Re: LYNX-DEV Lynx for Windows

[Benjamin C. W. Sittler]

On Fri, 26 Sep 1997, Larry W. Virden, x2487 wrote:

> From: Doug Kaufman <address@hidden>
> > On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, Austin C. Phelps wrote:
> > 
> > > >I believe there is no version of Lynx which will run under win32s. The 
> > > >DOS
> > > 
> > > Check the url I sited. It works. I have used it. Works great!
> > > 
> > > >Lynx386-win32 doesn't work under win32s (the optional win32 subset for
> > > 
> > > Lynx386 doesn't work under Win32. But Lynx-Win32 does work under Win32
> > > (win95). I suggest you go to the fdisk site and check it out.
> > > 
> > > >If anyone has other ideas, or thinks I got some of that wrong, let me 
> > > >(and
> > > >the list) know. 
> > 
> > You are mixing up win32s and Win32.  Win32s is an addition to windows
> > 3.x.  As of this time there is no version of lynx that works under
> > Windows 3.x, whether or not win32s is installed.
> 
> Hmm.  Actually, I've seen statements by folk on this list that led me to
> believe that at the very least lynx worked under _DOS_ on systems before
> Windows 95.  Is there something about whatever this win32s entity is
> that prevents one from using lynx while under it's nefarious control?

The problem with using Lynx386 for DOS inside Windows relates to
conflicting network layers. Lynx386 for DOS uses the packet driver
interface, which doesn't really handle multitasking. If you use Windows
3.1x TCP/IP networking apps, they almost certainly use a Winsock.DLL which
provides a much higher-level (and multitasking-aware) TCP/IP interface,
somewhat similar to BSD sockets. While there are several Winsock.DLLs
implemented on top of DOS packet drivers, none of them seem to be able to
coexist with a copy of Lynx386 for DOS on the same packet driver. You can
disable the Winsock and devote your packet driver entirely to Lynx, but
this means you can't use any of your Winsock networking apps (like telnet,
Netscape, Mosaic, RealAudio, Acrobat, etc.) at the same time.

The only viable solution I see is to make Lynx understand Winsock. This
could be accomplished by: (a) implementing the missing Win32 functions
Lynx386-win32 needs (b) compiling Lynx as a Windows GUI app, using a
compiler like GCC/EMX and the RSXWIN31 extender (which might work with
the EMX/OS2 port of BSD curses), or (c) write a VxD hook that a Lynx
running in a DOS box could use to access Winsock. Solutions (a) and (c)
seem somewhat ambitious, and the license for the extender in solution (b)
is probably incompatible with the GPL (although it has been used with GCC,
so maybe not...) At any rate, the curses port may require console code
which does not exist.

In short, Lynx for Windows 3.1 is likely more trouble than is warranted by
the tiny "market." If the "market" feels otherwise, it can build it
itself. I am willing to help, but have no windows programming experience
outside of Cygnus GNU/Win32 (which requires the Win32 console interface,
by the way.) Using a modified xterm to build an "xlynx" for any of the
Windows X servers seems to me like an easier solution. 

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

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