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Gerbil and Molasses: Two More Gemini (and Gopher) Clients That Are Actively Developed

Video download link | md5sum 6e9c93b3822596e7d7272c36ffcd5186 Introducing Gerbil and Molasses Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The audiocast of today shows Gerbil and Molasses in action; towards the end we also show Moonlander, Telescope, Amfora, Kristall, and Lagrange (Gemini clients)

MONTHS ago we tried to show some of the many options for Gemini surfing, so we ended up comparing Moonlander, Telescope, Amfora, Kristall, and Lagrange (newer and older versions). Today we take a look at Molasses and Gerbil, which are actively being developed in GitHub and GitLab, respectively. Molasses last had a git commit 3 days ago. For Gerbil it was 4 months ago. Instructions for installing them on GNU/Linux (or downloading the binaries) can be found here and here. Gopher protocol is supported as well, but we do not focus on Gopher because it's very old and even outdated, with many lingering deficiencies which render it impractical for our needs.



Gerbil and MolassesThe video above shows Gerbil and Molasses in action. It's a spontaneous video that I recorded minutes after I had tinkered with both Gerbil and Molasses (they didn't take long to install and were very simple to install on Debian 10). There aren't many features, but that's a plus, assuming KISS principle or Occam's razor.

There are many purely practical reasons to move to Gemini where (and when) possible. It's not only about being principled, it's about being pragmatic, putting efficiency, security, and simplicity first. The Web is going in a dark direction for a number of reasons (the Internet as a whole is under attack), and it won't improve for reasons we've been covering here for a very long time. Gemini is actually a lot simpler than the Web, so embracing it should not be difficult at all. It's different, sure, but not harder.

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