Lynx and Classic Macs

What is Lynx?

Lynx is a text-only web-browser, published under the GPL - this means (essentially) the source code has been published, and Lynx is free for use. See the Lynx FAQ.

A Macintosh port by Oliver Gutknecht is available, see his MacLynx pages. The latest Macintosh version is 2.7.1b1.

MacLynx vs. using a remote version of Lynx

MacLynx 2.7.b1 is available as PPC- and as 68k (68020 and up)-version; both versions require at least System 7. A bunch of Classic Macs don't meet these requirements. And those that do still often profit by a significant increase of speed if Lynx is run as a process on your Internet Servive Provider (ISP)'s remote UN*X machine.

In other words, it is often faster not to use MacLynx on your Classic Mac at home but the UN*X-Lynx on a UN*X machine that's somewhere in the Internet.

Limitations

As said above, Lynx is a text-only web browser - so you won't see any pictures. Lynx is also limited in respect of certain HTML-elements.

If Lynx is run on a remote machine as explained below, you will be able to download files to the remote machine, but you won't be able to download anything to your local machine directly. You can still use an FTP program to transfer from the remote machine to your local Mac, but only in case your ISP allows FTP-connections.

Requirements

• A working connection to the Internet
• An ISP with a UN*X equipment, lynx installed, and their OK to use it via Telnet
• A Macintosh Telnet program, e.g. NCSA Telnet 2.6 or better, and your ISP's OK to use it to run lynx on his machine
• Optionally: A Macintosh FTP program (Anarchie, Fetch) and your ISP's OK to use it with his machine

Running a remote Lynx

• Start your Telnet Program and open a connection to your ISP's machine, e.g. to myhost.somewhere.edu.
  Note: The corresponding URL is: telnet://myhost.somewhere.edu
• Enter your name and password
• Type lynx and press Enter
  Note: UN*X names are case-sensitive

Using lynx

The interface you are presented is nearly as un-Macintoshy as can be (it is probably only topped by the vi-Editor, but that's another story). It's impossible to list all features here, and your configuration may vary anyway, so here's an overview of the most important features.

lynx is operated by keystrokes.

General

• help: ?
• go to URL: g and Enter
• edit current URL and go to the modified one: G
• clear current line: ctrl u
• edit current file: e
• reload: ctrl r
• get info on link and file: =
• download (see Limitations): d
• print (metaphorically speaking, destination can be a file; see Limitations): p
• cancel: z or ctrl g
• quit: ctrl c

Move around

• next link: down arrow
• previous link: up arrow
• follow link: right arrow or Enter
• back: left arrow
• beginning: ctrl a
• end: ctrl e
• page down: ctrl f
• page up: ctrl b

Search

• Search on page: /
• Search next on page: n
• Search externally: s

Bookmarks

• add: a
• remove: R
• view: v
• Visited links: V
• History: backspace

Closing the connection to the foreign host

Quit lynx. Press exit and Enter.

Optionally use your FTP program to transfer your downloaded files from the remote machine to your local Mac.