What is Filespooler? Filespooler lets you request the remote execution of programs, including stdin and environment. It can use tools such as S3, Dropbox, Syncthing, NNCP, ssh, UUCP, USB drives, CDs, etc. as transport; basically, a filesystem is the network for Filespooler. Filespooler is particularly suited to distributed and Asynchronous Communication. Filespooler is a tool in the Unix tradition of “do one thing and do it well.” It is designed to integrate nicely with decoders (to handl...| www.complete.org
Asynchronous communication is communication between two endpoints that doesn’t have to happen in real time or near-real-time. Compared to synchronous communication, asynchronous communication lets you trade latency for reliability. Asynchronous communication is closely related to the concept of store-and-forward networking and delay/disruption-tolerant networking. In fact, most asynchronous implementations are also store-and-forward and delay-tolerant, so these terms are often used intercha...| www.complete.org
“Airgap” refers to a computer (or network) that is physically disconnected from a larger network and the Internet. This word originated in the pre-wifi days, when there was literally air between machines; that is, no connecting communication cables. Nowadays, it also refers to a lack of radio (wifi or otherwise) communication. That is, it is complete physical isolation. Airgapped systems are often desirable in situations where Computer Security is important. For instance:| www.complete.org
dar is a Backup and archiving tool. You can think of it as as more modern tar. It supports both streaming and random-access modes, supports correct incrementals (unlike GNU tar’s incremental mode), Encryption, various forms of compression, even integrated rdiff deltas. It is an ideal tool for backups over Asynchronous Communication for systems that don’t or can’t run ZFS. Homepage: http://dar.linux.free.fr/ I have written a lot about Dar: I first wrote about Dar in my 2008 roundup of ba...| www.complete.org
Here are some (potentially) interesting topics you can find here: Old and Small Technology and benefits to us today NNCP, which is an Asynchronous, Encrypted, onion-routed, offline-capable way to send data and execute remote commands. Yggdrasil, a network using IPv6 space where IPs are linked to public keys How this site is built (hint: it’s exported from Emacs!) Amateur Radio ZFS on Linux Long-Distance Train Travel in the USA The Grumpy Cricket - an interactive fiction game for children So...| www.complete.org
Kermit is one of those things I’m fond of that’s really hard to describe. It is: A file transfer protocol for running over serial lines, Modems, or TCP/IP. The protocol is quite flexible, supporting everything from tiny embedded devices with 90-byte packets to streaming over ssh. A FTP- or SFTP-like system-agnostic protocol for looking at directories of files on remote systems, renaming files, deleting them, etc. with a standard process. Capable of operating under extremely challenging co...| www.complete.org
“OK,” you’re probably thinking. “John, you talk a lot about things like Gopher and personal radios, and now you want to talk about building a reliable network out of… USB drives?” Well, yes. In fact, I’ve already done it. What is sneakernet? Normally, “sneakernet” is a sort of tongue-in-cheek reference to using disconnected storage to transport data or messages. By “disconnect storage” I mean anything like CD-ROMs, hard drives, SD cards, USB drives, and so forth.| www.complete.org