uwu what's this - it's a gemini
Sunday 13 December 2020
Hi and welcome to fedi.flounder.online!
If you found this space on the web please check back for blog posts about why gemini is a great alternative to the regular web. If you arrived via geminispace then hopefully this blog will be of interest to you too. Expect the content to be half-way between technical and average computer user.
Here are some ideas of some other blog posts I might write in the near future:
- opinions about the fediverse (Mastodon, Pleroma, PeerTube, Pixelfed etc)
- review of some of the command-line gemini browsers such as amfora, av98, gmnilm
- responses to other blog posts in geminispace (it's a tradition in gopher/geminspace!)
- smol web propaganda
- links to geminis I find interesting
So as not to waste my first blog post in geminspace I would urge those visiting who are using a regular web-browser to install a gemini browser. The following link is to a gemini browser for Microsoft Windows:
For Android there is Ariane and there are an abundance of other browsers, just duckduck for e.g Castor, LaGrange, AV-98, Amfora, gmni etc.
A command line browser for Linux etc.
Sure you can read this gemini because flounder.online mirrors content to the Web but there is a significant part of geminispace that cannot be accessed without a dedicated browser. Also as a general rule gemini browsers are much simpler than Chrome or Firefox, are composed of maybe one percent of the code and don't spy on users out of the box. Gemini in many ways has privacy built in.
And if you are already using a gemini browser then why not take the next step and start your own geminispace either here on flounder.online or elsewhere - geminispace needs quality content (and if your content is non-technical then there is very little competition).
(only web registration for now!)
Flounder is still adding new functionality all the time but all the essentials are in place to post your geminis including the very nice feature of a dedicated url e.g your-name.flounder.online
If you are worried that creating and writing a gemini is too technical then don't because it is actually much simpler than writing for the web. Here's a link to a short article on writing 'gemtext':
A quick introduction to Gemtext
tldr: gemini has less than 10 different 'markups' to transform text with: three different headings, lists, links, blank lines, blockquote, preformatted.
As yet flounder does not have ssh access but it is trialling WebDav which allows you to mount your remote account on your computer and then edit your files and they are then synced. Which saves having to cut and paste them into a web browser. Another ability is to be able to create sub-folders on your account e.g. this blog post should be in the 'gemlog' sub-folder.
Anyway that's it for now. I'll just leave a few links to some geminis (mostly technical stuff):
//portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemini.susa.net/
Site belonging to the developer of the Amfora browser
/gemlog/