So, a couple of weeks in, and overall, I like #Mastodon a lot less than I liked #GNUSocial + #Qvitter. I like way the longer char limit lets me finish thoughts in a single post. But I find the multi-pane interface constantly distracting, and the peformance of the Ruby/Angular stack in draggy on my oldish PC.

@strypey
Try pinafore

And there's even a front end that mimics twitter

@gme . Once I upgrade my #GNU #Linux OS (tomorrow, I swear it), I'm keen to try out some desktop clients. You tried any you'd recommend?

@strypey running windows on the desktop. whalebird is quite nice on the desktop. not sure if there's a linux version though. probably.

@gme #WhaleBird is an #Electron app :{ That wouldn't necessarily rule it out completely but ...
https://sircmpwn.github.io/2016/11/24/Electron-considered-harmful.html

@strypey Electron is just a framework. No different than GTK or QtLib or glibc.

@gme 1) none of the frameworks you mention result in apps that contain a complete copy of a browser (#Chromium, see that link). 2) Chromium has never been confirmed not to contain proprietary dependencies, which may also be bundled with #Electron apps, see https://libreplanet.org/wiki/List_of_software_that_does_not_respect_the_Free_System_Distribution_Guidelines#chromium-browser

@strypey what you see as weaknesses I see as strengths I'm afraid

@gme I guess we can #AgreeToDisagree on that. Thanks for all the client software tips, I'll check them out and discuss them with #FearlessLeader

@gme I'm keen to try my hand at self-hosting at some point, but I'm waiting for the dust to settle on the first wave of #ActivityPub roll-outs. Ideally all the projects will do full AP API support, so any #WebClient can be used with any #BackEnd. Then I can choose the UI I like, *and* the most efficient back-end for my needs.

@strypey you don't have to self-host with any of the links i sent you

@gme I'm confused. Were those web clients or desktop clients? If they are web clients, and my instance isn't already using them (and isn't going to), I'd have to self-host to use them, right?

@strypey with the exception of whalebird they were all web clients. mastodon supports multiple front-end clients dude. they are hosted by other people or you can self host your own. you set it up no different than if you were connecting Tusky or Mastolab to your favorite instance by entering your Instance URL and approving the connection.

@strypey no data flows through those sites since they interact with your instance's backend API directly.

@gme just to make sure I understand this, I can use #Pinafore to login to any #Mastodon instance? So in theory, I could also run it locally on my #GNU #Linux box, connect to it through my browser, and use it the same way?