Re: What's the scoop on Lynx for DOS

aloha, alan!

the starting point for DOS and Win32 versions of Lynx is Wayne Buttles' 
FDisk site, located at:
http://www.fdisk.com/

in particular, his DOS internet page, located at:
http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/

versions of lynx that run in DOS on a 386 machine (or higher) and in 
Win32's DOS emulation mode can be found at:
http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm

installation is easy, since the DOS and Win32 versions of Lynx come 
pre-compiled, so it is simply a matter of recursively unarchiving the zip 
file...

you can also easily add support for RealPlayer, and other multi-media 
players, by editing the .mailcap file that comes with the Lynx32 
distribution -- just make sure that you use a Win32-aware unarchiving 
program, such as WinZip, which is capable of handling non-standard 
filenames...  this is especially important if you do want to add support 
for helper applications, since a Win32-aware archiving utility can create 
the .mailcap file referred to above on your hard drive, even though the 
filename is technically invalid in the Windows environment, since it starts 
with a period...

in addition, if you add the directory which contains the lynx executable, 
lynx.exe, to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file's PATH statement,  you will be able to 
load lynx from any DOS prompt...

other tips and tricks for maximizing the functionality of Lynx32 are 
contained in a plain text file included with the distribution...  note that 
while Lynx32 is a 32-bit program, it runs in text mode, which means that 
one could always use a DOS based screen reader (loaded during AUTOEXEC.BAT, 
so that speech automatically starts when a DOS-box is spawned) or a windows 
screen reader that features a DOS-emulation mode to have Lynx32 voiced...

Wayne's last release of Lynx32, compiled on 9 January 2000, is based upon 
the 2.8.3 (dev17) build of Lynx, and can be obtained from:
http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/wlynx/lynx_w32.2.8.3dev.17.zip

Wayne recently announced that he will be less actively releasing Lynx32 in 
the future, so there are also a few other ports of Lynx to the Win32 
platform which you may want to investigate...

1. a cygwin compiled version, available from:
ftp://crab.it.osha.sut.ac.jp/pub/Win32/develope/senshu/Lynx
2. a Borland C++ compiled version, available from:
http://www.jim.spath.com/lynx_win32/.

but Wayne's port is still the best package for technophobes...

a blind slash low-vision tailored version of Wayne's previous 
(non-developmental) version of Lynx32 can be downloaded from:
http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/blynx32.zip

the Blynx32 distribution contains a configuration file (lynx.cfg) which has 
been tailored for blind slash low vision users (high contrast screen 
colors, accessibility features turned on, etc.) and which is extensively 
commented, so that the average user can further personalize it by editing 
it in a plain text editor...  Blynx32 also contains a sample .mailcap file 
and other resources...  the lynx.cfg and .mailcap file contained in the 
Blynx32 distribution are also compatible with Wayne's latest build...

good luck, and let me know if you need any further assistance,
         gregory.

At 01:40 PM 3/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>My IPS is about to discontinue shell account access, and with it, support for
>Lynx, which is my browser of choice for most things. I recall hearing about a
>Dos-based version of Lynx that can be run on a Windows-based PC. Three
>questions:
>
>1. How does Dos Lynx compare with Unix Lynx?
>2. Can the program be installed by a technophobe?
>3. Where do you get it?
>
>Alan
>
>Alan Cantor
>Cantor + Associates
>Workplace Accommodation Consultants
>acantor@interlog.com
>www.interlog.com/~acantor

--------------------------------------------------------
He that lives on Hope, dies farting
      -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
    WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
         <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
--------------------------------------------------------

Received on Friday, 3 March 2000 14:31:29 UTC