Order it now! Amazon prioritizes orders on a first come, first served basis.


View Full Version : elinks text-based web browser (like lynx)


bobj
06-16-2008, 06:00 AM
Here is Elinks (http://elinks.or.cz/), a very nice text-based web browser.

If you have installed mrxvt/xshell v0.5.0 (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Iliad_Software#Mrxvt) or greater, then you can launch this directly from the iLiad's menu.

You'll have to use a connection manager of some sort to establish an Internet connection.

Pros:
Stability: It doesn't seem to crash like most other iLiad browsers
Speed: Highly responsive to input, great keyboard shortcuts
Supports stylus input
Supports SSL (Secure https://)
Downloads files
Compatible with Offline Wikipedia (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24174) (there's a bookmark)
Compatible with GMail

Cons:
No images
No Javascript

Yes, it does come with Spidermonkey Javascript support, but it's barely implemented. I couldn't even get a confirm() window, so I think it's best disabled for now.

Here are a few tips to get started:

Click on the top row to bring down a menu.
Space=Page Down
g=Go
left/right=Back/Forward
q=quit

Download yokos's stripped version (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25076#post200792) (iliad_elinks_0.1.stripped.zip). It's smaller and equivalent.

daudi
06-16-2008, 08:05 AM
Fantastic! I'm looking forward to trying this out.

bobj
06-18-2008, 02:17 PM
2. with the previous mrxvt software we did not have to install anything, do we have to install the Xshell software before using the software??? what is the instalation really for?? and can I just install on the CF and not the internal memory?? all my other software are installed on the CF?


I tried to design xshell to be the most friendly way to run a program like elinks. For various reasons, some people might feel uncomfortable installing xshell. Elinks can be run from either an older version of mrxvt, or without installing xshell:



If you have an older version of iliad_mrxvt, run that.
If you have v0.5.0 or greater, select "Run Standalone"

The command to launch elinks will depend on where you unzipped it. For example, if you put it on your CF card in the "Programs" folder under the "elinks" subfolder, you would type in mrxvt:
/media/cf/Programs/elinks/elinks


Caveats:

Older versions of mrxvt (by default) don't properly refresh the screen.
To get things to look like they do in the screenshots, you have to modify your terminal options. (VT 100 frames, block cursor, and a few other random settings.)

Dabon
06-18-2008, 03:28 PM
Dear Wallcraft,

Thank you very much for your previous response. I was able to run the standalone and it was very fine.

Dear Bobj,

Thanks a million for your response and such an excellent piece of work. I have installed a zillion..!?! of third party softwares, but I have to admit that I was very impressed with your software and that in my opinion it is the best that I have installed so far...During the installation the software was very interactive telling me exactly what was being done ...WOW!!! :):thumbsup:
Please excuse my initial fear, but you have to understand that i am a big gadget fan and that the iliad is so far one of the best gadget I ever had, so I did not want to brick it by installing something in the internal memory...After I realized that i could uninstall the application from the internal memory if anything were to go wrong I did install it on the internal memory...and i did not regret as I was able to access my gmail email account with a very fast and very responsive elink text based web browser WOW!!:):thumbsup:

Thank you so much and please keep up the good work!!!

:thanks:
Dabon.

yokos
06-18-2008, 07:56 PM
Hey, bobj, if you don't mind I have replaced the binary.
You forgot to strip it.
file elinks
elinks: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, version 1, for GNU/Linux 2.4.3, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped

for non-developers:

In Unix and Unix-like operating systems, the strip program removes all debugging and symbol information from executable binary programs and object files, thus potentially resulting in better performance and sometimes significantly less disk space usage.


maybe it's time for xshell compatible Midnight Commander.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21812

bobj
06-19-2008, 01:05 AM
Sweet, thanks yokos! I was wondering why my binaries were 2x as big!!! (I'm still a n00b to porting.)
:thanks:

Your mc was definitely a motivating factor for xshell, and I'm a big fan of your work in general. I will take a look.