Floodgap HELP: Using a web browser to access gopher space updated 25 August 2018 Gopher support in many web browsers is not what it used to be: either they used to support it and don't, or they never did in the first place. Fortunately, there are still some browsers that support it natively, and many others for which it can happily be a build-in option. Here's how you can get the best of both worlds! LYNX Lynx is probably the best browser for surfing both the Web and Gopherspace in terms of its elegance. Text mode may be a limited oeuvre, but Lynx makes it shine. It seamlessly shifts between both protocols without crufty helpers or proxies, is fast and respectful to servers, dizzyingly configurable, and interestingly is the only web browser that recognises GET gopher selectors as web pages and automatically maps them into URLs. This is more exciting than it sounds, trust me. :-) It also supports the gamut of Gopher features, including search servers. The only thing it lacks is Gopher+ (oh, okay, and images ;). MOZILLA FIREFOX For many years Mozilla was the best choice for a graphical client that offered Gopher along with its usual superior browsing experience. This sadly ended with the introduction of Mozilla 2.0 and Firefox 4.0, which finally removed support for the protocol. We're not happy about it, but at least we kept it in there on life support for a few years (bug 388195). Unfortunately, the current WebExtensions API is very limited and doesn't allow what our old Gopher add-ons used to do. You have two choices: - OverbiteWX uses only documented, official APIs, but is limited to redirecting gopher URLs to the Floodgap Gopher Proxy (and other HTTP-Gopher proxies in the future) because WebExtensions does not allow direct network access. - OverbiteNX allows direct connections to Gopher sites, and is the closest thing to a truly integrated client in Firefox, but requires you to install an open-source system tool to do the network access that currently is not possible with WebExtensions. (The tool is available for Windows and macOS, or you can compile it for Linux or any BSD operating system.) OverbiteNX is intended as a stopgap for eventual support in WebExtensions for network sockets, but at least right now you have a choice. Neither is as seamless as the old OverbiteFF was, but they're better than nothing. (For more info on OverbiteFF, see below.) It's what we use on modern Windows and Intel Macs. (Disclaimer: We maintain both of these extensions.) You can get both extensions from Mozilla Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/overbitewx/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/overbitenx/ The OverbiteNX's Onyx native component is available from Github: https://github.com/classilla/overbitenx/releases If you are using Android (such as Firefox for Android), just install Overbite Android and gopher links will automatically open in it. gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/overbite/ OTHER MOZILLA-BASED BROWSERS For older browsers such as SeaMonkey that still support historic extensions, your best option is OverbiteFF. OverbiteFF supports Gopher as a first-class protocol, and everything "just works," including bookmarks, tabs, downloads and more. If you have a compatible Mozilla-based browser, we highly recommend it! (Disclaimer: we wrote it too.) OverbiteFF is officially compatible with SeaMonkey and TenFourFox; there are successful reports of using it with Pale Moon and Waterfox. Just install it like any extension. You can get it from Mozilla Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/overbiteff/ or directly from here: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/overbite/ Although Camino and K-Meleon support Gopher natively, these browsers are too old to recommend to current users. OMNIWEB The best-known WebKit browser with basic Gopher support is OmniWeb. Although we don't have any system that can run the current release of 6.0 right now, prior betas of 6.0 worked, so it is very likely the current version does too. Gopher support was added in OmniWeb from 5.9.2 on. The current release of 6.0 requires macOS 10.13 and later. 5.11.2 will run on systems as early as Mac OS X 10.4.8, but has a very old version of WebKit which is not likely to work with most websites. https://www.omnigroup.com/more/ Historical versions can be obtained from http://downloads.omnigroup.com/software/archive/MacOSX/ GOOGLE CHROME Google Chrome does not support Gopher natively. For some period of time we maintained a Chrome extension, but this was very limited compared to Firefox and it will not work with Chrome 24+. We recommend using one of the available Gopher proxies (see below), or an extension like Burrow: Gopherspace Explorer, which mimicks our extension's prior functionality. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/burrow-gopherspace-explor/plhaaggiajlcjclagmjnjmaonhkdhhji If you are using Chrome Android, however, or the Android Browser, then simply install Overbite Android and gopher links will automatically open in it. gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/overbite/ MICROSOFT EDGE There is no support for Gopher in Microsoft Edge, nor current versions of Internet Explorer 11. (See below for notes on historical versions of Internet Explorer, including on the Mac.) We are not aware of any extensions supporting any current Microsoft browser. See PROXY SUPPORT (below). OPERA, SAFARI Of the remaining major browsers, neither Opera nor Apple Safari support Gopher at all, and I am not aware of any other major browsers other than the ones mentioned above that do. Although WebKit does have Gopher support, Safari and iCab do not integrate it. See PROXY SUPPORT (below). Other MINOR BROWSERS: -------------------- We limit this list only to those minor browsers that have specific Gopher support (even if only partial). DOOBLE Dooble is a WebKit-based browser running on multiple OSes, including Windows, OS X and Linux. It has supported Gopher since 1.53, although the most current version 2.1.9.3 (as of this writing) does not support search. It also has an irregularity where it removes slashes after item types, though this doesn't seem to affect any known servers currently. Although unornamented, partial basic functionality exists and the maintainer does appear to update the Gopher component periodically, so this is likely to improve. https://textbrowser.github.io/dooble/ ARACHNE The now-open source Arachne DOS web browser supports Gopher (tested on 1.70 and up) but also does not handle i itemtype correctly, giving them all links and (inappropriate) content icons which makes navigation a little tricky. It also does not properly support itemtype 7, meaning you cannot search sites like Veronica-2 with it. If you are a DOS user, try Lynx for gopher instead. The Arachne home page is http://www.glennmcc.org/ CLASSILLA Classilla, a Mozilla-based browser for Mac OS 9, supports basic Gopher as of version 9.0 (disclaimer: I am the project lead). Additional support is in progress, and the port 70 restriction was removed in version 9.2.1 to use an internal whitelist. You can get it from http://www.classilla.org/ MOSAIC-CK Mosaic-CK is a branch of NCSA Mosaic that yours truly maintains. This version has Gopher support up to Netscape 4 standards, plus hURLs, in versions 2.7ck7 and higher. You can get it from http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/machten/mosaic/ (See below for notes on other forks of Mosaic.) HYPERLINK (COMMODORE 64) In the shameless plug department, HyperLink 2.5a and 2.5e for the Commodore 64 (disclosure: yours truly is the author) renders Gopherspace modeled on Netscape, and does support indexed search servers. CSO searches are not available in HL, however. i itemtype is supported. See http://www.armory.com/%7Espectre/cwi/hl/ And now, a section on HISTORICAL BROWSERS: ----------------------------------------- NETSCAPE (< 5.0) Many older Unix systems (plus classic Macs) only have access to Netscape 4.x. Pre-Mozilla Netscape (not the current codebase) is not spectacular but certainly functional as a gopher client. Examining version 4.8's support, it doesn't know how to understand Gopher+ but it's tolerant, and like Lynx, supports the gamut of Gopher features. It properly (or at least sensibly) formats gopher menus, accepts i itemtype, and doesn't try to mess with selectors. It is also very quick, simple and painless to use. While it isn't as seamless as Lynx, it gets the job done. Even though it is aging rapidly in terms of its standards support, where gopher is concerned it's a decent choice, and for older systems is probably still the best all-around option for Web and gopher in a single application. NCSA MOSAIC, VMS MOSAIC NCSA Mosaic, all prior versions tested, supports Gopher, but does not properly handle i itemtypes, which are used for displaying informational text; instead, it renders them as links, which invariably fail when clicked on. However, it is otherwise functional, and has most functions supported except for Gopher+ (tested 1.x, 2.x and up). VMS Mosaic is based on the same code and has the same drawbacks, but George Cook stated a while back he is considering using my patches for VMS Mosaic. Sadly, it doesn't look like VMS Mosaic is maintained anymore, but it's still probably your best shot for VMS other than an old version of Netscape. Unfortunately the site has gone to the great shark grotto in the sky; we have an old version here: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/vms/ MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER And now, Internet Explorer. If you are using Internet Explorer 7 and up, there is NO MORE GOPHER SUPPORT (disabled at the WinINet level) -- you will need to use a proxy (keep reading) or an external application. Internet Explorer 6 can access gopher sites, but because of security bulletin MS02-047, if patched up, Gopher support is DISABLED BY DEFAULT. -047 suggests that this buffer overrun reported in the security advisory is corrected, but disables Gopher in any case. This is nonsensical by any stretch of the imagination. To reenable Gopher, you will need to insert a registry key; either download the registry file from the clients directory here at Floodgap, or go into RegEdit, drill down to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings, and enter a key named EnableGopher with type DWord and value 00000001. The reg file is available from gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/9/gopher/clients/ie6/iegopher.zip It has been tested to work on Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. You may read Microsoft's brightly boneheaded corporate burble on why they did that at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-047.asp If you're getting an error from IE about all gopher sites, resulting in an inexplicable error message 'Cannot find server or DNS' which is totally spurious (I get many complaints about floodgap's DNS, which is completely functional, because of this completely inaccurate explanation), that's the symptom of this error. Assuming you patched Internet Explorer 6 to reenable gopher support, or you are still using Internet Explorer 4 or 5 for gopherspace, the news doesn't get better: IE in any incarnation is miserable as a Gopher client. Because it inherits the NCSA Mosaic codebase, it does not handle the i itemtype correctly, which is used for displaying informational text, but that's just the least of your worries. It does not allow access to TCP ports other than 70, which is a VERY crippling limitation, and you can even outright *crash* IE 4 through 5 completely (and even Microsoft Web Proxy) by going to any gopher selector that has a question mark '?' in it. This seems to have been repaired, finally, in some versions of 5.0 but I still observe this bug from time to time. There are also some reported problems with using itemtype 7 search servers, such as Veronica-2, where some versions just hang. Interestingly, this does not apply to Macintosh IE 5, which *doesn't* seem to have any of these limitations other than the improper rendering of i itemtype. Also, older versions of Internet Explorer, apparently v2.x and before, and possibly v3.x, may not suffer from the problems that 4.x and 5.x do (quite strange, as IE was allegedly based on Mosaic). Some users have reported that the original webTV can also surf Gopherspace unfettered, since it's based on an older version of IE; it appears very similarly to Netscape's presentation. (I can't confirm this on my webTV emulator, but the functionality may be disabled. Unfortunately, using an old IE makes your web experience suck even worse.) PROXY SUPPORT ------------- So what do you do for browsers that utterly lack Gopher support at all? For that case, use a proxy to do the conversion and spit out pre-rendered menus. Besides the Public Proxy we offer here at http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/ open source also can help; a Squid developer has recently informed me that Squid has gopher support built into it, modeled on Netscape 4.x's gopher rendering. This is an excellent proxy server and should provide good capabilities. Look for it in versions >=2.5. Again, user comments invited. Please note that not all proxy servers are created equal; I am also informed that Apache's proxy server does not support gopher at all (403 error). THE BOTTOM LINE: Serious exploration of Gopher still demands a more-than-basic client to get the most out of the protocol, and we offer some here. Nevertheless, if you'd like to go for an all-in-one browser solution, or if you're just playing around and don't want to install something else, we strongly recommend using Lynx or Firefox+OverbiteWX where possible. You can also check out a standards-based proxy that we offer at http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/ Send your questions and your suggestions/test cases (particularly with browsers we haven't mentioned here) to: gopher@floodgap.com .