[HN Gopher] Kristall - Visual cross-platform browser for gemini,...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Kristall - Visual cross-platform browser for gemini, http, https,
       gopher, finger
        
       Author : 1vuio0pswjnm7
       Score  : 128 points
       Date   : 2021-11-20 06:40 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | JCWasmx86 wrote:
       | For gemini I use either castor[0] or dragonstone[1]. Both are
       | quite good, dragonstone even has tabs.
       | 
       | Both are written for GTK, so they integrate quite good with
       | GNOME.
       | 
       | [0]: https://git.sr.ht/~julienxx/castor
       | 
       | [1]: https://gitlab.com/baschdel/dragonstone
        
         | ayushnix wrote:
         | It's good that dragonstone is built using GTK3. I wouldn't have
         | considered it if it was a GTK4 app.
        
           | sildur wrote:
           | What's happening this time with GNOME?
        
             | ayushnix wrote:
             | They decided to make GTK4 apps exclusive to the desktop
             | environment for which the app was built for. You could use
             | it outside the intended DE but it will look alien.
        
               | pojntfx wrote:
               | That is simply not true:
               | https://blog.elementary.io/linux-experiment-interview-
               | cassid...
               | 
               | They have done pretty much the opposite - they added a
               | proper API of theming instead of having a stylesheet
               | override. GTK didn't really have themes before, so this
               | is quite nice.
        
               | ayushnix wrote:
               | > They have done pretty much the opposite - they added a
               | proper API of theming instead of having a stylesheet
               | override.
               | 
               | That's not theming, that's just changing accent colors in
               | the same theme. If I don't like dark background color, I
               | can't change it. If I don't like the light background
               | color, I can't change that either. All I can do is change
               | accent colors.
               | 
               | The entire GTK and GNOME ecosystem is heading towards
               | Android like customization and theming, which is
               | basically non-existent at this point.
        
           | JCWasmx86 wrote:
           | What's wrong with GTK4?
        
             | ayushnix wrote:
             | GTK4 apps aren't meant to used outside of the platform for
             | which they're built for. If the GTK4 app in question is
             | built using libadwaita, it's meant to use only inside
             | GNOME. If it's built using libgranite, it's meant to used
             | only inside Pantheon (from elementaryOS).
             | 
             | Of course, you could use it in KDE or MATE or anywhere else
             | but it would look completely alien with different themes
             | and, potentially, different fonts and icons. You can't set
             | your own theme without resorting to hacks.
             | 
             | If someone has come across a GTK4 app which isn't
             | restricted to a specific desktop environment, let me know.
             | Meanwhile, I won't use any GTK4 apps in existence.
        
               | JCWasmx86 wrote:
               | Ah well, I understand. Thanks for the explanation!
        
       | skinkestek wrote:
       | This looks seriously cool.
       | 
       | I might install it in a VM like Palemoon (because security) and
       | try use it as a main non-work browser to see how it fares.
       | 
       | IMO the world badly needs a truly independent browser.
        
         | ayushnix wrote:
         | > VM like Palemoon
         | 
         | umm, what?
        
           | forgotmypw17 wrote:
           | PaleMoon inside a VM, for security reasons.
           | 
           | (In contrast to "up-to-date" browsers, which are definitely
           | not full of exploitable security holes, despite frequent
           | releases to which new code is constantly being added to them
           | in large amounts.)
        
             | skinkestek wrote:
             | Correct.
             | 
             | I'm not in a position to judge the actual security of
             | PaleMoon and for what I know it might be more secure for
             | the reasons you point out.
             | 
             | As for why I won't use it without precautions I really do
             | not want anyone to be able to use "this happened because
             | skinkestek used an old browser, maintained by two persons
             | in their spare time" if something goes south at some point.
             | 
             | That said, I have tested it and for me it wasn't just rose
             | tinted memories, I prefer the UX of PaleMoon far to modern
             | Firefox which I still prefer to Chrome (for both UX and
             | personal reasons.)
        
       | bbotond wrote:
       | Another excellent client is Lagrange:
       | https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/
        
         | Shtirlic wrote:
         | Yes, amazing piece of software.
        
         | nathell wrote:
         | Looking gorgeous, too!
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | zelphirkalt wrote:
       | What can I do with Gopher and Finger? (isn't Gopher also a
       | Haskell like programming lang?)
        
         | CyberRabbi wrote:
         | https://www.google.com/
        
         | forgotmypw17 wrote:
         | Gopher is a fork of Go language.
         | 
         | Gofer is Haskell-like language, replaced by Hugs.
         | 
         | I think the Gopher protocol predates both of them. It's kind of
         | like HTTP but without HTML: just basic directory listings and
         | files.
        
           | zelphirkalt wrote:
           | Wait, wasn't/isn't Hugs (also?) a compiler for Haskell?
        
           | poulpy123 wrote:
           | It's a very old internet protocol that I've not encountered
           | in more than 20 years and even at this time it was more of a
           | curious remnant than something useful. I've never heard of
           | finger and Gemini
        
             | ecliptik wrote:
             | Gopher is still alive (albeit small), Gemini sits between
             | Gopher and Web,
             | 
             | https://thedorkweb.substack.com/p/gopher-gemini-and-the-
             | smol...
             | 
             | https://gemini.circumlunar.space/
        
             | forgotmypw17 wrote:
             | Finger is even older (by over a decade).
             | 
             | Gemini is actually pretty new, sort of like a re-imagined
             | Gopher.
        
             | United857 wrote:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol)
             | 
             | Back when logging into a shell server was the standard way
             | to access the Internet, finger provided a way to get
             | information on users on a particular/site. E.g. finger
             | someone@server.school.edu.
             | 
             | Usually you could create dotfiles named .project/.plan in
             | your home directory, and the contents would be displayed
             | for all to see. .project/.plan files were the blogs/tweets
             | of that era. Sometimes I miss those simpler days!
        
       | makapuf wrote:
       | It seems based on Qt for cross-platform ui graphical toolkit,
       | without surprise, nowadays people seem to have settlers on this
       | (understandably)
        
       | hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
       | That's nice! But since it's also for Windows, I was surprised not
       | to see binary releases, just the source. Most Windows users won't
       | bother compiling from source.
       | 
       | Edit: Found on the project page: https://kristall.random-
       | projects.net/
        
       | 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
       | Original title was "Graphical small-internet client", like the
       | Github page title. Moderator changd it.
        
       | makeworld wrote:
       | If you'd like to learn more about the Gemini Protocol, head to
       | https://geminiquickst.art/
       | 
       | And if you're more partial to terminal browsers, I've written my
       | own. https://github.com/makeworld-the-better-one/amfora
        
         | neoneye2 wrote:
         | Does gemini support forms or interactive ui?
         | 
         | I wonder if it's possible to make https://oeis.org/ that has a
         | search field, available via gemini?
        
           | marginalia_nu wrote:
           | It does have a way to enter data. It's only a single line.
           | It's intended specifically for searching, rather than data-
           | entry.
        
       | gcthomas wrote:
       | Kristall is good, but Lagrange is more finished, imho. But the
       | great thing about Gemini is that it is possible to write a fully
       | featured Gemini browser in a weekend, so there are plenty about.
       | Just try writing your own Web browser with anything less than a
       | couple-billion dollars handy. Even Microsoft gave up.
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29291392
        
       | Y_Y wrote:
       | Does this have its own original html renderer? That's really
       | cool.
        
         | ikskuh wrote:
         | It has something different. Kristall parses HTML with gumbo and
         | will re-emit cleaned HTML code that is then displayed as a rich
         | text document.
         | 
         | It doesn't have inline images or anything, but only the text
         | content
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-11-20 23:02 UTC)