[gopher] Hello Gopher Project

Mon Dec 15 04:04:16 UTC 2014

HI Kevin,

I'm new too :) Welcome!

I actually installed your updated Overbite for Androif 0.4 update
on my Nesus 6 phone this morning. Works great.

I've also linked to your Planet Python Feed(s)
in my own Gopherspace :) Thanks! I'm also
providing PyPi Feed(s).

My Gopherspace is here:

gopher://arrow.shortcircuit.net.au

I may move this soon though to a real server
(running on my desktop at home on my home DSL)

cheers
James

James Mills / prologic

E: prologic at shortcircuit.net.au
W: prologic.shortcircuit.net.au

On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 6:52 PM, Kevin Veroneau <kevin at veroneau.net> wrote:

> Hello everyone!
>
>   My name is Kevin Veroneau, and I have been using Gopher and running
> my own Gopherhole for about a year now.  I am now just starting to take
> a more active role in the Gopher community by contributing and/or
> updating code relating to new or existing Gopher projects.  You can
> learn more about me on my Gopherhole: gopher://gopher.veroneau.net
>
>   You can learn additional information about me through my Telnet
> @iamkevin.ca:5199, there is a telnet link on my Gopherhole as well.
>
>   Anyways, I'll brief the community here on what I have been up to
> Gopher-wise during the past week:
>
>   Earlier this week, I updated the Overbite Android application and
> updated the user interface, and enabled better compatibility with newer
> devices.  I personally have a Samsung S5, and there is no more "Menu"
> key, rather I need to hold down the "Recent apps" key to bring up the
> menu for older Android apps.  This was what I was needing to do on the
> old Overbite for Android app and it was driving me a little nuts...
> So, my first update was to make it both compatible with Android 2.3+,
> and also look 10x better on Android 4.0.3+.  You can download the
> updated APK and also view many screenshots on my Gopher here:
> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/1library/OverbiteAndroid
>
>   Oh, and I also added a traditional address bar to the user interface.
>
>   My next project of this week was a brand new project, an XBMC(Soon to
> be called Kodi) app.  XBMC, if you don't know, is a rather popular open
> source media center application that is cross-platform.  Can you guess
> what this XBMC app might be?  If you guessed a native Gopher client,
> then you would be right!  Yes, now you can finally browse Gopherholes
> from the comfort of your couch using an IR remote control.  When using
> search servers, it will gladly bring up a nice remote friendly
> on-screen keyboard to request your query.  The app currently supports
> displaying directories, text files, and images.  So, it will appear as
> a "Picture" add-on in XBMC.  This makes it nice to just sit back one
> night and read a text-based novel on your 90" UHDTV. :D
> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/1library/XBMC
>
>   You can download both the ZIP package for XBMC add-on and view
> screenshots of it in action in the Gopher URL above.
>
>   If that's not enough, I even did yet more interesting Gopher stuff
> this week...  Hopefully I'm not like the only guy on this mailing list
> that's actually using Gopher...
>
>   I built a pretty useable Gopher client in the Django Python web
> framework.  I built it so that I could allow people to browse my
> Gopherhole without a Gopher client or using a 3rd party proxy service.
> The full source will be released on my Python Diary blog tomorrow
> morning, if your curious about this one.  You can check it using this
> link if you wanted to see how it works and functions:
> http://iamkevin.ca/Gopher/
>
>   Now before I dive into something more technical, I'll bring up
> something I did a few months back.  Do you recall that gopherlib.py
> module that shipped with Python 2.5 last?  Well, I brought it back from
> the dead and updated it!  You can grab the latest copy of it on my...
> Gopher of course!
> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/0library/gopherlib.py
>
>   My Django Gopher client actually uses this new updated Python module.
>
>   Okay, so now for some interesting news that may make some cringe.  I
> was told by some sources that this is the place to go if I want to
> discuss additions to the "Gopher Protocol" standard.  Well, this
> evening, I built a proof of concept new Gopher type.  I am really
> hoping that we can all work together to make this the newest Gopher
> type in years!  This new Gopher type fits Gopher so well that it would
> be stupid to not include it in the Gopher standard for for clients to
> actually support it.  Have you ever heard of this little markup
> language called "Markdown"?  It's a very simple, but powerful markup,
> and it's used on lots of programming and documentation websites.  If
> you use GIT, then you most likely store your README file in Markdown
> format.  Wouldn't this format fit in with Gopher's overall goal?
> Markdown is very lightweight, and looks good with or without being
> processed.  I see some Gopherholes trying to use HTML, and I'm like...
> REALLY!!!  Markdown would suit these types of documents better,
> especially when it comes to text-based or low end device clients.
> Markdown has the advantage of looking great, but still takes little
> bandwidth and looks nice in plain text too.
>
>   The best part about this, is that you can literally try out Markdown
> documents today before a standard is formalized to see how well it
> scales.  Text clients like "Lynx" and "Gopher" can just display such
> item types as "plain text" without processing them as Markdown.  So,
> there is very minimal work required to massively deploy this new Gopher
> type.  Currently, I have updated the Overbite for Android client to
> support it, you can download the updated APK and view screenshots at
> the following Gopher:
> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/1library/OverbiteAndroid
>
>   I have also updated my Django Gopher client to render Markdown to
> show that updating Gopher proxies shouldn't be too much trouble either:
> http://iamkevin.ca/Gopher/msandbox/markdown.md
>
>   I believe how to render Markdown documents should be left to the
> client maintainer.  The client should at least be capable of displaying
> just the plain text document without the Markdown processing.  So,
> display the new Gopher type as type "0", in most languages it's very
> easy to make 2 Gopher types do the same thing.
>
>   If anybody here has access to SDF, I have also posted something there
> in the BBOARD about my ideas on how I would like to improve Gopher.
> You can also read the following Blog post on my Gopher here for
> additional information:
> gopher://gopher.veroneau.net/0blog/Ideas%20for%20Gopher
>
>   With all that said, I'd highly recommend borrowing around my hole to
> see what interesting Gopher stuff I've gotten my nose into.  I have
> some pretty interesting moles lying around there, and other articles
> and posts.
>
>   As you can very well see, I am very determined to see the Gopher
> protocol innovate into something great!  I did most of this in less
> than a week...  Do I even have a life?
>
> --
> Best Regards,
>   Kevin Veroneau
>   Kevin Veroneau Consulting Services
>   kevin at veroneau.net
>   https://www.veroneau.net/
>
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