I have set up an account on vern.cc which will give me access to a working gopher server. In the meantime, I am working on a gophermap file and some support files to upload alongside it.

As vern.cc already offer gopher as a service, then the directory public_gopher already exists, so it is a case of copying in to there.

So to upload I can use

scp gophermap user@vern.cc:/home/user/public_gopher

Then to view this using a gopher client

gopher gopher://vern.cc/

Which will bring up a menu of users, and you can select zleap from the bottom of the list.

A few more notes

The gophermap file uses TABS, in your text editor you make sure you are using tabs not spaces, in xed (the editor I am using) there is an option in preferences that says use spaces instead of tabs this needs to be turned off.

It then formats the file correctly

Tags

#Gopher,#Vern,#Internet

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With lots of discussions about big tech, privacy and data protection there has been discussions on the Social Web, about using protocols such as Gopher and related software.

We are also seeing attacks on science from the USA with departments cut, and information on a range of issues; such as DEI, Climate Science, Medical Science being removed, risking this being lost forever.

The Gopher protocol (/ˈɡoʊfər/ ⓘ) is a communication protocol designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents in Internet Protocol networks. [1]

There are still some servers out there, some are new, and offer services such as HackerNews, Project Gutenberg and others. Thanks to Anthk @anthk@paquita.masto.host who has made a list of some of these Gopher servers

Does the web allow you to do this at 2.7 KBPS?

• Gutenberg gopher://gopher.icu/7/gutenberg
• Internet Archive gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/
• Huge portal gopher://magical.fish
• News, blog and more gopher://1436.ninja
• Reddit gopher://gopherddit.com
• HN gopher://hngopher.com
• Google Maps (text) gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/dir
• Podcasts: gopher://gopher.icu/1/pod Blogs:
• gopher://sdf.org
• Weather (finger):
• gopher://graph.no:79/0/London

There are still clients software out there, and yeah you can all this with good old plain text.

apt search gopher

Links

1. Wikipedia – Gopher Protocol

DIY Gopher Server

• How to set up gopher on a raspberry pi
• More Gopher Info
• Master Linux service management on System V and systemd

Note the tutorial above on how to set up gopher on a Raspberry Pi, appears to be using system V, (init.d system I think) hence I have included the 3rd link which covers how to manage services on both. The 2nd link should help with setting up the actual gopher files.

I tried to install the software mentioned in the first link above and there seems to be a problem with this in my raspberry pi, so I removed this and have installed gophernicus instead.

22/4/2025

If all else fails then vern.cc members get gopher as one of the services. So I will look at a hosted service.

• Vern.cc
  • vern.cc Matrix

21/4/2025

Had issues with gophernicus as I am not sure where the config file is.

Tags

#Internet,#Communication.#Protocol,#Gopher,#Software,

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This year, Safer Internet Day 2025 takes place on the 11th February 2025

• Safer Internet Day 2025

The theme for this year is ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘

Tags

#Online,#Safety.#SaferInternetDay,#Internet

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Today is Safer Internet Day also known as SID. This year marks 20 years since the campaign started.

There are lots of resources on the website, and schools should be running sessions so as your teachers for details.

There are lots of things we can do which still make using the internet enjoyable and educational, but a safer experience. Not sharing personal information, being mindful as to who we are communicating with, to perhaps changing our social media to platforms that are more privacy friendly, seeking accurate information, see Sense about science for details and have a look at their 'ask for evidence' information. This is also a good way to avoid misinformation by fact checking what we read or see online by developing the skills to do so.

This article may also be useful too When critical thinking isn’t enough: to beat information overload, we need to learn ‘critical ignoring’

Simple changes could also include switching from google to duckduckgo for search, installing privacy essentials will also block sites such as facebook from tracking you. I don't notice this as much as I have simply blocked facebook and meta.

I also block cookies as much as possible, these are not needed esp any integration with analytics.google.com serve no real purpose other than to spy on you.

#Internet,#Safety,#Privacy,#Information,#Accuracy

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Solid (Social Linked Data) is a project by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. It aims to put data back in to the hands of end users, so they are in more control.

REFERENCES

• Solid Project
• WikiPedia Page

TAGS

#YearOfTheFediverse,#SolidProject,#Freedom,#Privacy, #Web,#Internet,WikiPedia,#Decentralised.

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https://www.nngroup.com/articles/accessible-design-for-users-with-disabilities/

#internet,#safety,#data,#detox,#removal,#privacy

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This is a really useful website, with tools and advice on how to stay safe.

Everyday steps you can take to control your digital privacy, security, and wellbeing in ways that feel right to you.

• Data Detox Kit
• Activity Kit for young people

#privacy,#security,#wellbeing,#digital,#internet

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Ok. firstly Merry Christmas, Todays post does seem rather apt given that people will be getting new devices today. However it is not the intention.

I found this on Mastodon, a nice set of links to privacy friendly alternatives to many common, mainstream internet services, such as cloud, search, social media.

• Degooglisons

#internet,#services,#privacy,#alternatives

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Duck Duck Go is a privacy friendly and aware search engine that does not track you or your activities online.

https://www.duckduckgo.com displays:

Enter your search terms in the box and you can either click the go button or select one of the suggestions.

Search results page

Website we were looking for

Clicking back to the search results we can click in the corner (as shown) and add duck duck go to our browser and make it the default search engine (recommended).

The video below shows searching, themes and how to add the extension to google chromem, plus how to make ddg the default search engine.

#search,#chrome,#duckduckgo,#privacy#internet,#information,#privacy,#notracking

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Debian comes with a useful command line utility called apg for generating passwords, based on criteria set when it is run.

You may need to install with apt install apg

Running just apg produces

ag"OnAub3 (ag-QUOTATION_MARK-On-Aub-THREE)
yissheav-Flas6 (yis-sheav-HYPHEN-Flas-SIX)
rek_OfDot6ly (rek-UNDERSCORE-Of-Dot-SIX-ly)
yorthIs0Ot; (yorth-Is-ZERO-Ot-SEMICOLON)
NapOl{aj6 (Nap-Ol-LEFT_BRACE-aj-SIX)
9Knyhik. (NINE-Kny-hik-PERIOD)

Where as using -m 16 produces a min length of 16 characters

apg -m 16

cryhejIryoatEpBi
DuVospewjopOtsye
veldIc@Ogguckeys
IalNexBeckOdjav1
drureroarAkucEdd
WinquivadLitsUk4

As a good password should be made up of Letters (upper and lower case) Numbers (0-9) Other characters ( !“£$()%^&* )

Then you need to run something like

apg -M sncl -m 16 -n 5

apg  -M sncl -m 16 -n 5 
EgUrr1slaibzydAr
IrgiOcyibgauvKan
jemUndafMinvieHo
Fliadweuldyeebup
enyaighKuedoobr3

The program man page also gives more info and an example shell script to help with the process.

man apg

shell script

[begin]----> pwgen.sh
       #!/bin/sh
       /usr/local/bin/apg -m 8 -x 12 -s
       [ end ]----> pwgen.sh

#linux,#debian,#shell,#password,#generation,#security,#help,#scripts,#secure,#unix,#gpl,#fsf,#freesoftware,#manpage, #manual,#web,#internet,#links,#letters,#numbers, #alphanumeric,#specialcharacters

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