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(DIR) Home
(DIR) User Guide
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(HTM) Source Code
(HTM) Web Mirror of this gopherhole
*
New to Bombadillo?
- press j or k to scroll down or up
- d and u will scroll a page at a time
- press q to quit
This document will go over the very basics of how to use Bombadillo.
Looking for installation instructions? They can be found on the home
page.
GETTING HELP
Bombadillo is distributed with a man file, typically accessed using
the following command:
```
man bombadillo
```
If that does not come up with anything, you should be able to run
the following from within the root folder of the source code
repository:
```
man ./bombadillo.1
```
Within Bombadillo, you can view this help document by pressing space
and entering help at the prompt.
BASIC OPERATION
This information covers the simplest use cases for getting around,
but should get you going. Refer to the man page for full detail.
STARTING BOMBADILLO
Bombadillo can be launched using the following command:
```
bombadillo
```
You can also append a URL to the end of the command, and Bombadillo
will attempt to navigate directly to the specified location:
```
bombadillo gopher://colorfield.space
```
ENTERING COMMANDS
When Bombadillo is running, the space bar will enter you into
command mode at almost any occasion. From command mode you can enter
a url to navigate to. You can also follow a link by entering a
number as shown in the document being displayed. When you’re done
using Bombadillo, the command 'quit' will close the application.
NAVIGATION
When not in command mode you can get around with "hot keys":
j will scroll down
k will scroll up
b will navigate back a page
f navigates forward a page
q closes the application
FOLLOWING LINKS
When you’re viewing a document, most of the time when a number is
shown you can press space and enter the number to follow that link.
Bombadillo supports a variety of different protocols; some, like
HTTP, must be enabled through configuration options like 'webmode'.
Review the man page for more information.
MANAGING BOOKMARKS
Bookmarks allow you to store links to different URLs for future
reference.
Pressing shift + b toggles the bookmarks bar, showing a list of
stored bookmarks.
The commands 'add' and 'delete' can be used to manage bookmarks.
NOTES ON PRIVACY
Bombadillo stores bookmarks, your configuration settings, and hashed
certificates for Gemini sites (used for secure connections to those
sites). None of this information is shared or transmitted at any
time.
If, in your settings, you have an address to a local client
certificate; that certificate WILL be sent to Gemini servers upon
request.
Without exception you, the user, have control of this data. It all
resides in a file named .bombadillo.ini, which is stored in the
directory specified by the setting 'configlocation' (use the command
'check configlocation' if you aren't sure where this is). All of
this data can be updated and edited from within Bombadillo itself.
However, you may also edit it directly if the need arises (but be
careful). You can return to a fresh install state (from a
configuration and data standpoint) by deleting this file.
Given the relative simplicity of gopher, gemini, and finger,
especially in comparison to the web, a user should be able to expect
that no network requests are ever made that they themselves have not
explicitly requested. Gemini does support redirects, but a user will
always be asked whether or not they want to follow a redirect.
Following HTTP and HTTPS links is disabled by default. If you do
enable this functionality, there are some important considerations
to make:
- The web browser you enable will likely have its own privacy rules
and considerations, completely separate from what is mentioned
above.
- If you enable lynx, w3m or elinks, Bombadillo can make some
requests to validate MIME type information. Bombadillo may also
follow redirects when this occurs. If any of this is not
acceptable, do not enable following of HTTP/HTTPS links.
LINKS TO PLACES NEAR AND FAR
(DIR) Circumlunar Space
A smaller public access server, but with a few different federated
servers. CS offers gopher hosting, IRC, chat, bulletin board, and a
great user community.
(DIR) SDF
A behemoth public access server that has stood the test of time
(many decades). SDF has a very large user base, which has pros and
cons. Gopher hosting is offered, along with games, chat, bulletin
board, e-mail, and more.
(DIR) Rawtext.club
Gopher hosting, web hosting, experimental tooling and creative user
base, internal blogging in the shell (shlog), e-mail, and chat.
(DIR) Colorfield Space
Experimental shell hosted on a Raspberry Pi Zero. Correspondence
gaming, chat, bulletin board, and gopher hosting.
(DIR) Cosmic Voyage
A place for users to read and write science fiction stories. They
also offer shell accounts to facilitate said sharing.
(DIR) Gopherpedia
A gopher version of Wikipedia.
(DIR) Bongusta
A phlog (gopher's version of blogging) aggregator. Find lots of
great places from here.
(DIR) Pubnix History Project
Collects information of public access *nix systems. Find a new home
on the internet or research the old days.
(DIR) Gopher Black
The home of Tomasino, a very active gopher and *nix user. Lots of
great links and posts to be read here.
(HTM) Project Gemini
Home page for the project, with a lot of detail about the new
protocol.
(HTM) Conman Labs
Hosts a fair bit of different information about Gemini, including
tests, commentary and links to other sites.
FURTHER HELP
If you need further help with Bombadillo, have an issue to report,
or have other feedback please do so via the issues page on our
source code repository.
(HTM) Source Code
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This gopherhole and all textual and visual works contained within
are licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.