Re: LYNX-DEV Lynx for Windows

[Benjamin C. W. Sittler]

On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, Austin C. Phelps wrote:

> >Are there any plans to port lynx to Windows with win32s?
> 
> Lynx for Windows already exists. It a Win32 console application. It uses
> Windows network stuff so you don't need to worry about packet drivers, ect.
> 
> Here is the url to obtain it.
> 
> http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm


I believe there is no version of Lynx which will run under win32s. The DOS
version of Lynx386 can be made to work, but it means you need to either
(a) not use your network card/modem with Windows socket apps or (b) have a
separate network card/modem dedicated to DOS packet-driver apps running in
Windows DOS boxes. Solution (b) is possible, I used it with an older
version of Lynx386-DOS. [I let Windows have the modem and Lynx have the
network card. This meant I could use Lynx only for local browsing; it
would be *far* more useful if your local network was connected to the
Internet.]

Lynx386-win32 doesn't work under win32s (the optional win32 subset for
Win3.1X and WfWg3.1X) because win32s does not implement the Win32 console
app API.

Unfortunately, lynx would need to have either (a) a version which ran as a
DOS app and used a VxD to communicate with the Windows sockets layer or
(b) a 16- or 32-bit graphical version for Windows to work with
Win3.1X/WfWg3.1X. This means that someone would need to write or find code
for a Windows terminal emulator. Alternatively, it might be possible to
port Lynx to Win32 using a hacked version of xterm set up to talk to an X
server running on the same machine. Something like Pearl's X-emulation
layer (which is, unfortunately, proprietary) would remove the need for the
X server. 

Yet another option: write your own DLL implementing the Win32 Console API
(or the subset you need) and using it as an add-on to win32s.

One more possibility: try to borrow lots of code from MacLynx! It might
work, but I have no way of trying, as the MacLynx page seems to be down.

None of these options seem particularly appealing. The underlying problem
is that there seems to be no curses implementation for the
Win3.1X/WfWg3.1X GUI.

If anyone has other ideas, or thinks I got some of that wrong, let me (and
the list) know. 

--
Benjamin C. W. Sittler - address@hidden - http://www.nmt.edu/~bsittler/

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