How to browse gopherspace on Linux ------------------------------------------------------------------- < intro > There are many browsers and browser extensions that support gopher, as well as proxy http websites. Linux is very terminal oriented, and 'nix was the birthplace of gopher, so it's going to be really simple to set up. Personally, I think the most lightweight and fitting options are lynx and the original gopher client. < index > /p1 Lynx /p2 Original Gopher Client < p1 > Lynx is a text-based browser for linux. It comes with many distros by default, so check if you have it with any of these commands: =================================================================== $ whereis lynx lynx: /usr/bin/lynx /etc/lynx.lss /etc/lynx.cfg /usr/share/man/man1/lynx.1.bz2 $ which lynx /usr/bin/lynx =================================================================== If you don't have it, it should be easily available from your distribution's package manager (apt-get, yaourt, pacman, emerge...) Alternatively, you can also get a free shell account at sdf.org which comes with lynx preinstalled (aliased as "gopher") and browse through ssh (which actually loads faster than running the browser locally if you are far from sdf's servers or your internet is slow). You are now ready to surf the gopherspace. Simply type: =================================================================== lynx gopher://sdf.org/1/users/loli =================================================================== To visit this gopherspace. The controls you will be using the most for gopherspace are: - g: lets you enter a new url (confirm with enter) - Up/Down: navigate links or scroll text files - Enter: follow a link - Right/Left: go forward and back - CTRL+R: refresh page - q: quit (confim with y and enter) For a nice index of most gopher content, visit gopher://gopher.floodgap.com You can customize your homepage and other things by editing /etc/lynx.cfg with your favorite editor (remember to run it as sudo/root). The homepage can be changed from the STARTFILE value. Personally, I find it cleaner to copy /etc/lynx.cfg to my home folder and =================================================================== export LYNX_CFG="$HOME/lynx.cfg =================================================================== In my ~/.bashrc so I don't have to sudo every time I need to tweak the config file. < p2 > The original gopher client is open-source and can still be easily compiled on linux and mac, however it has a bug with displaying the 10th line of every document, so I will add instructions on patching and compiling it only when I fix that. [TODO]