## State Of Gopher

State Of Gopher

by

Christoph Lohmann <20h@r-36.net>

## Veronica Statistics

gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/v2

2017: 133 gopher servers, 4.9 mio. unique selectors
2018: 260 gopher servers, 3.7 mio. unique selectors
2019: 320 gopher servers, 4.2 mio. unique selectors
2020: 395 gopher servers, 4.5 mio. unique selectors
2021: 361 gopher servers, 6.0 mio. unique selectors
2022: 325 gopher servers, 5.0 mio. unique selectors
2023: 319 gopher servers, 5.1 mio. unique selectors 
2024: 312 gopher servers, 5.1 mio. unique selectors

It is stale.

## Caps Statistics

gopher://tilde.32bit.cafe/0/~vivivi/gopher_in_practice/caps/capsStats

136 Gopher servers were found with a 'caps.txt'.



## Gopher Lawn Stats

2022: 180 links
2023: 242 links
2024: 259 links

Slow growth.

Thanks especially to pazz0 for keeping this up and running.

He worked hard to inform people about offline gopher servers and got them
to be back online.

If you want to help:

	git://bitreich.org/gopher-lawn

## Gopher Specialities

Want to buy a computer on Gopher?

gopher://frstcomputer.com

 Welcome to the Gopher home of FRST Computer.  We are a small batch,
 artisan personal computer company -- designing and crafting
 beautiful and unique computers one batch at a time.

 Each machine is hand-assembled, crafted for computer
 users looking something new, (er, old) to excite the imagination
 again, while offering utility and a vision of minimalist
 computing zen that is refreshingly relevant in 2024.

## Gopher Old Computer Challenge

Want your friends of all ages have fun while contributing to Gopher?

https://occ.deadnet.se/

Join the Old Computer Challenge!

The majority of entries is gopher!

    gopher: ~dokuja (http proxy) | G3 iMac
    gopher: ed(1) conference (http proxy) | Combination of the three
    gopher: emilio (website) | (es)
    gopher: gef (http proxy) | observe and understand
    gopher: jdd (http proxy) | Internet on Demand
    gopher: matto (http proxy) | no X11, no xorg, FreeBSD
    gopher: ~mhd (http proxy)
    gopher: sinza (http proxy) | in favor of the 2000s
    gopher: ~stoickidoomer (https proxy) | trickled(8)
    gopher: sunoc (http proxy) **work in progress**
    gopher: xiled (http proxy)

## Gopher Old Computer Challenge

https://sizeof.cat/post/old-computer-challenge-2024-thoughts/

  If you don’t know what the Old Computer Challenge is, or what was my
  setup for the OCC-2024, I suggest you read my intro article, I won’t
  repeat myself here. Instead, I’ll just leave you with some general
  thoughts and the notes written each day. Enjoy.

  * I disliked Gemini before, now I hate it. Gopher is the king.

anthk summarized it on #bitreich-en:

     _anthk | a good thing on gopher vs gemini: backporting ssl for xp and 2000 it's a damn nightmare
     _anthk | gemini, built for 'older' devices my balls...

## From 2023: Gopher is at your hand.

A slide from 2023:


The individuality of all users of gopher is represented in the way their
gopherholes are designed.

New people come and go, depending on interest.

A hard core stays! Thank you!

## State of Official Gopher

What was the state, gopher was given to us, when we inherited it?

It wasn't as nice as hardcore gopheristas would expect.

Practical presentation of sourcecode.

Be surprised!

Notes:
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/gopherd.c^HTML
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/gopherd.c:1545
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/gopherd.c:1651
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/gopherd.c:2148
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/gopherd.c:2220
gopher-3.0.5/gopherd/waisgopher.c:604
gopher-3.0.5/gopher/download.c:172

## Conclusio

What is a 'pure' gopher?

How far did the forefathers divert from the gopher protocol already?

Are we allowed to add TLS?

Answer to all questions:
#pause
YES

## Thanks

Thank you for listening!

If you have further comments, contact me at

	Christoph Lohmann <20h@r-36.net>