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    When times become desperate . . .

    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
    Asus G1S-X3:
    Intel Core2 Duo T7500, Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT, 4Gb PC2-5300, 320Gb Hitachi 7k320, Linux ( )

    #2
    Re: When times become desperate . . .

    Another aspect of a text-based www browser, is speed. Without the graphics that a GUI enabled browser has to deal with, text-based browsers can be of real benefit on speed-impaired connections. Remember the days of the 300-baud modems? (Yeah, I'm that old! :P) If one is purely interested in finding information on the 'Net, then you just might want to try one of the many text-based www browsers out there.
    Windows no longer obstructs my view.
    Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
    "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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      #3
      Re: When times become desperate . . .

      Very true on the loose your GUI thing. Most people find it easier to just boot-up a live CD and get internet access that way though. And in my case my wireless is funky enough with a GUI to operate it so without knetwork manager it would probably not work at all.

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        #4
        Re: When times become desperate . . .

        I run an old 486 DX66 machine as a router using Coyote Linux on a floppy disk. (if you're interested : www.coyotelinux.com/downloads/).There is no functioning hard drive in that computer!

        I imagine as a truly barebones downed HD closet computer makeshift you could get Internet access from a similar floppy running either DOS or a mini Linux as a terminal and access the web using Lynx -- (assuming you had a functioning modem or nic and a connection).

        Course if you had a phone for a modem, you might try calling for help on that, without a computer

        I used Lynx on DOS twelve years ago, Pine, too, access was through a Freenet.

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          #5
          Re: When times become desperate . . .

          I believe Lynx is also used, in conjunction with a text to voice program, by the visually impaired. I remember I once worked for a government office whose web pages had to designed to be accessible that way.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: When times become desperate . . .

            Originally posted by Snowhog
            Remember the days of the 300-baud modems? (Yeah, I'm that old! :P)
            Pffffffffft. I remember 150 baud modems.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: When times become desperate . . .

              Originally posted by D. Michael McIntyre
              Originally posted by Snowhog
              Remember the days of the 300-baud modems? (Yeah, I'm that old! :P)
              Pffffffffft. I remember 150 baud modems.
              I used an "Acoustical Coupler".

              Comment


                #8
                Re: When times become desperate . . .

                Yeah, and casette deck storage, and BASIC included with the OS -- all in what was it a 4K ROM?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: When times become desperate . . .

                  Originally posted by Detonate
                  I used an "Acoustical Coupler".
                  Now that takes me back! I don't think that during that era, the 'brick' mobile phone had been invented yet! Pick up the phone, turn the crank and "Hey, Mabel, would you get me Tom down to the barber? Thanks."
                  Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                  Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                  "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: When times become desperate . . .

                    It was back in the 70's and I don't remember what the exact use was. I was in the Army at the time and worked at a large HQ and I do remember having to put the handset in the special cradle and dialing the number, waiting for the transfer to complete, and hanging up. I wasn't the computer guy, just part of my duties to transmit something. No PC's in those days just mainframes and terminals.

                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler

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                      #11
                      Re: When times become desperate . . .

                      Originally posted by Detonate
                      No PC's in those days just mainframes and terminals.
                      And 'portable computer' wasn't in the vocabulary! Was programing done by tape or punch cards?
                      Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                      Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                      "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: When times become desperate . . .

                        Actually, I was the custodian of a "portable" computer in 1967. It was called "FADAC" which stood for Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer. It computed firing data for an Artillery Battery, using the latest meteorological data. This was input into the computer with punched paper tape. The read out was limited to numerical data displayed by "Nixie" tubes.

                        http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-f.html
                        http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-0254.jpg

                        The first "computer" I ever worked with was a IBM card sorter. To select the punched cards for the machine to sort, you "programmed" it by wiring an electrical board that was then inserted into the machine. Punch cards were around for years. Government checks were even printed on punch cards.

                        http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/sorter.html

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                          #13
                          Re: When times become desperate . . .

                          Yeah, we had one of those acoustic couplers that came with the IBM PC that our organization bought in 1983. They had started calling them "modems" by that time, but it was the same device as that wiki shows.

                          Yeah, I remember card sorters and card readers and card punch machines. Ohio State U. had a shiny new IBM 370 when I was attending, and I took a COBOL course, featuring many hours sitting at a card punch machine. That's how I found out I'm not very good at programming!

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                            #14
                            Re: When times become desperate . . .

                            I'll be really glad when we get the electricity on here in Australia. Then I can retire the carrier pigeons.
                            I wish I was the man my dog thinks I am.<br /><br />Registered Linux User No. 402825

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: When times become desperate . . .

                              You guys have peeked my interest now. would you be kind enough to
                              expand on your disgussion about text-based web-browsers. What -in your opinions-might be a very good text-based web-browser for a newbie
                              And how might I get help using one?
                              Some stress&nbsp; we are told&nbsp; is beneficial-especially in learning about PC&#39;s<br />Registered Linux User #410272

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