Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#1

Post by kick » Wed, May 13, 2020, 12:26 AM UTC

Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)
sr.ht

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#2

Post by kick » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:15 AM UTC

For anyone curious, because Gemini is relatively new and kind of has flown under the radar:

### 1.1 What is Gemini?

Gemini is a new application-level internet protocol for the distribution of arbitrary files, with some special consideration for serving a lightweight hypertext format which facilitates linking between files.

Gemini is intended to be simple, but not necessarily as simple as possible. Instead, the design strives to maximise its "power to weight ratio", while keeping its weight within "acceptable" limits. Gemini is also intended to be very privacy conscious.

You may think of Gemini as "the web, stripped right back to its essence" or as "Gopher, souped up and modernised a little", depending upon your perspective.

https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/faq.txt

Gopher and finger should be obvious, but just in case:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_protocol

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#3

Post by ddevault » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:28 AM UTC

The Gemini protocol is cool. I've been thinking about writing an implementation of it, and perhaps eventually a *.sr.ht frontend for it. I think the browsers have a lot of work to do before they're pleasant to use, though.

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#4

Post by achillean » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:36 AM UTC

There are still a few Gopher and Finger services on the Internet.

* Gopher: https://beta.shodan.io/search?query=port%3A70+gopher

* Finger: https://beta.shodan.io/search?query=product%3Afingerd

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#5

Post by apatters » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:40 AM UTC

kick wrote: post #2

For anyone curious, because Gemini is relatively new and kind of has flown under the radar: ### 1.1 What is Gemini? Gemini is a new application-level internet protocol for the distribution of arbitrary files, with some special consideration for serving a lightweight hypertext format which facilitates linking between files. Gemini is intended to be simple, but not necessarily as simple as possible. Instead, the design…

I was delighted when I saw that Gemini is maintained by someone on SDF (named Solderpunk, never heard of him before). This seems as good a time as any to plug https://sdf.org, a great little community which has the feel of a 90s BBS that never went offline.

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#6

Post by kick » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

achillean wrote: post #4

There are still a few Gopher and Finger services on the Internet. * Gopher: https://beta.shodan.io/search?query=port%3A70+gopher * Finger: https://beta.shodan.io/search?query=product%3Afingerd

There are a lot of Gopher ones! Reports of the death of Gopher have been (mostly) exaggerated; it's probably got more users now than it did at its peak.

Re: Castor: A browser for the small internet (Gemini, Gopher, Finger)

#7

Post by kick » Wed, May 13, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

apatters wrote: post #5

kick wrote: post #2

For anyone curious, because Gemini is relatively new and kind of has flown under the radar: ### 1.1 What is Gemini? Gemini is a new application-level internet protocol for the distribution of arbitrary files, with some special consideration for serving a lightweight hypertext format which facilitates linking between files. Gemini is intended to be simple, but not necessarily as simple as possible. Instead, the design…

I was delighted when I saw that Gemini is maintained by someone on SDF (named Solderpunk, never heard of him before). This seems as good a time as any to plug https://sdf.org , a great little community which has the feel of a 90s BBS that never went offline.