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Getting Lynx text web browser working in MS-DOS

Bill-kun

Bill-kun

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I remember that my first Internet experience was using our home computer and modem to call my dad’s computer at his office at the university where he taught. We would then log in to his computer somehow, and run Lynx, the text-only web browser. The university’s mainframe ran on VAX VMS. I don’t remember if we had to get into the VAX mainframe to get to Lynx or if we ran it from the remote DOS prompt.

In looking up Lynx now, it was created in 1992 and is still officially supported. Its Wikipedia article points to its repository.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)
https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/lynx/

It seems to have several versions that will work with different operating systems. I am trying to figure out:

1. Which file(s) do I want to download from that repository’s list for MS-DOS 6.22 on my 386?

2. How do I make it run? Do I just copy it to floppy and then copy it to my 386, then run it?

3. Of course the step with the least obvious solution: How do I connect my 386 which has no RJ45 port to the Internet? It has an internal U.S. Robotics Speedster modem, but I since I presently have no landline, what do I do with it? If I were to run QModem, would it make the modem simply work if I connect it to a landline? Even so, what then to connect to the Internet?
 
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Starting over with better thinking:

My very first experience with the actual Internet was using our home computer and modem to call our dad’s computer at his extension at the university where he taught, then use his computer to connect to the university’s VAX system, then run the Lynx text browser. A few years later, once I enrolled there, we had not only the VAX VT220 terminals but Mosaic for Windows as well, and the rest is history.

In trying to recreate this first Internet experience, I’ve had to do some Internet searching, and sometimes my memory is triggered and gives me confirmation or more information of how we did this, and sometimes not.

So far, it looks like I need the following software.
Can someone help me determine which version of Lynx to download, and if it is not at the website above, where do I download it from?

And after I get all the software set up, of course, there is the obvious question of how do I connect to the modern Internet with it?
 
Bill-kun said:
And after I get all the software set up, of course, there is the obvious question of how do I connect to the modern Internet with it?
Click to expand...

Well, if you have a *nix box, you connect the two via serial cables, set up a getty, log in to your host, and then fire up PPP.

Set your serial port for 14400 or 38400 baud for that "authentic" feel, even if you have Gb networking on the back end.
 
Sorry, I understood nothing of that first sentence except serial port. :lookroun: :D Can you help me to understand *nix box, getty, and PPP?
 
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I think you have a lot of reading to do ...

Here are your two general options:

1. Serial port

Use your DOS machine as a terminal for something else, like a Linux machine. All you need for this is a serial port and terminal emulation software, like Procomm, Telix, or Qmodem. The terminal emulation software basically turns your DOS PC into a simple terminal for the Linux machine. Lynx and other programs then run on the Linux machine, using the DOS machine for keyboard input and screen updates.

2. TCP/IP over Ethernet

Run TCP/IP on your DOS machine and use Lynx directly on it. I can't remember which variant works, but there is some old version of Links or Lynx that runs on DOS. You will find this approach to be frustrating because many web sites can't be displayed on a DOS text mode browser. Especially if they insist on HTTPS or Javascript.

You can also run TCP/IP on your DOS machine and use a Telnet client instead. Think of Telnet as a terminal emulator that uses TCP/IP to talk to the other machine instead of directly being connected via a serial port. With a Telnet client you can connect to Linux machine in your house, or to a remote machine such as the excellent sdf.org machines. And then from there you run Lynx or whatever it is you are looking for.


Just about every machine has a serial port, but that requires you to be directly connected to the Linux machine or to use a modem to connect to it. This is closest to the experience you had with the VT 220s.

If you go the TCP/IP route you can do that over a serial port too, but you will be happier if you add an Ethernet card to your PC - it's a much faster and more stable connection. Telnet from a DOS PC using Ethernet is blazing fast, and you can reach remote Unix machines and Telnet BBSes. You can also do IRC for chatting, FTP for file transfer, and quite a few other things.


If you are not familiar with Linux and don't have it in the house then I would add an Ethernet card to your DOS PC and go the TCP/IP route. Getting a Linux machine running just to use a DOS PC as a terminal is a bit of overkill.
 
Bill-kun said:
Sorry, I understood nothing of that first sentence except serial port. :lookroun: :D Can you help me to understand *nix box, getty, and PPP?
Click to expand...

"*nix box", some kind of machine running one of the Unix family of operating systems.

"getty" is the standard Unix program that listens to a serial port and allows user have an interactive login to the system.

"PPP" "Point-to-Point Protocol". Originally, there was SLIP, Serial Line Internet Protocol, which is a very simple IP stack over a serial interface. PPP is second generation, and more efficient than SLIP. Either will work, PPP is prefered.

The premise is that you login to the Unix box using a terminal program on your machine. Once there, you start up the "server" side of the connection. For PPP, this would be the pppd program.

Once started, you quit your serial program, and then fire up the MS DOS client side of the PPP connection. This establishes a TCP stack within DOS. Now you have "networking", even though you don't have Ethernet.

Once that's established, Lynx should rely on the TCP stack and start working.

I can't speak to the details, specifically on the DOS side, I've never done it. But that's the gist of it.

Back in the day, when dial up internet was just starting, this is what they were all doing in the background.

This is also in contrast to just logging in to the Unix box and running Lynx there (which isn't what you asked to do).

I'm sure there's a PPPD service of some kind that can run on a Windows box, but that's not my domain. I wouldn't know anything about that.

So, steps.
  • Get a Unix box (or perhaps even a VM on your Windows machine that has access to a serial port). This is your "server", and it's connected to the internet like normal.
  • Get a null modem serial cable connecting your DOS machine to the "server".
  • Configure "getty" on the Unix box to listen to the serial port.
  • Create a user on your server to login with.
  • Install PPP. (Should be a simple package.)
  • Using a terminal program, connect to the server, play games with bauds and what not until you get the login prompt, login, get to the shell.
  • Locate MS DOS PPP TCP software (No idea where this is, but it's out there.)
  • On the server you'll type 'pppd'. It should "just work", I never had to do anything with it in terms of parameters. It's all pretty stupid at this point.
  • Disconnect the terminal program (but the serial port is still active, if this were a modem, you wouldn't hang up).
  • Fire up the PPP software on your MS DOS box.
  • Pop some popcorn, and fire up Lynx.
This is bread and butter unix stuff, and should be quite simple. You may have to dig in to 20 year old posts on setting the stuff up, but it should all work -- not a whole lot has changed here.

And like I said if you use the slower baud rates, it'll be just like how it was back in the day. About as "authentic" as you can get.
 
Lynx has been ported to DOS, but there is an even smaller version called Bobcat (http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/bobcat.htm), which I have used successfully on a 286 system in the past. Other Lynx ports require a 386 or better.

To my knowledge, all ports are based on the WATTCP library, so they use a Packet Driver to access the network. Packet drivers for SLIP or PPP exist, but the whole system is fiddly.

Using a modem without a landline won't work well. Using a serial port and a null-modem cable to a different system to setup SLIP or PPP is asking for pain, especially if you are not extremely familiar with all the details. You also want to configure a Linux/BSD system on the other end.

Get a working ISA network card with RJ45 connector and connect it to your network. Get a matching packet driver and make both work in your machine. Everything else is not worth it in my opinion.
 
Relevant YouTube Tutorial (a solid 46 minutes!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0qGq3SpDt0
"How to use a DOS PC for web, email, twitter, IRC & more!" by Al's Geek Lab

For IBM compatibles. Covers networking in DOS using modern DOS programs, IRC, text-only web browsing, FTP, Telnet, Twitter, e-mail, and more.
 
Update:

I've got a much better idea of what to do and how, now that I've spent another year working on vintage computers, evolving my home setup, and learning via YouTube and stuff.

mbbrutman said:
If you are not familiar with Linux and don't have it in the house then I would add an Ethernet card to your DOS PC and go the TCP/IP route. Getting a Linux machine running just to use a DOS PC as a terminal is a bit of overkill.
Click to expand...

I'm ruling out Unix/Linux as a host computer. I don't know either of them at at this time I have no desire to learn them just to get a monochrome computer onto a text-only web browser for fun. This also means no Raspberry Pi or other Pi units.

As a first phase, I'm planning to do this entirely in DOS.

Al's video above plus other posts here give me the following steps.
  1. Get an ISA Ethernet card from my inventory.
  2. Find the packet drivers for that card on the Internet and install them on the host vintage computer. Are they very specific, or are there packet drivers that will work with almost any card?
  3. Download mTCP and install it on the vintage computer.
  4. Download Lynx (or Bobcat) for DOS and install it on the vintage computer.
  5. Since I'll be this far into having a vintage computer on the Internet, also try Telnet, and Telnet to a few BBSes.
whartung said:
Locate MS DOS PPP TCP software (No idea where this is, but it's out there.)
Click to expand...
Would I need it if I already have mTCP? I'd appreciate anyone's direction on where to find MS-DOS PPP TCP software.

Svenska said:
Get a working ISA network card with RJ45 connector and connect it to your network. Get a matching packet driver and make both work in your machine. Everything else is not worth it in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I've got many ISA Ethernet cards. I will install one in my tall tower 386, connect it by Ethernet to my home router.

Future phases:
  • Use the tall tower 386 as a host and the monochrome computer as a client, connecting via serial cable and using a terminal program such as HP Term.
  • Use VTERM II to simulate VMS. This will mean having a version of Lynx that will run on VMS instead of DOS.
  • I've also got two ATA units, which can simulate two vintage computers over a genuine modem call (screech sounds from the modems and everything). This where PC Anywhere would come in.
 
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