[ANN] Fafi, a Racket-based client

[Andre Garzia]

Hi Luke,

Thanks a lot for the kind words. I am brand new to the ecosystem. I started
writing Fafi just from reading the protocol specs, I had no exposure to
other browsers and content. Now, I am getting to know more about apps and
content and am liking it very much. It is an impressive coincidence that I
checked out GemiNaut a bit before sending my first email to this list. I
took a tour of Gemini Browsers and saw that your browser had REBOL code in
it and that made me smile. I used to work with REBOL in the early 2000s and
it is a language that is very dear to my heart. I think that a Gemini
browser using Red should be a fantastic project, maybe I'll try that as
well.

As for Firefox OS, that is a little flame in my heart that will never be
extinguished, I really liked it and still do. I think that a client is
possible but you won't be able to support all the status codes and use
cases as you won't be able to generate certificates (unless you write a
pure JS TLS implementation). I'm not sure which version of OpenSSL KaiOS is
linked against but you should be able to open a raw TCP secure socket to
port 1965 and read and write from it using "mozTCPSocket":

  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/B2G_OS/API/TPC_Socket_API

Another thing that put a smile on me was the surprise I got when I was
researching to write the reply to you (it has been a while since I last
touched FirefoxOS code). If I remember correctly in 2013 I took some time
adding FirefoxOS samples to MDN  and the sample linked to that article is a
Telnet client I wrote:

  https://github.com/soapdog/firefoxos-sample-app-telnet-client

You should be able to pick that telnet client and just tweak it a little to
test it against a Gemini server. Be aware that KaiOS has a different
keyboard based navigation system and you'll need to check their dev docs:

  https://developer.kaiostech.com/

I don't have any KaiOS device but I am intrigued by it. Some months ago I
had a meeting with their DevRel to talk about the old days of FirefoxOS and
how community was handled and encouraged, it was a fun meeting and I hope
they are investing more in building a community now.

Kind Regards
A.


> Welcome to the ecosystem!
>
> Its great to see another client. There are a couple of other clients
> that support tabs like Kristall and amfora (that I know of). Others take
> the approach of forking the browsing session with a new window (like my
> own, GemiNaut). Personally I like to be able to use the normal OS
> features to manage application windows, and each fork of the browsing
> session feels more to me like a separate thread through Geminispace to
> be independently minimised, maximised, etc. Some folk seem to prefer
> tabs though.
>
> On a slightly separate note, I saw from your profile you have a
> background in FirefoxOS. I know it had its ups and downs, but it does
> live on in KaiOS which is gaining a wide user base particularly outside
> Europe and North America. I have a a Nokia 2720 which I love as a flip
> phone, for its relative simplicity and for its battery life. There is a
> simple marketplace of apps.
>
> So a quick question - do you think it could be possible to write a
> gemini client for KaiOS? Personally, it would be great to be able to
> check a few pages when on the move. And more importantly, it would open
> gemini up to a wide and diverse range of potential new users who may
> have a lot to contribute.
>
> Best Wishes
>
>   - Luke
>


-- 
https://www.andregarzia.com <http://www.andregarzia.com>
Want to support me? Buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/andregarzia
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