Ask HN: How can I browse public GitHub repos on 128kbps connection?

I am stuck on 128kbps connection for a while. The only website that loads without the server timing out is HackerNews.

I cannot even click on the commit history of a GitHub repo on the web, it seems to be some sort of bloated react interface for what amounts to an excruciatingly slow `git log`.

Cloning the entire repo is not feasible unless I know in advance that the repo is small, but I cannot know that unless I browse the log and directory beforehand.

I cannot search Google for advanced git commands, as Google times out 90% of the time, while 9% of the time it sends me to a captcha which is even more bloated to load and times out again.

7 points | by xeonmc 129 days ago

9 comments

  • Locutus_ 129 days ago
    Provision a VPS/VM/Cloud instance/etc, install your dev tools on it and use it over mush.

    And remember for things like looking up git commands or even a lot of your dependency documentation, you do not need a web browser. Git comes with manpages, many libraries will have docs in .md or whatever in them.

  • codingdave 129 days ago
    Timeouts over TCP/IP do not happen due to a lack of bandwidth, they happen when individual packets fail to get acknowledged. You will need to have patience, but that connection should not break the ability to use the web. I've seen problems like this quite a few times, and resolved them by working with the ISPs to actually trace the connection and find the problem router/hardware. As often as not, they'd find some old failing hardware on a telephone pole somewhere near the end user who was reporting such problems.
  • rl1987 129 days ago
    I would run this on VPS and use it via SSH: https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
  • serendipty01 129 days ago
    Alternate front-end: https://gothub.lunar.icu/
    [-]
    • xeonmc 129 days ago
      Thanks for that, though unfortunately it’s missing the ability to see commit history
  • epirogov 129 days ago
    I checked Lynx and it doesn't work, but Elinks and Links works in terminal with GitHub, so you can use a very thin device and a little bandwidth to go to an online repo.

    elinks https://github.com/arise-project

  • pizza 129 days ago
    You might be able to try the lynx terminal web browser
  • Rounin 129 days ago
    Perhaps something like this to get just one commit with no large files: git clone --depth 1 --filter=blob:limit=100k
    [-]
    • Rounin 129 days ago
      For looking at the commit history rather than the files, apparently one can use git-ls-remote .
  • dudus 128 days ago
    How can you be stuck at 128kbps in 2025? Are you in jail? I'm very intrigued.
    [-]
    • rl1987 126 days ago
      Any kind of ship is a plausible explanation.
  • sandreas 129 days ago
    Is starlink an Option?(in case you did not know)
    [-]