runs on an original Raspberry Pi :-)

    Guess I'm not as innovative as I thought!

    12 votes
    1. [3]
      acdw
      Link Parent
      Link it here!

      Link it here!

      6 votes
      1. [2]
        jgb
        Link Parent
        It's at gemini://tokeniser.uk, I've mentioned it here before. Not as much there as I'd like but in time I hope to bolster it with more writing and projects.

        It's at gemini://tokeniser.uk, I've mentioned it here before. Not as much there as I'd like but in time I hope to bolster it with more writing and projects.

        4 votes
        1. acdw
          Link Parent
          Oh yeah, you're tokeniser! I like your writing :)

          Oh yeah, you're tokeniser! I like your writing :)

          3 votes
  3. [5]
    acdw
    Link
    Hey, a shoutout to breadpunk.club!!! Awesome :)

    Hey, a shoutout to breadpunk.club!!! Awesome :)

    6 votes
    1. [4]
      soks_n_sandals
      Link Parent
      More people should bake their own bread!!! What are all of the empty links/directories on breadpunk? Like pitabread, yeast, sourdough, etc.?

      More people should bake their own bread!!! What are all of the empty links/directories on breadpunk? Like pitabread, yeast, sourdough, etc.?

      1. [3]
        acdw
        Link Parent
        https://breadpunk.club is what's known as a tilde server -- it's a shared UNIX computer where people get their own home directories and webspaces. There's a twist on breadpunk, though- --...

        https://breadpunk.club is what's known as a tilde server -- it's a shared UNIX computer where people get their own home directories and webspaces. There's a twist on breadpunk, though- -- everyone's username is bread themed. So all those links on the front page are user's web directories, many of which haven't been built yet.

        8 votes
        1. [2]
          soks_n_sandals
          Link Parent
          Ah okay. I wasn't sure if those links were going to be recipe themed or were usernames. I found breadpunk on Gemini a few weeks ago and thought it was neat!

          Ah okay. I wasn't sure if those links were going to be recipe themed or were usernames. I found breadpunk on Gemini a few weeks ago and thought it was neat!

          3 votes
          1. acdw
            Link Parent
            Thanks! Yes, I'm trying to write a cookbook feature into the site for members. ... It's ... going.

            Thanks! Yes, I'm trying to write a cookbook feature into the site for members. ... It's ... going.

            4 votes
  4. ohyran
    Link
    Thank you for introducing me to Tales from the Dork Web!

    Thank you for introducing me to Tales from the Dork Web!

    4 votes
  5. meff
    Link
    I very rarely post on my capsule gemini://acidic.website . Hope to see y'all on the smol web!

    I very rarely post on my capsule gemini://acidic.website . Hope to see y'all on the smol web!

    4 votes
  6. [2]
    crdpa
    Link
    Nice. I finally pulled the plug and i'm on it: gemini://republic.circumlunar.space/users/crdpa/

    Nice. I finally pulled the plug and i'm on it: gemini://republic.circumlunar.space/users/crdpa/

    1 vote
    1. crdpa
      Link Parent
      Oh my god hanging out in the ssh session with those people is so cool. There is a neat bbs in plain text mode there. I'm in awe.

      Oh my god hanging out in the ssh session with those people is so cool. There is a neat bbs in plain text mode there. I'm in awe.

      1 vote