I've recently discovered the realm of text-based web browsers, in fact, I'm using one right now (Links2) just for the heck of it. For a while now I've been wondering if text-based browsers were still in existence, but didn't know where to look. It seemed as though today's flash(y) websites would have totally elimated, annihilated, and utterly erradicated all forms of text-based browsers. I couldn't have been more incorrect, for I soon discovered there is a large selection of them including, but not limited to: Links2, Links, Lynx, and eLinks (developers seem to like the name "linx"; I don't blame them, it's a cool word )
Now, you might be (and probably are) asking yourself, "Why in the world would I want a text-based browser when I can use Firefox/Konqueror/Opera/etc.?" Well, the answer is quite simple: What are you going to do if you lose your GUI (Graphical User Interface)? Many of us only have immediate access to (1) computer, and, if something happens such as our graphics driver becomes corrupted so that we lose our GUI, and we are only left with a terminal and cannot figure out how to fix it, will have to wait days (possibly) before we can access the internet on another computer to request help. NOT A PROBLEM IF YOU HAVE A TEXT-BASED BROWSER INSTALLED!!! With one, you can easily visit the forums to say HELP! And help will come indeed You will be amazed at how quickly you can get your computer up-and-running again. You can even have multiple terminal sessions running at once much like multiple desktops; switching them is as simple as pressing Alt+F1 through Alt+F6 (that's 6 sessions you can have running at once), thus allowing you to surf the forums, manipulate your system, and install/uninstall/reconfigure packages all at the same time! (You can even run terminal sessions while you run your GUI, just press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to access the terminal, and Ctrl+Alt+F7 to restore the GUI.) Handy-dandy stuff to know
Now, you might be (and probably are) asking yourself, "Why in the world would I want a text-based browser when I can use Firefox/Konqueror/Opera/etc.?" Well, the answer is quite simple: What are you going to do if you lose your GUI (Graphical User Interface)? Many of us only have immediate access to (1) computer, and, if something happens such as our graphics driver becomes corrupted so that we lose our GUI, and we are only left with a terminal and cannot figure out how to fix it, will have to wait days (possibly) before we can access the internet on another computer to request help. NOT A PROBLEM IF YOU HAVE A TEXT-BASED BROWSER INSTALLED!!! With one, you can easily visit the forums to say HELP! And help will come indeed You will be amazed at how quickly you can get your computer up-and-running again. You can even have multiple terminal sessions running at once much like multiple desktops; switching them is as simple as pressing Alt+F1 through Alt+F6 (that's 6 sessions you can have running at once), thus allowing you to surf the forums, manipulate your system, and install/uninstall/reconfigure packages all at the same time! (You can even run terminal sessions while you run your GUI, just press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to access the terminal, and Ctrl+Alt+F7 to restore the GUI.) Handy-dandy stuff to know
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