Gemini space
Gemini space denotes the whole of the public information that is published on the Internet by the Gemini community via the Gemini protocol. Thus, Gemini spans an alternative communication web, with hypertext documents that include hyperlinks to other resources that the user can easily access, similar to the secure version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), but with a focus on simplified information sharing, both in respect to creation and reading of Gemini content.[1]
The Gemini project was started in June 2019 by Solderpunk. Additional work has been done by an informal community of users.
Gemini resources
Gemini resources such as text of the media type "text/gemini" ("gem-text") or other content are provided by Gemini server software to clients requesting the resource residing at the queried URL. The server response contains a completion status and the requested content if available. Text in the gem-text format is line-oriented which simplifies rendering; it offers constructs for headlines (three levels), flat list items, pre-formatted text, and link lines – no inline emphasis.[2]
Gemini resources are identified and located on the network by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), using the URI scheme gemini:// which is analogous to https for the HTTPS web. Because Gemini was built from the ground up with security in mind, there exists no insecure analog to the original http scheme. As with HTTP hypertext, URIs are encoded as hyperlinks in gem-text documents, so as to form interlinked hypertext documents in the Gemini "web", which users refer to as "Gemini space".[3]
Community
The Gemini homepage can be found at gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space. To access this URL a Gemini browser (client) is needed. The community maintains a variety of such clients for text-based, graphical, and mobile platforms. The Gemini mailing list contains multiple announcements of new clients.[4] See Gemini (protocol) for a detailed list.
Alternatively to native Gemini clients, Gemini-to-HTTP gateways can be used with common web browsers not supporting the Gemini protocol. Known such proxy servers are the Mozz.us portal,[5] Vulpes Proxy, [6] and ondollo.[7]
(As of March 2021) Gemini space consists of around 900 known Gemini appearances ("capsules") identified by crawling over 230,000 URIs.[8]
A Gemini search engine irregularily harvests more than 200,000 URIs, publishing some historic data (see graph).[9]
At FOSDEM 2021, a talk[10] about Gemini was well received.[11]
Critique
It has been regarded as a positive thing that people are thinking about alternatives to the "increasingly out-of-control Web".[12] Gemini is weird, small, and different; it is driven by the wish "that it could not easily be extended."[13] "[U]ltimately the geminiverse is lovely because it is underpopulated, slower-paced, and literate."[14] As some passages of documents on Gemini may sound like a manifesto, Gemini space might be "off-putting to those who want to explore a technology."[15] A "tendency toward neo-Luddism may cause one to lean toward Gemini. None of that is meant to be pejorative, as it can certainly be self-applied; in truth, Gemini seems like something rather fun to mess with when time permits." concludes J. Edge in LWN.net.[16]
As Gemini strictly separates the responsibility of content and presentation, authors have little control in how their content is presented.[17]
Gemini offers good accessibility.[18][19]
A discussion[20] of adding the Gemini protocol to curl mentioned the downside of closing the TLS-connection with each request; the usual non-existence of a certificate chain was seen as bad habit.[21] A guideline for adding protocols to curl was created since.[22]
See also
References
- ↑ "Project Gemini FAQ". Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200622135039/https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/faq.html.
- ↑ Sangeelee, Kevin (June 25, 2020). "Gemini Protocol & Markup". https://www.susa.net/wordpress/2020/06/gemini-protocol-markup/.
- ↑ "Lagrange". https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/.
- ↑ "The Gemini 2020 Archive by subject". See [ANN] posts. https://lists.orbitalfox.eu/archives/gemini/2020/subject.html.
- ↑ "Gemini Portal". https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemini.circumlunar.space/.
- ↑ "gemini.circumlunar.space - Gemini proxy". https://proxy.vulpes.one/gemini/gemini.circumlunar.space/.
- ↑ https://gem.ondollo.com/
- ↑ "Statistics on the Gemini space". Proxied gemini://gemini.bortzmeyer.org/software/lupa/stats.gmi
- ↑ "GUS - Gemini Universal Search". Proxied gemini://gus.guru/statistics
- ↑ Stéphane Bortzmeyer (2021-02-07). "Gemini, a modern protocol that looks retro". FOSDEM 2021. https://fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/retro_gemini/. "Back to the 1990s with a protocol and format to distribute real content, without tracking and visual effects"
- ↑ https://chat.fosdem.org/#/room/#retro:fosdem.org
- ↑ Kaiser, Cameron (November 5, 2020). "A Gopher view of Gemini". https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-gopher-view-of-gemini.html.
- ↑ https://communitywiki.org/wiki/Gemini
- ↑ https://maya.land/monologues/2021/01/11/the-tragedy-of-gemini.html
- ↑ Len Falken (2021-01-23). "Perceived relations between Gopher, Gemini, and HTTP". http://len.falken.ink/web/perceived-relations-between-gopher-gemini-and-http.txt.
- ↑ Jake Edge (2021-02-10). "Visiting another world". lwn.net. https://lwn.net/Articles/845446/.
- ↑ DeVault, Drew (November 1, 2020). "What is this Gemini thing anyway, and why am I excited about it?". https://drewdevault.com/2020/11/01/What-is-Gemini-anyway.html.
- ↑ https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/utilities/elaho
- ↑ "Promoting Gemini, is anyone working on outreach?". https://lists.orbitalfox.eu/archives/gemini/2021/006008.html. "Gemini can be a great, simple, content-rich place for blind people."
- ↑ "Curl: [PATCH] New protocol: gemini". curl.se (Mailing list).
- ↑ "Curl: Re: [PATCH] New protocol: gemini". curl.se (Mailing list).
- ↑ "Adding a new protocol?". https://github.com/curl/curl/blob/master/docs/NEW-PROTOCOL.md.
External links
- Gemini Protocol Specification
- "Awesome" list of Gemini-related software
- Kristall, Amfora and Bollux - a look at three gemini browsers Video by Chris Were on ShareTUBE, a PeerTube Fediverse Server
- FOSDEM 2021 Talk on Gemini
- Paywalled article in German magazine c't
- Gopher, Gemini, and the rise of the small Internet: Beyond the Web. Paywalled article in Linux Magazine
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