Blog Urbit Community Update -
Jeremy Tunnell at
Lots of exciting news to share from the last month. L2 is live after nearly a year and a half of research, design, and implementation; Hoon School is coming back; a bunch of new opportunities for developers are available; Umbrel added Urbit support, and more. Let’s get into it.
0 - L2
Azimuth Layer 2 is now live. Our Layer 2 reduces Ethereum gas prices by 200x, and enables those who migrate to Layer 2 to avoid gas fees entirely. We added a new interface to claim Layer 2 planets, making it almost foolproof for anyone to custody their planet. TL;DR: Planets are affordable again. Invite your friends.
There are entire companies focused on Layer 2 solutions. We pulled it off with a small team over the last year. Special acknowledgement to ~wicdev-wisryt, ~norsyr-torryn, ~fabnev-hinmur, ~datder-sonnet, ~fallyn-balfus, ~datnut-pollen, ~palfun-foslup, ~nocsyx-lassul, and ~wolref-podlex, with key assistance from ~sitful-hatred and ~timluc-miptev. If you see any of these people around the network, please give them a heartfelt thank-you. And if you have been waiting to invite your friends to Urbit, now is your chance.
We recommend reading our guides (https://urbit.org/blog/layer-2-guides) first to learn more about the benefits (and a few trade-offs) of migration. Then log in (https://bridge.urbit.org) to the new L2-compatible Bridge.
1 - Hoon School Live
Hoon school is back and better than ever. The new module will be led by Prof. Neal Davis, ~lagrev-nocfep. The module begins on February 24th with two optional introductory sessions, followed by nine sessions covering Hoon itself. Classes are scheduled to meet online weekly, with an AM and a PM time to accommodate all schedules.
Hoon School graduates by the end of the sessions will be well versed in writing generators, working with programming concepts like cores and doors, using the standard library, and distributing code using desks. They can then move on to study the Gall guide and build on Urbit.
The developer call this Thursday the 17th will focus on developer education, and will dive into what to expect from Hoon School Live. For more information you can join ~hiddev-dannut/hooniverse and request an invite, or directly enroll.
Developer call here:https://urbit.org/events/2022-02-17-developer-call-building-developers
Enrollment:https://hooniversity.org/enroll/
2 - New for developers
In addition to Hoon School, there have been a variety of other exciting updates for developers over the past month.
First up is a new guide for front-end developers from our friends at dcSpark for building web applications using Urbit Visor. While this guide is oriented towards building applications with Urbit Visor, it’s sufficiently comprehensive that it’ll teach you a ton about general Urbit front-end web development. Check it out here:https://github.com/dcSpark/urbit-visor/tree/main/guides/building-urbit-web-apps
Next is a new application from the ~tinnus-napbus at Urbit Foundation for documenting Gall agents from within Urbit itself. The idea is simple: distribute documentation alongside your code in the docs directory of your desk — then, the %docs app will provide an interface for viewing that documentation via a Landscape application. So far, the %docs app itself is documented this way, as are %hark-store and %settings-store. Get the app by plugging ~pocwet/docs into your Landscape search bar.
Finally, the Urbit Foundation’s grants program has received a total overhaul across apprenticeships, bounties and proposals. You can read up on it from within the public Foundation group (~wolref-podlex/foundation) or on the website athttps://urbit.org/grants.
3 - Podcasts
The Stack Podcast dropped episodes with core developers Philip Monk and Joe Bryan over the last few weeks, and Justin Murphy has begun the release of his 10 episode series of interviews from Assembly last year. Get your fix:
Other Life | Urbit Series:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo7qEJPyC_VPrUwdqneF8nkvM0v5mYFK7
The Stack:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-stack-podcast/id1539596322
4 - IRL Meetups
While connecting in Urbit is more real than in any other network, in person meetings are always superior. The most interesting initiatives are created offline, so we’re launching a new Meetups group that gathers all gatherings on Earth about Mars. Join it here: ~siddef/uf-meetups
On that note, the Urbit Foundation’s ~dalweb-donfun is focusing on growing the Meetup presence throughout Europe. Join our new Eurbit group (~dalweb-donfun/eurbit) to get to know other Europeans, find groups, and hear about new meetups near you. If you’re interested in running a meetup in Europe, make sure to reach out to ~dalweb-donfun.
5 - Umbrel
We were pretty stoked to see that Umbrel (https://getumbrel.com/) added support for Urbit last week. Umbrel is a personal (physical) server for Raspberry Pi / Linux that allows users to self-host a Bitcoin and Lightning node, among other things — like Urbit! What’s especially cool is that the Umbrel bitcoin node can easily function as the backend for the Urbit Bitcoin wallet. Thanks to ~sitful-hatred and ~mopfel-winrux for making this possible.
Check out the announcement here:https://twitter.com/getumbrel/status/1491438251248611328
6 - Asks
The Urbit Foundation is looking for candidates to help with brand strategy and communications. If that’s your thing, drop ~wolref-podlex a line.
That’s all for now!
See you next month,
- The UF Team