ESP32: A Gemini Server
11 Jul 2026: fab at redterminal.org built a Gemini server that runs on an ESP32 microcontroller in multithreaded mode using Arduino FreeRTOS.
I tested it using Lagrange from its gemini page and everything loaded great. It was a blast knowing that the pages were being served from this.
There are lots of great projects being built around esp32, including interesting devices like the handheld T-Deck Plus. I first came across the ESP32 when I was looking into LoRa Mesh Networks.
Free Apps: Updates
10 Jul 2026: updates on the Free Apps page.
- bfinger: added finger://domain.com/user format support.
- Simple HTML 3.2 Editor: I will be deleting the editor soon and replacing it with a standalone HTML previewer.
- sv (Spartan Viewer): I'll be deleting this app too. There are many better Spartan browsers available. Will update the Spartan page to better reflect this.
- sbl (Spartan Bookmark Launcher): will be updated to remove its dependency on sv (Spartan Viewer). Internally, netcat and gmir will replace sv.
- Simple Ciphers: added a 2006 htmlApp (GPL v2), originally named ROT Converter. The app includes support for ROT5, ROT13, ROT18 and ROT47. I will be adding support for additional simple ciphers.
Binary Markdown Killer
08 Jul 2026: Finally updated the Binary Markdown Killer. I had been meaning to get to it for a long time. Added all the replacement pairs from uni2asc - both apps are now functionally the same. Also, lots of code improvement and a (subjectively) better UI. You should see all three textareas without having to scroll (1080p). (see Free Apps for the latest)
Note: If you add or remove a mapping from the charMap table, you must also update the regex pattern in the normalizeCharacters() function below. The regex pattern must include every binary character listed in the charMap.
function normalizeCharacters(text) {
return text.replace(/[“”‘’…—–→•´©®™°┌┐└┘│─├┤┼✓✔✗✘×÷]/g, function(m) {
return charMap[m] || m;
});
}
ID Verify: A Tool for Evil
06 Jul 2026: Added an article about the use of ID verify laws to build a state-controlled algorithm that targets children and adults across the entire web with pro-fascist, epstein-friendly propaganda. From the article:
When the operators of this new nudge machine is a government that has abandoned morality and turned truth into an abomination, not a single one of us is safe ... We have a right, as people, not to be preyed upon by evil and to keep our children safe from an epstein class that runs our government.
Supergirl 2026
02 Jul 2026
I watched Supergirl last night and made a few spoiler-rich notes. The film has got its faults but there is one thing I am sure of...
I want to see Milly Alcock as Supergirl again with all the depth, vulnerability, humanity and physical appeal she brings to the role.
mpxplay
01 Jul 2026: So I started playing (testing) some mp3s with mpxplay for DOS. What a great looking interface. I miss it. It's handling modern mp3s mostly without issue under DOSBox (occasional static but maybe I can fix this via config).
There really isn't anything else as nice looking for playing mp3s on the command line anywhere (as far as I know). (Screenshot)
Don't reboot it, just patch!
30 Jun 2026: I came across Uptime Funk today - haven't heard in a long time. Possibly the most polished tech-parody of all-time. A few other songs popped up in the suggestions:
- Every Byte You Take. Sarah De Graw on vocals. Fire! Love her voice.
- Vulcan Has No Moon. Beautiful Uhura. If well-written, I would so much watch new episodes of Star Trek: TOS using AI. This video is a good example that the tech is getting close.
- Man Baby. (Warning: catchy tune)
- Christelle Berthon. Not a YT suggestion, just wanted to share. A part of my playlist since 2010. Deep, haunting, beautiful. Harmonica.
bike-demo. An ASCII Animation
27 Jun 2026: bike-demo is both a demo and a template for creating simple ASCII-based animations. Its purpose is to make frame-by-frame animation editing as visually friendly as possible - just add your own frames and adjust sleep values.
I wanted a terminal-based storytelling format and tried several methods. This approach seemed best suited for the short-form storytelling and other little projects I had in mind. Likely no more than 1 to 3 times as many frames as this demo itself. (Free Apps)
The ASCII News Network Update
26 Jun 2026: Updated The ASCII News Network template with a new character - Brenda Hardcastle. She is a minor tweak of the original ASCII creation and joins April Mercedes in the news room;-)
plancat: a command line .plan updater
16 Jun 2026: Updated the Finger Protocol section of the Free Apps page with plancat - a dedicated .plan file updater for plan.cat
plancat uses plan.cat's API to automate posting to your account via the command line. In the configuration section of the script - just enter your plan.cat username, preferred editor and optionally your password. Once the information is typed in, run "plancat".
Blog to .Plan File Converter
15 Jun 2026: Finished an app that takes an HTML-based blog post and converts it into a 72-column (default; user configurable), plan-ready text file. It's essentially an html2text converter with extras.
It's been a while since I posted to my finger account and wanted to start with a few blog posts. Automating some aspects of this helps. The blog.to.plan converter is available in the Finger Protocol section of the Free Apps page.
A sample of the results can sometimes be found at echo@plan.cat or 640kb@happynetbox.com (if I haven't made another type of post).
Finger Services
14 Jun 2026: A recent Gemini post (translate) led me to bbs.airandwave.net, which hosts an impressively large number of finger services. I've updated the fingerverse with just a few of the many services listed on that page.
On a side note, this discovery feels like it's from an alternate universe. I can't believe that such a treasure trove, an entire ecosystem, was thriving all this time and I hadn't come across it sooner in my searches. It simply isn't discoverable (png) using legacy search tools (domain check).
Lookit
11 Jun 2026: The fingerverse was updated with a new browser-like finger client called lookit. I've tested the interactive features on @plan.cat, @happynetbox.com and @tilde.team and it has performed excellently - even at this early stage of development.
The Fieldset
10 Jun 2026: I always liked the look of the fieldset tag. I liked how it was able to incorporate so many stylistic niceties. What follows is The Fieldset - a template that's built around a single tag and only minor CSS.
The Monospace
07 Jun 2026: I was working toward creating a basic CSS template and eventually came up with The Monospace (permanent home at the Free Apps page). The template is just the CSS itself (<style>...</style>) and serves as a quick way to post static pages in the style presented in the linked demo.
It's not too dissimilar to bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com (7 declarations) in intent but it has 39 declarations in total: 10 of which are CSS 3.
Classic Google
26 May 2026: Is this the original google? The site udm14.org certainly feels like it. Here's a 2024 write-up with details (comments). I had no idea this existed and honestly... while it makes me shudder to say this because it's google, it feels pretty good to use (nostalgically).
It's interesting to experiment with but I'm quite happy with the established privacy-respecting search alternatives that have emerged over the years. They have long-surpassed both the modern and classic google in everything that matters.
Age Verification: Open Source
25 May 2026: It seems that Colorado and California will exempt open source operating systems from increased government surveillance known as Age Verification. BigTech - an extension of the state - continues to support these Anti-American bills in a sign of allegiance to the new zio-fascist regime. I wrote a little about this previously on April 3-5, 2026.
@davidgerard@circumstances.run sarcastically posts - "i'm sure systemd and friends will be reverting those age verification system commits promptly". The responses from linux users have been equally on point.
- "to hell with systemd, once they bow down and don't even pretend to fight in this day and age, they have shown how spineless they are, and their values are of Big Tech. Boycott the spineless, that's the basic. Do better".
- "the problem people have with age verification is that actual verification of age is accompanied by verification of identity which is an invasion of privacy".
- "age restrictions built into the basic functioning of any OS is a bad idea".
- "why lick boots willingly though? It's clearly fascist bollocks..."
- "Now the motivation is to take away your freedom on the Internet and monitor everything you do.
- "Those freaks will keep that AV shit in the codebase eagerly waiting for the next fascists insisting to destroy lives".
- "Would you guys be for adding a systemd userdb fields for gender, race, political pereferences and sexual orientation?"
- "why not invite the police to live in your bedroom then? i live in Canada, where our current prime sinister is all too happy to bow down to fascist nonsense". ... "enormous violation of everyone's privacy in a way that will make the Chinese and North Korean governments blush"
Another discussion at Hacker News.
Static Bookmarks: Limitations
The initial release (posted on 25 Aug 2026, renamed to smarks) fixes the issue of a large number of tags by creating two columns. See the Free Apps page.
21 May 2026: As I started to add bookmarks to the Static Bookmark Generator (see 17may post), I quickly found that a long list of tags can visually overwhelm the page. At one point I had 15 bookmarks and ~25 tags.
I still like this script as a solution, but I am finding that I need to limit tag names to broader categories. For example, instead of tagging a specific bookmark as 'comics, marvel, spider-man', I now just use 'comics' as the filtering tag. This keeps the tag list manageable and scannable.
Currently, I have 36 bookmarks and 18 tags. I wonder what the tag list will look like when I have a couple of hundred bookmarks.
ASCII Artware
19 May 2026: Beautiful ASCII Animated page. You can really lose yourself in this.
A Static Bookmark Generator
17 May 2026: I have been really impressed with postmarks - a single-user bookmarking application. I learned about it by visiting Ben Brown's personal bookmark page. It makes a great demo for postmarks and has made a nice addition to my RSS feed.
Long story, short. I needed to implement something similar for neocities and personal use because my current organizational methods aren't nearly as effective.
I spent the entire day working on a poor man's, static-build version of postmarks. I like the results so far. It's portable (only a single html file with all the bookmarks as arrays; plus an RSS file). Like the Static Blog Generator of last week, it requires a little manual work (running a python script against a text file).
This is a demo screenshot of the Static Bookmark Generator along with the most recent documentation. I need to do further testing (especially with RSS). The generator will serve as both an app (with small demo bookmarks.txt) and likely a new page (or set of pages) on this site. I would love to say I'll have this ready for upload in a week or so.