-- Leo's gemini proxy
-- Connecting to ajtjp.com:1965...
-- Connected
-- Sending request
-- Meta line: 20 text/gemini; lang=en
Gemex, named Titan in its initial release, is the Gemini browser that I wrote. It's pretty okay. It has some nice features, but hasn't yet implemented all of the Gemini protocol, and surely hasn't received as much attention as the big-name browsers out there. Still, I've found it largely adequate for my needs, and you might like it too.
If you take it for a spin and find it useful, send me a note at gemini@ajtjp.com. We are looking for our third official user!
Command line interface that takes inspiration from vi
Forward/back navigation across pages
Will open non-text documents and non-Gemini links (https, gopher, etc.) in your default program
Word wrapping
Basic search functionality
Written in Java, so it runs on quite a few different operating systems
Configurable terminal window size
Supports a significant part of the Gemini protocol, including search queries
Development has been driven by what I decided would be helpful while browsing Gemini capsules, which meant sometimes quality of life features took precedence over implementing the full protocol. These sections of the protocol remain to be implemented:
Server certificates are not validated (they are always trusted)
Client certificates are not yet supported
TOFU is not yet supported
Status code 11 (password) is not differentiated from 10 (general input)
Any features added since the summer of 2020
In addition, user-entered bookmarks are coming in a future update; a few hard-coded bookmarks for those of you new to Gemini are already included.
As of version 0.52, Gemex runs on Java 1.6 (previous versions required Java 1.7). This means that Gemex should run on:
Windows 2000 or later, on x86 and x64 processors (Itanium not supported, ARM support unknown)
OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and later, either PowerPC, Intel, or Apple Silicon processors
Linux, any halfway recent release. Tested on Bionic Beaver but should run on much older.
Solaris. Tested on 11.3 on x64, but may run on older systems, and should run on SPARC.
OS/2 Warp 4. Testing on OS/2 is my next priority after writing this GMI file!
Haiku
Any any other system that can run Java 1.6 or later. Various flavors of BSD are likely candidates.
Binaries are provided first for convenience, with the code linked later for those who are curious about it.
If you already have Java 1.6 or later installed, this is a small Java executable that you can run by typing 'java -jar Gemex.jar' at the command line. As the file size is miniscule, this is recommended if you are already comfortable with Java programs.
If you have a previous version, you can also overwrite the Gemex.jar file in your platform-specific download with the latest cross-platform binary.
Please note that if you are using an older version of Java 6, 7, or 8, you will likely need to download the Unlimited Strength Cryptography files from Oracle at:
Unzip the file, and put the contents in the /lib/security folder of your Java Runtime Environment (or the /jre/lib/security version of your Java Development Kit, if it is being used to run Gemex). This allows Java to use modern cryptography rather than 1990s "export-grade" cryptography which is not strong enough for modern Gemini capsules.
Gemex will let you know if this is necessary when you attempt to load a page.
The Windows build is currently packaged with Java 1.7 32-bit, and will work on Windows XP and later (excluding Itanium and ARM releases, but including 64-bit Windows). If you need Windows 2000 support, please download the Cross-Platform Binary.
Gemex has been tested on Windows XP (32-bit), Windows 8.1 (64-bit), and Windows 10 (64-bit).
To decompress the Windows build, use:
The Mac build runs on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and later, on Intel processors only. If you require support for Apple Silicon, or for OS X 10.5 through 10.7 (both Intel and PowerPC), please download the cross-platform binary.
Gemex has been tested on OS X 10.12 "High Sierra".
The Linux build has been tested on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, but may run on older systems and should work on newer ones. It will only run on Intel x64 processors; if you need 32-bit support or want to try Gemex on Linux on a different architecture, please download the cross-platform binary.
The Solaris build has been tested on Solaris 11.3 x64, but may run on older systems and should work on newer ones. It will only run on Intel x64 processors. If you need SPARC support, please download the cross-platform binary.
To run Gemex on OS/2, you will need the latest version of Java 1.6.
Gemex has not yet been tested on OS/2, but an OS/2 installation has been set up in preparation. There is not yet an OS/2 platform-specific build.
Gemex has been tested successfully on Haiku. A platform-specific build has not yet been created for Haiku.
The source code, which is MIT licensed, lives at the project's SourceHut page.
Gemex came to be after browsing the https version of Circumlunar Space, and at the time the list of browsers on that site did not include one that was easy to get up and running on Windows, though this has since changed. If I had been sensible, I would have fired up my laptop with a Linux install, or a virtual machine, and started browsing on Linux. Instead, I saw the spec document, browsed it, thought, "this doesn't look too difficult" and started coding. A very minimal implementation was working by the end of the first night.
Since then, learning about how to build a rich console-based UI has proven to be just as interesting as implementing the Gemini protocol, and reading various Gemini capsules and Gemlogs has proved a satisfying distraction from adding more features (though also a good indicator of what was most sorely missing). Thus, one of the main goals is to learn something new. But it also has been pretty neat being able to traverse the Information Superhighway using software I wrote; with http the scope was too great to even consider that.
Current features near the top of the list include:
More extensive bookmark support
Text highlighting
Improved search capabilities
Adding a Table of Contents view
There is a SourceHut todo tracking that tracks both fixes and feature ideas for Gemex, which you can view at:
Contact information is included in the Readme.txt files included in the platform releases, and there are also mailing lists you can subscribe to on the SourceHut page.
Gemex may or may not be your cup of tea, and that's okay, as there are a wealth of Gemini browsers. I've listed a few of them below, as well as a Gemini link to a page with links to quite a few more.
Another Windows-focused Gemini browser, but one with a graphical user interface, is Twin Peaks. I've taken it for a spin, and it's a good option if you prefer a mouse-driven approach.
If you are on Linux, Unix, or OS X, Bombadillo is another terminal-based browser that supports Gemini. It appears to be similar, and as it has been around longer, is likely more polished than Gemex. I will likely try it out at some point, but for now want to see what ideas I come up with while I have less knowledge of how another vim-inspired browser has done.
Castor is a GUI-based browser for Gemini, Gopher, and Finger, build in Rust. It has instructions for running it on Ubuntu, Mac, and now Windows as well.
There is also an extensive list of Gemini software, including browsers, at Circumlunar Space.
-- Response ended
-- Page fetched on Tue May 7 17:31:04 2024
