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My gemini (Pjotr Prins)

Gemini is for life in plain text (still, we have images).

My professional life consists of writing - whether it is E-mail, source code, blogs, papers, chapters, grant proposals etc. Writing, writing, writing. When Gemini protocol came along it immediately made sense to me: create a simpler web with a focus on writing. For displaying writeups put the onus on display with the viewer - not with the author(!) This concept is incredibly important to me. I like to read stuff that is displayed in the way I want to view it. I.e. gemini empowers the reader and simplifies the task of the author. Writing and reading as it should be - with a focus on function over form. In other words: no more Web 2.0!

So know I'll host my own gemini server, write my blogs in simple gemini markdown (aka gemtext markup) and feel productive - like I do with E-mail.

Gemini protocol

Gemini project

Gemtext 'markup'

Currently I am using the gemini elpher browser in emacs and gemini-mode when writing. You can visit my gemini server with a proxy

My gemini through proxy

I am also running my own proxy now at

http://gemini.thebird.nl/gemini/thebird/blog/my-gemini-pjotr.gmi

Gemini does not embed web images (by default - browsers and gemini clients can do it) and it lacks source code syntax highlighting. Even so it should be fairly trivial to create a web proxy for those requirements - if that is the intention. Portal.mozz.us can do for images:

Gemini with embedded image view

The gemini server I am using today is agate, and is very easy to set up. Simply create keys for your network name (here localhost - but should be your domain):

mkdir certs
cd certs
openssl req -new -subj "/CN=localhost" -x509 -newkey ec -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:prime256v1 -days 365 -nodes -out cert.pem -keyout key.pem
cd ..

Next create content

mkdir content
echo "HELLO WORLD" > content/index.gmi

and start the server

agate --cert certs/cert.pem --key certs/key.pem

and visit gemini://localhost with a gemini browser (elpher in emacs).

With GNU Guix start agate up in a secure and isolated container with

guix environment -C --network guix --ad-hoc agate

and run the agate command with certs. Very easy!

And, because this is a live server, any pages I edit are live as soon as they are written into the (git) repository.