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2022-06-28 | #gemtext #html #duckling | @Acidus
A few days ago, I setup the very cool Duckling Proxy, which lets you access HTTP/HTML from inside of Geminispace. HTML is translated to gemtext on the fly.
Various Gemini clients allow you to configure a proxy to use for HTTP. You can run a Duckling proxy on your local machine, and then use HTTP links directly inside your Gemini client. Of course, sometimes you don't want to do this (it's somewhat technical) or your can't (like running a proxy on your mobile device).
So I setup a public instance of Duckling that anyone can use. Want to try it? Set Gemini's client to use HTTP proxy:
stargate.gemi.dev:1994
**Update 2023-02-22**
This public Gemini-to-HTTP gateway is still available at the proxy address above. However it is no longer powered by Duckling proxy to power. Instead, it uses my own proxy software, Stargate.
Keep in mind this is a public proxy. I can see the URLs you are requesting. Don't be a jerk, try to access illegal stuff, or abuse it, and I'm happy to keep it running if people find it valuable.
Duckling works best on text-heavy link-light pages. Forms and cookies aren't supported, so you aren't going to be using Duckduckgo, or Wikipedia, or Protonmail.
Article on Rolling Stone. Not a great experience 😕
Text sites are good, but as always the handling of links can really impact the reading experience. I find Bear Blog is really cool: well rendered, and good diverse content.
I want it make it easy for people find awesome content on Gemini. I have found some wonderful capsules with cool content, but there is also fantastic content that is only available via HTTP. So I'm interested in ways to make that content available here. This is a trend you can see in my various projects:
Porting Folklore.org's oral history of early Apple and the creation of the Macintosh to my capsule
Maintaining a Gemini mirror of XKCD comics
Building Gemipedia, a Gemini frontend to Wikipedia focused on a first class reading experience
Gemini-to-HTTP gateways could be a cool way to provide more content. Playing with Duckling, and making it easier for others to do so with a public proxy, is a great first step.