Links [Links2] Web Browser

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webfork
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#16 Post by webfork »

Midas wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:56 pm Quick note with an example of a radical Links use case:

https://dataswamp.org/~lich/musings/links-browser.html
Maybe my favorite bit from the article is:
Many browsers today are gigantic resource hogs, which are basically VMs for various web applications.
What has me split right down the middle is that this page is a rewrite of everything we wanted the web to be when I started out as a web developer. I remember quite clearly that IBM for about 6 months or so had what I think was an 800x600 box that was their homepage and there was nothing outside of that box apart from a copyright notice. That was everything wrong with web development at the time. We wanted to add color, layout, and structural control. We wanted more intelligent pages and interaction. We wanted more and better images. We still even had a Gopher server that was regarded as ancient. And here this guy is making an argument that all that basically driving in reverse.

It reminds me of the Douglass Adams quote: "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

But in so many ways I agree -- websites requiring as much data, processor cycles, and and time as they do is absurd. Flash was the target of most frustrations for so long and now it's (basically) gone and we're still in much the same position. Maybe we should have been talking about capping websites and connections somehow to force them to stop being so awful.

All that said, I can't really get onboard with his comment about images, since SO often my software efforts are exponentially better when explained by even a bad screenshot:
Images (in the modern web) are uninformative, but are simply advertisements of content. They are made to take over your attention and again, make the experience less uniform.
Good post.

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Midas
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#17 Post by Midas »

Many browsers today are gigantic resource hogs, which are basically VMs for various web applications.

Compounding the fact that those virtual machines are leaving less and less to the user's discretion -- including who to trust -- pretty much sums my stance and displeasure.

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rbon
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#18 Post by rbon »

Links 2.21 released August 5, 2020

• web site: http://links.twibright.com/
• Links download page (all versions): http://links.twibright.com/download.php
• Repository for Win32: http://links.twibright.com/download/binaries/win32/
• Direct download installer 32 bit: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe
• Direct download installer 64 bit: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe
• Changelo: http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog

Note_1
Someone has already reported to Portable Apps the upgrade to rel. 2.21.

Note_2
Links Portable by PortableApps is a 32 bit program: if You like a 64 bit You must use a yaP launcher.
See the post pf TP109 viewtopic.php?t=15201#p76752
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." - Rick Cook.

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rbon
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#19 Post by rbon »

Links Portable 2.21 released at February 19, 2021
• PortableApps program page: https://portableapps.com/news/2021-02-1 ... 1-released
• PortableApps on Sourcerforge.net program page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... 0Portable/
• Sourceforge.net direct download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... e/download
• file 'LinksPortable_2.21.paf.exe' size: 11.4 MB
• The Calibration Procedure: http://links.twibright.com/calibration.html
• User Manual 'user_en.html': http://links.twibright.com/user_en.html
• User Manual 'user_en.pdf': http://links.twibright.com/doc/user_en.pdf
• Changelog: http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog
• Features: http://links.twibright.com/features.php

Features

Code: Select all

• Links runs on Linux, BSD, UNIX in general, OS/2, Cygwin under Windows, AtheOS, BeOS, FreeMint.
• Links runs in graphics mode (mouse required) on X Window System (UN*X, Cygwin), SVGAlib, Linux Framebuffer, OS/2 PMShell, AtheOS GUI
• Links runs in text mode (mouse optional) on UN*X console, ssh/telnet virtual terminal, vt100 terminal, xterm, and virtually any other text terminal. Mouse is supported for GPM, xterm, and OS/2. 
• Links supports colors on terminal.
• Easy and quick user control via pull-down menu in both text and graphics mode, in 33 languages.
• HTML 4.0 support (without CSS)
• HTTP 1.1 support
• Tables, frames in both graphics and text mode, builtin image display in graphics mode
• Builtin image display for GIF, JPEG, PNG, XBM, TIFF in graphics mode
• Anti-advertisement animation filter in animated GIFs
• Bookmarks
• Background file downloads
• Automatic reconnection in case of TCP connection breakdown
• Keepalive connections
• Background (asynchronous) DNS lookup
• Possibility to hook up external programs for all MIME types, possibility to choose one of more programs at every opening.
• 48-bit high-quality image gamma correction, resampling and Floyd-Steinberg dithering in all color depths.
• Font resampling (antialiasing) for virtually unlimited pitch range, LCD optimization of fonts and images.
• Builtin fonts in the executable without reliance on any fonts installed in the system
• In graphics mode, Links supports Unicode fonts where each one code point represents one glyph. It doesn't compose in languages like Khmer.
• In text mode, there is additional requirement — Links supports fonts where each glyph is exactly one character cell wide.
• Links supports only left-to-right text direction.
• User-adjustable menu, HTML font size and image zoom factor.
• User-adjustable display gammas (red, green, blue), viewing-condition correction gamma and precise calibration of both monitor and Links on a calibration pattern
• Automatic aspect ratio correction for modes like 640x200, 640x400, 320x200 with user-adjustable manual aspect ratio correction.
• Support for one-wheel mice (vertical scroll), two-wheel mice (vertical and horizontal scroll) and smooth scrolling by grabbing the plane with a mouse (no wheel needed).
• Easy installation, the browser is just one executable and no more files.
BTW
for save Changelog in a text file:
• press Ctrl-A for select all text
• press Ctrl-C for copy all text selected
• press Ctrl-V for paste all text in your favorite text editor
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." - Rick Cook.

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rbon
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#20 Post by rbon »

Links Portable 2.23 released at July 12, 2021
• PortableApps program page: https://portableapps.com/news/2021-07-1 ... 3-released
• PortableApps program page on Sourcerforge.net: https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... 0Portable/
• Sourcerforge.net direct download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... e/download
• file 'LinksPortable_2.23.paf.exe' size: 11.8 MB
• The Calibration Procedure: http://links.twibright.com/calibration.html
• User Manual 'user_en.html': http://links.twibright.com/user_en.html
• User Manual 'user_en.pdf': http://links.twibright.com/doc/user_en.pdf
• Features: http://links.twibright.com/features.php
• Changelog: http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog

Changelog for rel. 2.23 (details)
=== RELEASE 2.23 ===
• Fix a bug that the user could set floating-point parameters to nan via command-line argument or config file option
• Fix broken display if the user uses custom font and non-default aspect ratio
• Fix a bug that the code incorrectly assumed that mktime returns UTC
• Add an option that enables cookie saving
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." - Rick Cook.

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webfork
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#21 Post by webfork »

Update: now at version 2.25 as of 2022-03-04

I started digging into this as a friend of mine has exceptionally poor Internet service. Works well and a bit simpler and more intuitive, and of course actively developed.

Wishlist:

* Way to select text inside the window
* More color options
* Tabbed windows
* Persistent search (right now you can search something but the window goes away after searching)

Screen cap of two browser windows side-by-side:


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rbon
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#22 Post by rbon »

Links 2.26 released at April 10, 2022

• web site: http://links.twibright.com/
• Links download page (all versions): http://links.twibright.com/download.php
• Repository for Win32: http://links.twibright.com/download/binaries/win32/
• Direct download 32 bit installer: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe
• Direct download 64 bit installer: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe
• Changelog: http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog

Changelog
=== RELEASE 2.26 ===
• Fix a display glitch if the list is empty and the user presses '*'
• Add a possibility to pass gopher:// URLs to an external program
• Updated the German translation
• Updated the initial bookmarks
• Fix a bug when form submit url contained '#'
• Support WEBP images
• Support DNS-over-HTTPS
• Try multiple IPv4 addresses on systems that don't have getaddrinfo
• Handle the "TD" tag outside "TR" the same way as in other browsers
• Make it possible to bind a socket to a network interface: it could be activated by specifying interface name in the "Bind to local IP address" box
Tip:
If direct download don't works, select the link then Right-click with "Save the link with name" and save on Your Hard disk.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." - Rick Cook.

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webfork
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#23 Post by webfork »

A Links2 update is out

rbon's notes pretty well cover it so quoting them:
rbon wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:36 am • web site: http://links.twibright.com/
• Links download page (all versions): http://links.twibright.com/download.php
• Changelo: http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog
32-bit: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe
64-bit: http://links.twibright.com/download/bin ... nstall.exe

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Midas
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Re: Links [Links2] Web Browser

#24 Post by Midas »

webfork wrote: A Links2 update is out
Please allow me to expressly register the update: Links2 v2.28 released 2022-09-17 (changelog at http://links.twibright.com/download/ChangeLog).

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