Cool [PROTOCOL] Servers

[LostintheCycle]

This thread is meant to be a collection of various FTP servers of various types accessible for the public over the Internet which we are aware of, and which may be particularly interesting.
The inspiration for this thread was an FTP server I accidentally stumbled on. While using curl to try scrape realtime forecasts from websites instead of paying for an API, I was denied access by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, but was told that instead of scraping I could use their FTP server at ftp://ftp.bom.gov.au which was open to the public. So I went in!
I don't know everything in it since it's not great exploring directories with curl, but I found in anon/gen/fwo they have text files for various Australian cities updated once a day with the 7-day forecast. That's super neat and is close enough to what I wanted, so once day I download my city's file, process it, and then I know if there'll be showers that day.
Do any of you know about other cool FTP servers out there? Ones which may be regularly updated, are very active, or just have some really interesting contents? Share them here so we can explore!

 

[WALFTEAM]

angry that firefox won't connect to ftp servers anymore. who the fuck made that decision

 

[LostintheCycle]

angry that firefox won't connect to ftp servers anymore. who the fuck made that decision

I tried that too and was confused because I thought it'd be trivial to implement that into a modern web browser, now I'm annoyed to hear they used to but just removed it. It's a shame because protocols make so much more sense than propietary services. With something like IRC, you aren't tied to a specific client program or server program, whereas with Discord you can only have the Discord client on Discord servers, same goes for the many popular instant-messengers people use which aren't cross-compatible. The state of file-sharing is frustrating because there isn't "one" that everyone uses, there's tons like MEGA, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, probably others, and they all have limitations... and what if you want to share within your home network? Doing it all in "the cloud" makes it wasteful, especially if you still have a capped Internet plan.
The biggest problem with protocols really is that they are mainly used by tech enthusiasts.

 

[h00]

can i post ssh bulletin boards or is this an ftp only thread

 

[LostintheCycle]

can i post ssh bulletin boards or is this an ftp only thread

Absolutely go for it, that sounds awesome

 

[h00]

ssh bit@whisper.onthewifi.com
ssh memes@whisper.onthewifi.com
ssh lowlife@45.79.250.220
ssh kiosk@bitreich.org
ssh gameroom@bitreich.org

bitreich.org and lowlife , onthewifi is cool too but its a ghost town

 

[RisingThumb]

The Gemini protocol. Here's the sell. Imagine the Gopher protocol but not antiquated and shit, with self-signed SSL certificates, and a design that discourages javascript crap, and encourages readable sites where rendering is left to the browser as it should be. The design uses its own markup language, similar to markdown, but all "commands" are at the start of a line. Links are simply "=> gemini://someurl.com url text that will show up and be clickable" and there's a couple other bits and pieces to it like that. You can read the specification here.

If you want to try it out, I suggest the browser Lagrange.

Now for some fun Gemini capsultes:

• gemini://station.martinrue.com a social media built on top of gemini focused on a chronology of user posts by others and replies to them.
• gemini://tilde.pink/~kaction A programmer's blog
• gemini://cosmic.voyage An awesome communal "Space ships in the void transimission stream of people's logs in space" creative writing project.
• gemini://risingthumb.xyz (I talk the talk, and I walk the walk... very outdated though)

And you can use gemini to web proxy services... if you don't find joy in blowing the dust off interesting less explored technologies.

And now for my criticism of Gemini. A single linear layout, without expansion or closing "tabs" or "bars" means any list of articles, blogs, writings will eventually become very long pages of links which is off-putting and generally poor at describing their contents, poor for navigation and poor for discoverability. Their formatting is generally speaking superior to the standard HTML formatting, so I mashed werc(RIP Uriel, I never met you, thought if I had I'm sure we'd have gotten along) and gemini together for my site to make things not cause headaches for me. Gemini was a colossal source of inspiration on what's wrong with the web, what's wrong with revolutionary attempts on the web, and how you can reconcile both. I hope those of you who are interested in this sort of thing like I am, find Gemini as a similar source of inspiration. I would also add that Plan9(mostly unrelated to protocols now) was another source of inspiration, showing how flawed UNIX, though a conspiracy of terrible decisions by Bell Labs doomed it(it still has a niche following and tech surrounding it, is in my opinion, best in its class, such as Werc).

 

[7Pebbles]

ssh bit@whisper.onthewifi.com
ssh memes@whisper.onthewifi.com
ssh lowlife@45.79.250.220
ssh kiosk@bitreich.org
ssh gameroom@bitreich.org

bitreich.org and lowlife , onthewifi is cool too but its a ghost town

I found a thread on lowlife (ssh lowlife@45.79.250.220) that talked about this:

GitHub - mofosyne/NFCMessageBoard: NFC Tag messageboard

NFC Tag messageboard. Contribute to mofosyne/NFCMessageBoard development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[7Pebbles]

I found a thread on lowlife (ssh lowlife@45.79.250.220) that talked about this:

GitHub - mofosyne/NFCMessageBoard: NFC Tag messageboard

NFC Tag messageboard. Contribute to mofosyne/NFCMessageBoard development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I went ahead and got some RFID cards. I have the NFC Message Board app. I kinda like the idea of making a little advert for Agora Road on one and leaving it somewhere fun. I'm not sure how I want to go about it yet though. Here is my current thought:

On one side of the card (they are white, blank, and the size of a credit card), I will draw a little doodle (maybe. I'm a terrible artist) or something to represent the Agora Road. On the other side, I will have instructions on how to download the NFC Message Board app. I will make a board on the card, and the first post will be me asking people to join up here on The Road, and then post their name on the NFC card. Then, I'll check back on the card periodically to see if it had any success. I don't expect any, but who knows.

I am accepting suggestions on what to doodle on the card, and suggested improvements to/modifications of my plan.