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Re: teletext-ish pages?

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From: <joe@example.invalid>

Subject: Re: teletext-ish pages?

Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2022 11:48:39 -0000 (UTC)

Message-ID: <svsuak$s8p$1@news.cyber23.de>

Message content

news@zzo38computer.org.invalid wrote:

<joe@example.invalid> wrote:
I agree that TLS should not be mandatory; it should be optional. I had
previously proposed a "insecure-gemini" protocol. Its specification is:
* The URI scheme is "insecure-gemini". However, the server should treat
"gemini" and "insecure-gemini" the same in the request text.

I see gemini as something that has the potential to be a big hit over

Tor, where people run local services on their home machines. In this

case, SSL is redundant and it's kind of a pain to deal with.

But there's really no reason one couldn't just use file:// or even

http:// I guess.

> If you support unicode, (via the terminal) this shouldn't be that much
> harder. The terminal does all the work. The challenge would be malware
> that sends escape codes to bugger up the screen. (even then, the worst
> that could happen is you need to do a screen reset. Hardly a big deal)
I am not sure what is the worse that can happen, actually. Messed up
screen is not necessarily the only possibility.

You could move the cursor around, or send the persons terminal into an

alternate character set (which really makes a mess). You could send

escape codes that put the terminal into tektronix mode, annoying

blinking text, things like that.

If the person on the other end were using a genuine terminal, with a

printer attached (I've used those, believe it or not!) you could poison

someone by sending the escape code to initiate printing. I haven't seen

a terminal that "prints" that way in many, many years. You'd have better

luck sending a zmodem transfer sequence and tricking them into

downloading files. :-)

I found a capsule that uses ansi extensively, and I'm quite impressed!

Check it out:

ANSI art archive

They're using it in ways I hadn't thought of. It worked pretty good for

me, except they're trying to emulate a slow modem connection which just

makes the pages take a while to load.

I'm impressed!

> Teletext was an old protocol for television sets that allowed you to
> view news pages, weather, etc.. in a semi-textual format.
There is also Viewdata, which I think is similar. There are some Viewdata
services existing that you can access over the internet, and you can use
a Viwedata client to access it. It is a interactive protocol (similar to
telnet), unlike static pages that were previously used in television.

That would be pretty cool to see :-)

I've seen quite a bit of cool terminal stuff lately. Modern unicode

terminals hold a lot of promise.

Overall, I am impressed with gemini, I really like the design goals. I'm

happy to see someone actually is using color. I'm off to see if I can

find anything about viewdata protocol next. Thanks for the tip.

Related

Parent:

Re: teletext-ish pages? (by news@zzo38computer.org.invalid on Thu, 03 Mar 2022 11:17:04 -0800)

Start of thread:

teletext-ish pages? (by <joe@example.invalid> on Thu, 3 Mar 2022 06:49:40 -0000 (UTC))

Children:

Re: teletext-ish pages? (by meff <email@example.com> on Sat, 5 Mar 2022 00:50:38 -0000 (UTC))