Midnight Pub

Hello Gemini!

~m15o

Good evening Midnight! Today, I want to talk about Project Gemini. If you haven't heard about it, Gemini is a protocol for a much smaller internet. Smaller first because it's the web stripped from JavaScript, CSS and even HTML. Also smaller because there aren't many people using it. When it's small enough, it feels human. It feels fun. Not too long ago, inquiry submitted a link where brightblue talked about Gemini, and it inspired me to expend the horizons of the Midnight. To have a door there. So now we have it. It's only the begining, but I'm already thrilled.

If you don't know what Gemini is, and if you are curious to learn more about it, I suggest grabbing a Gemini browser. After all, it's like internet, only a different one. Those browsers are easier to install on linux, but here's one that should work everywhere:

castor

Once you open it, you will notice the URL scheme is a little different, instead of having `https://`, you now have `gemini://`. Go ahead, type `gemini://midnight.pub`!

As you will notice, all our posts are available there. We currently don't see comments or anything else, but that might just come in the future. In the coming days, I'll be experimenting more on gemini, and see what we can do.


inquiry

And this too:

https://github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini

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inquiry

This is looking like another good starting point:

https://drewdevault.com/2020/11/01/What-is-Gemini-anyway.html

I'm tempted to get his "suite of Gemini client software"... although I see I'd need to install the likes of gcc... overall a bit more rabbit hole than I'm up for at the moment.

But, if the protocol is really so allegedly simple, maybe I'll stare at this long enough:

https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/specification.html

and maybe feel motivated to put some Lua or Javascript into it.

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zampano

Is Gemini the thing that's been suggested as an alternative to gopher?

I do enjoy stripped-down interfaces, as I've demonstrated, and I'm generally a fan of niche spaces and protocols. So hey, that's cool. One thing to add is that with the preview you linked below, it's a little (too, in my opinion) unclear what those links actually are.

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firefliesblueskies

so this is a stripped down internet?

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m15o

Yes, basically! It's text-only. Here is what the home page of the Midnight looks like on a Gemini browser: https://m15o.midnight.pub/gemini.png

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firefliesblueskies

What's the point in it then? going back to the 80s?

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m15o

Haha some might argue that it’s a compelling enough reason! In my opinion, it’s more of a text-only, lighter, simpler version of internet. It works pretty well for articles, written content but not for media. It’s very fast since there’s nothing. Both will exist and serve different purposes I think.

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