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+title: Why all those protocols
+date: Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:03:56 +0100
+author: -fab- <fab@redterminal.org>
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This post was made because someone on BBS made clear that he's done
with gopher since gemini exists. Here is my answer to that.
Why do I use all those protocols?
=================================
On my server there are several services running now: gemini,
finger, gopher and a http(s) server. The web server just proxies my
gemini capsule to the www with kineto. I even host my own email
server. But why do I use all of these protocols and not just
gemini?
The short answer: It's a lot of fun!
In some more sentences I have to say that all of these protocols
have their entitlement and I want to promote the use of all of
them. They all belong to the smolnet and I like to provide all the
services one could make use of. And I want more people in the
community to run these services and put them to good use. And
gopher is not dead!
Gemini protocol
===============
The gemini protocol was the first service I set up. I didn't have
much of an idea about gopher back then and I thought gemini is the
superior protocol. I used the amfora TUI client for a long time and
it only supports gemini. I never really liked the graphical user
interface of Lagrange although it's great software. I just used it
to open links I couldn't open with amfora.
-- Why gemini: When I heared about gemini, this was my introduction
to the smolnet/indieweb. It made completely clear that I don't want
to go further with the way the internet is heading these days and
in future.
World Wide Web
==============
After a while I wanted to make my gemini content accessible via the
world wide web (without cookies/javascript of course). So I
installed kineto from Drew Devault as a proxy and nginx as a
webserver and there we go.
-- Why the WWW: Maybe I can convince some people who are using the
web exclusively to try a more user centric protocol and make them
aware of the smolnet.
Discovery of telescope
======================
I was using makew0rlds amfora Gemini commandline client for nearly
the whole time since I discovered Gemini in 2021. I always prefer
terminal / commandline applications over full blown GUI apps - so
no Lagrange. And I didn't really dive into the Gopher and Finger
protocols, because amfora lacked support for these features and I
didn't know of a terminal client that supports all these which I
liked.
Then I discovered 'telescope' from Omar Polo - and it was a
revelation! Telescope is a TUI / commandline client for Gemini,
Gopher and Finger. It's easy to style and configure. Now I could
hop from Gemini to Gopher to Finger back and forth and that opened
up my mind for all the other protocols, because surfing the SmolNet
with telescope is a breeze. It's small, lean and fast. I can only
recommend telescope to every SmolNet surfer who prefers the
terminal like I do.
Finger
======
After this revelation I tried the finger services that
'typed-hole.org' and 'thebackupbox.net' provided and was intrigued.
I brought up my own finger addresses which serve different
purposes. E.g. with 'finger fab@redterminal.org' you get my contact
information and some words about what I'm doing now for the
foreseeable future. Like some people have a /now page on their
websites.
-- Why Finger: Finger is a very fast and nerdy way to get some
specific information about a user or service.
Gopher
======
Gophernicus is a gopher server that is also started by inetd when a
connection comes in. This was the last service I set up (for now).
There are still a lot of gopher holes with tons of useful
information and gopher belongs to the smolnet just like gemini
does. I love to browse the gopher space since I use telescope. And
all the interesting places I visited induced the wish to create my
own gopher hole.
-- Why Gopher: The gopher community started the whole smolnet
movement. Even gemini came from a long time gopher user -
Solderpunk. It's the origin of all this.
Other protocols?
================
I haven't messed around with spartan or nex, because they seem to
be a little too made-up and not widely used (I know I'll make some
people angry with this statement. I don't care). Maybe later.
What do you think?
==================
If you have some thoughts, comments or suggestions, please let me
know. Send me an email to <fab@redterminal.org> or follow me on
Mastodon/ActivityPub <@fab@pleroma.envs.net>.
All in all - Have fun!
-fab-