SMOLNET PORTAL home about changes
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| Apr 19, 2024 : Fri : Yahoo 2004, Dillo & Vivaldi Mobile |
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| I found a 2004 version of Yahoo's home page [0] on my computer. Here's what |
| it looks like using Dillo 3.0.5 [1] (I like using extra large fonts on a |
| 1080 (eye strain), 16:9 screen in landscape). |
| |
| Here's a screenshot [2] of the same (viewable) page using Vivaldi Mobile on |
| my Lenovo Tab P12-2023, 12.7", 3k display, 16:10 aspect ratio. Portrait Mode|
| for document-centric stuff is hard to beat. |
| |
| But... honestly very impressed with Dillo. This is a 2015 version of the |
| browser that shows: |
| |
| /usr/bin/dillo (bin: 892 KBs) |
| /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dillo (plugins, etc: 360 KBs) |
| /etc/dillo (cfg stuff: 19 KBs) |
| /usr/share/man/man1/dillo.1.gz (man page: 1.4 KBs) |
| /home/USER/.dillo (plugins I installed: 94 KBs) |
| |
| Less than a 1.4 MB floppy disk! An update is expected this year (2024) :-) |
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| [0] https://640kb.neocities.org/support/yahoo.2004.htm |
| [1] https://640kb.neocities.org/support/dillo.3.0.5--yahoo.2004.png |
| [2] https://640kb.neocities.org/support/vivaldi.mobile.2024--yahoo.2004.jpg |
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| Apr 15, 2024 : Mon : Two new finger clients... |
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| I came across two different command-line finger clients today! They are |
| both dedicated finger clients only and do not support any other protocol. I |
| quite like this. |
| |
| One is written in the D language and available only in source (compiles |
| easily after "sudo apt install dub"): |
| |
| https://github.com/KikyTokamuro/dfinger |
| |
| The other is written in rust and includes a precompiled binary: |
| |
| https://github.com/alexmullins/finger-client |
| |
| Both programs have performed well, even handling the 8-bit codepage437 w/o |
| issue. Will update the fingerverse file with these new programs soon. |
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| Apr 11, 2024 : Thu : Dillo updates; new site at neocities. |
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| I've been playing around with the Dillo browser of late. It's a new toy and |
| really digging its HTML support. Now that I'm using it more often, I'm |
| really surprised at how well it handles the many HTML sites I've visited. |
| |
| I've been having such a nice time with the browser that I even started to |
| use an inactive neocities site to give it some links to play with. I used |
| preformatted text because I love working with this format. |
| |
| Some sections of the site are Dillo/Kristall specific (since they can handle|
| the combination of gemini/gopher plus the light html). Other sections of the|
| site... a mirror of the pages I've posted at happynetbox.com. |
| |
| https://640kb.neocities.org |
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| Apr 10, 2024 : Wed : Fingerverse page reduction. |
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| Reduced fingerverse from 47,582 characters to 41,980 (with spaces). I use |
| lots of spaces because of the boxy design. Total characters w/o spaces: |
| 21,885 (52% of total). |
| |
| I was able to trim the file with little loss of content. |
| |
| Perspective: Since I work with the fingerverse file often, I know where |
| everything is, everything that's been written. It doesn't feel like a long |
| document. I have lost the ability to see it from a new user's perspective. |
| |
| Objectively, I do recognize that the current 554 lines is long. I'll keep |
| trimming... |
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| Apr 08, 2024 : Mon : 44,560 character limit, three clients. |
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| On my latest update of the fingerverse file, finger was unable to display |
| the entire page. It seems to have hit a limit for characters when trying to |
| get a file over the internet as: |
| |
| * finger fingerverse@happynetbox.com |
| |
| It had no problems displaying the entire page if it accessed the ~/.plan |
| file directly from my computer (not over the internet) as: finger username |
| |
| After a very quick test, it seems that the character limit is: |
| |
| 44,560 : which translated to 584 lines on the fingerverse file. |
| |
| note: "finger fingerverse@happynetbox.com > file" adds an extra character |
| on top of the file (LF) during processing of the request... so 44,561. |
| |
| I decided to test every client and access method listed on the fingerverse |
| page and only two others had the same (exact) issue: stopping short of |
| displaying the entire page at 44,560 characters (line 584). |
| |
| * curl gopher://happynetbox.com:79/0fingerverse |
| * dillo (w/gopher plugin) |
| |
| * Plan Poke : untested (but I'm sure this will display the entire page) |
| |
| I was pleasantly surprised that every other client on the fingerverse page |
| handled the large file without any issues. This includes the bash-based |
| bopher-ng, the dos-like ddwarf, the command-line bombadillo, the retired |
| 'little gopher client' (runtimeterror). |
| |
| Fingerlist on Android, the Underbite extension... and even telnet and |
| smolmail (both in the _fun_ section) handled the entire page. All of them |
| except for the three listed above (finger, dillo and curl). |
| |
| So what do I do? Well... moreso than any other program, I have to respect |
| any limits imposed by finger no matter the reason. It is the OG. |
| |
| There's also curl - an institution in its own right at 28 years and Dillo |
| that's been ~active since Dec/1999 (though it's new to modern smolnet). |
| |
| The clues seem to indicate that the problem lies outside of these three |
| programs specifically. Third-party? |
| |
| Until some reason for this is determined, I'll find a way of trimming down |
| the file without losing any meaningful content. The limit per page seems to |
| be 44,560. I'm currently using 47,582 characters. |
| |
| This is the smolnet afterall and 44,560 characters ought to be enough for |
| anyone... right? |
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| Apr 07, 2024 : Sun : Dillo, smolnet plugins, Spartan. |
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| I just discovered that Dillo has a plugin system. Somehow that got pass me. |
| Turns out plugins exist for gemini and gopher (finger via gopher). Spartan's|
| plugin does not seem to load/render. Still... very excited about this. |
| |
| Dillo has always been one of those browsers I really liked but rarely used. |
| Now that it has gemini/gopher support... I have a great reason to use it |
| more often. I'll update fingerverse with this info soon. |
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| Feel bad about spamming this box with the monthly archive of old posts. |
| These are one time uploads and will disappear from the main listing soon. |
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| Apr 05, 2024 : Fri : Taxes done with room to spare. |
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| I did my taxes yesterday (Thursday). Just getting this done got me excited |
| about crossing off a couple of more items from my procrastination page. |
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| Apr 01, 2024 : Mon : Retro OSes, TLS, Spartan. |
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| I found two posts related to discussions of a Gemini browser for DOS (copied|
| the discussions below). The major sticking point seems to be TLS. |
| |
| This led me to review the other various emerging smolnet protocols. Spartan |
| stuck out because it's basically Gemini/Gemtext without the TLS: |
| |
| https://portal.mozz.us/spartan/spartan.mozz.us/ |
| |
| https://portal.mozz.us/spartan/mozz.us/software.gmi |
| |
| I like that this protocol - among other things - provides a modern doorway |
| for legacy systems to enter the smolnet. That it also helps show how the |
| various smolnet protocols aren't necessarily competing with each other but |
| rather... helping to extend the smolnet in various useful ways. |
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-------> https://redd.it/sis7lb <-------
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| DmitriiElj : |
| |
| But there is no vintage computers support, as far as I know (and using IP |
| and TLS in MS-DOS can be tricky). |
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| jakenned : |
| |
| using an old DOS machine is out of the question last I checked, I think |
| someone may be working on a modern TLS package for DOS but I doubt an old |
| PC would be able to handle it. |
| |
| There is someone working on a classic Mac client (m68k IIRC) but they told |
| me not to expect a working product for a very long time |
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| jarreboum : |
| |
| TLS is a non-issue now that local proxies can be easily set up to strip it |
| out. A simple RPi added to the local network works wonders. |
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-------> https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/forum_entry.php?id=17743 <-------
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| DosWorld : |
| |
| JFYI (i want just share idea): |
| |
| https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/ |
| |
| In short words: WWW without styles and scripting on client side (sort of |
| markdown?), but with community (~3.5 geeks) and modern software, need just |
| include dos in this (underground) stream. :-D Here is example browser- |
| screenshot ( https://files.catbox.moe/rr96w9.png )for gemini-page. |
| |
| PS: I am think about topic for my next dos-project, but, definitely, it will|
| be not networking. |
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| effebi68 : |
| |
| IMHO, TLS (as used by HTTPS) is by far the worst compatibility problem with |
| old machines or small operating systems. Nice idea, anyway. |
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want another? finger phenom@happynetbox.com
Response: application/gopher-menu
Original URLgopher://happynetbox.com:79/1/debug
Content-Typeapplication/gopher-menu; charset=utf-8