Announcing Offpunk 0.1 and a year offline
by Ploum on 2022-01-03
Offpunk 0.1
Offpunk, previously known as AV-98-offline, is a new command line based and offline-first Gemini client. Its primary goal is to be able to browse the Gemini space while being entirely offline. Synchronisation is done non-interactively.
Started as a simple fork of AV-98, Offpunk evolved to offer its own experience. Solderpunk agreed to share his AV-98 code and half of his nickname to bring Offpunk into existence. Offpunk maintains a local copy of Gemini space in ~/.cache/offpunk/gemini. This cache has no database or information except raw files and folders. This allow any other client to straightforwardly use this cache. Very long-term Offpunk’s roadmap may include offline browsing for other protocols : gopher, www and maildir folders. While keeping everything as minimal as possible and without dependencies.
Offline 2022
The main motivation behind Offpunk was the idea of spending 2022 offline. But offline is an arbitrary word. We can’t be "offline" as long as we are not alone on a desert island. How could a writer, computer science teacher, husband, father, open-source developer be offline for one year ?
I’ve settled for a set of rules. Firstly, I’m allowed to sync my computer once a day. This non-interactive sync, done by physically plugging my computer in the Internet box in the staircase of our house, will send composed emails, fetch imap inboxes, RSS feeds and… Gemini, thanks to Offpunk.
For mandatory connected stuff (banking,shopping,blog posting,bikepacking trip planning), I’m allowed to connect under very strict rules (writing in advance what I will do exactly, measuring the time spent online as the time spent by the RJ-45 cable in my office, journaling each connection).
Writing a book about the experience
You can follow the whole detailed experience in French on my blog.
The blog posts will become a book at the end of the year. I hope to make an English version of that book. If you know a literary agent that may be interested, drop me an email at agent@ploum.eu.
One of my goals is to merge my English gemlog with my French weblog while making the publication process automatic (and not requiring a logged connection in my journal). Still pondering if I should write my own script or play with Nefelibata.
Happy Offline 2022 to all of you!
As a writer and an engineer, I like to explore how technology impacts society. You can subscribe by email or by rss. I value privacy and never share your adress.
I write science-fiction novels in French. For Bikepunk, my new post-apocalyptic-cyclist book, my publisher is looking for contacts in other countries to distribute it in languages other than French. If you can help, contact me!