Have you explored the geminispace?
Gemini is often referred to as the "small internet". It's a protocol that's different from the web. Instead of html css and js, Gemini only permits gemtext - a markdown-like syntax. It makes it particularly well suited for document-driven content such as blogs and communities. It's very niche right now and it's part of its appeal. If you want to browse the "geminispace", you need to get a gemini browser. It's gaining lots of traction these days and there's a whole 90s-era feel to it when internet was much smaller.
I'd love to know if fellow indie hackers are in it so that we can connect. I've built https://midnight.pub - a little virtual pub where people can write about their days and connect - and made it accessible on both the web and gemini. I feel like there's a lot to do there and that's very exciting!
I haven't done much with it since the very early days, when V'Ger went live there weren't even a dozen Gemini servers that had ever been deployed.
As far as clients go, Elpher is pretty full featured and one of the first you might consider GUI, Although since it's an Emacs plugin it's really text but nice navigatiion.
Being Isolated in a mountain in the remote wilderness for a little over three years, many miles from the nearest pavement, I had to make due with limited connectivity via cellular WiFi hotspot through a solar powered cellular amplifier connected to a beam antennae atop a small tower that I erected.
Termux and JuiceSSH are your friends out there. And life without Mosh would have been excruciating.
Then the fires, and my evacuation - close call with incineration actually.
Now that I'm near the water's edge on the coast with reliable broadband I suppose I should start pushing out and migrating more content I've been accumulating.
All these years I've maintained Gopher services and I still haven't cleared out all the old Slackware 10 packages from one of my defunct servers, but I should and then dump the old content into gopher://vger.cloud
I think Veronica2 still holds a bunch of indexes for me.
I've never intended to duplicate content between the two, however. They both have relevance and utility unique to themselves, and their service.
Although I would like to see support for Gopher protocol added back into most browsers without the need for something like the Overbite plugin, I've also never believed these protocols should allow access via HTTP proxies as that just cheapens their worth as protocols on their own merit and in their own right, and used to actively block such access wrt my Gopher services.
Both Gopher and Gemini are fantastic file repos for fast downloads, and meet some of my personal objectives for a tracking free Internet where the user can hold higher confidence that they're not being quantified as a product and harvested like vegetables on a farm.
gemini://Vger.Cloud
In HTTP space more info can be found at https://Vger.Cloud
Last but certainly not least, V'Ger is at FidoNet node 1:102/127 (the same node number since the early 90's) and nowadays accessible at either TCP port 22 or 23 - the latter is preferred for your security. One should really use an ANSI BBS terminal client like NetRunner or SyncTerm to access V'Ger, but any Telnet client should work. Netmail and Echomail is supported, including a couple of other networks Like fsxNet. I'm going to add UUCP before summer, and there's currently a rudimentary Gopher kiosk Doorway.
I've been out of the loop for many many months in the Gemini world, and have about 3000 emails to catch up with on the list, but would love to bend your ear and deploy some of the services you have currently running if you're amenable to that possibility.
I'll give @m15o@fosstodon.org a follow right now in the Fedi so we can chat at leisure if you're up for that and I can always be reached on Keybase or @tallship:matrix.org
Now that I'm settled into my new home here on the Lost Coast in Northern Humboldt, I could use a little inspiration to get everything out of a lumbering (no pun intended) state of disrepair on autopilot lolz.
Have a great day and a very happy new year :)
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Thanks for taking the time to answer, it feels like you've got a lot of experience with smaller-internet protocols. It's amazing to see there's almost a different world going parallel to mainstream internet. You seem like you've had insane stories as well, and I'm glad to hear you are now settled.
That's so true. It feels like most people in there are passionate / hobbiest that just enjoy being there for the sake of being there. No hidden agenda. Just writing and corresponding while learning and having a good time.
This is absolutely incredible. I never think about low/limited connectivity, but knowing how small the footprint is opens a lot of possibilities. I've heard people running their server from a raspberry pi connected to a solar panel from their backyard. It feels more human in a way.