cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/24735701
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(protocol)
It is similar to the old gopher: text files, links, and images form a hypertext optimized for reading. Text is formatted like Markdown - but even simpler.
Clients display text, like an eBook, or images / media.
Servers can run on a PC or Raspberry Pi which needs half a Watt of power. No FAANG companies needed. No expert knowledge needed - not more difficult than running a file sharing client.
I think it is the right thing for defense of democracy and sharing your voice in the digital realm.
Is this new? Last I checked on Gemini, it could only to text, unless you count ASCII art as images.
It can transmit any media or mime type. It just does this one document at a time.
Clients can display linked images inline of course.
The purpose of this and other limitations is to make it useless for advertising and tracking.
some clients had the ability to parse image links If included in the gemtext, but that was client specific.
That’s not ideal. I hope they implemented images in the protocol itself, because having just text is kinda bland.
Images and documents with any MIME type are part of the protocol. Clients decide how they do display that.
That said it is a medium primarily geared at displaying text. Not animated gifs with ads.
I see. Thanks for elaborating.