Open up the wiki and let people contribute with simple tips and howto's

[m040601]

A big thanks to benbusy for this wonderfull, so much underrated, tool. Your brilliant idea, and work commited is much appreciated.

But I'm not sure, many people understand the power of this redirector thingy. And how easy it is to make use of such a tool in variety of contexts.

And even more so the latest changes, https://github.com/benbusby/farside/issues/37 , make it so much simpler to use.

I see that some people have contributed for example, with a GreaseMonkey userscript, https://github.com/benbusby/farside/issues/29. This issue was opened and closed and this "knowledge" is now "burried".

The same could be said,for example, for a couple of simple lines, instructing how to configure your OpenWrt router. Or even if a future package would be available for this router distribution.

Or "How I installed" farside in a small Raspberry Pi. Or how to simply configure Chrome orFirefox default seach to use a Farside link (no need for extensions).

Or a list of other future "farside instances".

Or ...

I would suggest the proper place to collect all these user contributed tips, would be the wiki page. And you would still maintain tight personal editing control of your README page.

[benbusby]

Just created the wiki and enabled public editing of wiki pages. Thanks for the suggestion, I think that's a great idea.

Or how to simply configure Chrome orFirefox default seach to use a Farside link (no need for extensions).

I actually didn't know that was possible without an extension!

[m040601]

Just to give you an example of how the public wiki might be usefull for encouranging others, I'll tell you my personal story installing Farside.

I'm not a developer or programmer. But I'm a proficient command line user. I run Archlinux and I like simplicity. I know how to install databases and run server services. But hate overengineering and complicated "homelab" and personal "infrastructure" setups.

When I first heard of farside, just by accident, I thought:

Great idea ! And this guy is smart. He even added that small crucial detail of checking if the alternative instances are alive.

And then ... but then I'll make myself dependent on this specific "farside.link" domain and this benbusy guy running it.

And then ... no ! Wait it's opensource ! I could run an instance my self.

And then ... hhhm maybe it's some complicated setup, full of bloated "microservices".

And then ... No, it's just good old http redirection. Fits my head.

And then ....

me sees on the README ,

Install [redis](https://redis.io/)
Install [elixir](https://elixir-lang.org/install.html)
(on Debian systems)....

Hmmm ... Scary ...Another set of exotic and niche tools and languages. And maybe only works in Debian ?

Redis ? I know that. It's even officially package for Archlinux. Used it before for other apps. Just a click away.

But then ... elixir ? ... mix ? What are these "things" ? Another bloated ecosystem like "npm" ?

And erlang ? Isn't that used for big heavy iron mega services ? Am I gonna bloat and pollute my desktop trying to install this thing ?

I was about to pass it. Thinking I'd be ending up tinkering and wasting a lot of time without practical results. But then, ... I took the challenge. This "Erlang" thing seems to be used by developers who know what they are doing.

A quick search in the Archlinux official package repositories and I found all I needed. Erlang, Mix, Elixir, etc.

All officially packaged. No need for building it my self. No complicated setup. And butter smooth service startup and running, without hour long complicated editing of configuration fies.

And there even are Archlinux wiki pages. So other Archlinux users must be using Erlang also. Great, I'm not alone.

So to sum it up. What I thought would be a weekend long (failed) tinkering attempt, ended up being a couple of minutes spent.

And I had my own personal farside service working and running without any problem.

Next on my todo lists. Try this on Arm (Raspberry Pi). See if there is any chance of running Redis/Erland/Elixir on simple OpenWrt routers . If not MIPS architecture then for sure ARM.

[ltguillaume]

The same could be said,for example, for a couple of simple lines, instructing how to configure your OpenWrt router. Or even if a future package would be available for this router distribution.

Or "How I installed" farside in a small Raspberry Pi. Or how to simply configure Chrome orFirefox default seach to use a Farside link (no need for extensions).

@m040601 Please do explain these in the new wiki, I'm intrigued!