cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/24735701
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol)
It is similar to the old gopher: text files, links, and images form a hypertext optimized for reading. Text is formatted like Markdown - but even simpler.
Clients display text, like an eBook, or images / media.
Servers can run on a PC or Raspberry Pi which needs half a Watt of power. No FAANG companies needed. No expert knowledge needed - not more difficult than running a file sharing client.
I think it is the right thing for defense of democracy and sharing your voice in the digital realm.
Edit: If you see comments here which kinda miss the point, appeal to emotions, have faulty logic, or depart from entirely incorrect assumptions: Please keep in mind that big US tech companies can’t say “that’s bad, how will we shovel money with this?”. Please use your critical thinking skills - they are much needed here!
That’s a very unfortunate name for the project, given Google’s AI Gemini.
Yeah, I can for my life not think of a reason why Google named it like that.
(The Gemini protocol discussed here is from June 2019, the Google language model and chatbot initially called “Bard” from 2023.)
NGL, saw the name and almost just ignored it
I’ve used gemini before. It’s pretty neat. Reminds me of old school internet
Here another article on this: http://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/gemini.html (written in 2020)
One huge advantage that I forget to mention: Since Gemini does not use “addictive by design” UI elements popularized by social media companies, like feeds, timelines, likes and upvotes, colourful and distracting elements, endless scrolling, and comments that invite trolling, it feels a lot calmer.
It is a nice way to host a very lightweight blog or microblog. The ultra-light markup language gives it a feel like a wiki. Such blogs can be viewed with a client like deedum for Android or amfora for Linux, or with a brower using an gemini-to-web gateway: Here a gateway at mozz.us displaying a German paywall-less newspaper at gemini://taz.de.
And by the way, since gemini clients can also do local file:// URLs, it is also a minimum-fuss way to organize a local file tree that contains a mix of documentation / info and media like a wiki, and share it locally with people over NFS or Samba (Windows file sharing).
Out of curiosity, how do you find gemini sites to read? If there aren’t forms I assume there isn’t a search engine?
See section 2.2 of the FAQ
https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/faq-section-2.gmi
Thete are aggregators. For example
gemini://warmedal.se/~antenna/
or gemini://rawtext.club/~sloum/spacewalk.gmi
gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/capcom/
or comnunity interest sites, like
gemini://tilde.green/ ,
which is in turn a site of
gemini://tildeverse.org
https://gemini.tildeverse.org/
Then there are systematic directories, like
gemini://medusae.space/
and search engines like
gemini://geminispace.info/
see section 2.2.3 of the above FAQ.
Nice starter pack! (but the last two are offline :(
There actually are a couple of search engines available on Gemini. If you install the Lagrange Browser, for Gemini, there should be a few listed on the “getting started” page
Also check out the tildeverse for a true internet experience. Its our little hideaway from bigtech. Where you can truly connect with people.
Do you have a link?
https://tildeverse.org/ is the directory for them all
I think I found it – is this a HTTP/HTML Gateway to it:
https://gemini.tildeverse.org/
The Gemini URL would be
gemini://tildeverse.orgI like this one a lot which is linked there:
gemini://tilde.green
Ah, and one little useful tidbit for Emacs users:
Emacs has a builtin client of course. It also dislays images.
Just
guix install emacs-elpherthen restart Emacs and
M-x elpherBut that’s not modern. Most websites need to recreate basic HTML functionality with a GB of javascript libraries. iow. cut that unnecessary out and internet will become a better experience while saving much storage, throughput, and dissipated energies at every substation.
What upsets me about these projects is that they are never mentioned in fmhy.net
