I have been trying to come up with a no X no desktop Linux fore web browsing only.
I researched small distributions and found Slitaz being the smallest to auto setup my etho connections and provide a quick toolchain to get all the needed compiling stuff like make, gcc, etc.
I then looked for a browser that will display fully graphical pages without X and came up with...

ZEN is no longer in development.
http://www.nocrew.org/software/zen/

Jxcell could get java going without X.
http://jxcell.net/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1184852241/0
After that Lobo Java Web Browser should work.
http://lobobrowser.org/java-browser.jsp

Minuet I don't know if it's still operational.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneso...Essential_Tool

SPIN graphical I couldn't get much info.
Google search.

Arachne is a browser for DOD and some versions of Linux.
I don't yet know how to install or if it can work on Slitaz.
http://browser.arachne.cz/linux_install.shtml

http://lists.netisland.net/archives/.../msg00794.html
has the concept I think.

I don't know what has the best chance of success of working and I will need to know whare to get them and how to install some of them.
I already have java and the toolchain.
I will love to get this going if you can give me some ideas.
Thank you.

O and best forum ever.

Maybe links2 (links with framebuffer support)?

http://links.twibright.com/

Ya but the point was how do I get framebuffer support to work.
The easiest method I can think of is to find a browser with framebuffer support already on it.
I think ZEN or Minuet if still applicable, SPIN graphical if I can find it or Arachne if it will run on Slitaz could do it.
Links2 would be great if I can find a download that has framebuffer support on it.
I'd love to hear from you soon.

Compile it from source, with framebuffer support.

I did compile it from source before but didn't see any framebuffer support option or any other download of such.
Could you point me in the direction of such a method?

I found two places that talk about this.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=288617
http://who.is.free.fr/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=framebuffer

I would like to know if I should uninstall then out of X with compile using the command ./configure –with-fb –without-x –enable-graphics as mentioned above or can I edit something in my already installed copy?

Also as to what framebuffer to use with Slitaz I only found one person that seems to have worked on that nicknamed ShadowSong_TTL at http://listengine.tuxfamily.org/list.../msg00064.html working on fbida found at http://linux.bytesex.org/fbida/ .
I'd like to know if that would work or if I need something like directfb from http://directfb.org/ ?

Any Idea?



I will build the tazpkgs for all to use after I'm finished.

w3m along with w3m-img can display images using the framebuffer. Unfortunately it does not seem to work with gpm if you want mouse support for clicking on links, and navigating using the cursor and tab keys takes some getting used to.

There is another browser called links2 that can display images using the frambuffer but I have not tried it personally.

I'm not clear from your post though, do you already have framebuffer enabled on your system or do you need help with that?

Read above about ShadowSong_TTL getting fbida working.
I don't know what framebuffer to use so no I don't have framebuffer enabled.
I know about Links2 and think I could get it to work with framebuffer if I can get framebuffer installed and running.

Take a look at some of the links on this page:
http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/fb
especially the intro "fbcon.txt"

Some distros may have the framebuffer compiled into the kernel or the correct module available in the initrd.img. If that's the case then the only thing necessary is to specify the right mode on the kernel command line. For grub it would be something like:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-whatever root=(hd0,3) ro vga=0x0318 splash


IIRC you can use "vga=ask" and it will prompt you at boot with available modes.

If you need to add vesafb or a card-specific framebuffer module to your initrd, here's a howto that explains it for ubuntu 7.10. You can probably google something for your own distro if necessary.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652038

launch it as "links -g" from real terminal. For example "links -g www.google.com". see "links --help" for more command-line options.

Thank you for the response.
As I mentioned fbida works and I was wondering if that framebuffer would work for Links2.
I don't know if Slitaz has framebuffer compiled into the kernel or the in initrd.img infact I only found fbida when searching for framebuffer with Slitaz and so I think that its something we need to install but I could be wrong.
Can you tell me how to check whether or not some framebuffer is already installed?
If I need compile/install framebuffer then I will be greatfull to you for pointing to some you know will work with Links2 (vesafb or a card-specific framebuffer module to initrd) and for giving the how-to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652038 .

I'm running without X so no that will not work.

Have you really tried it before saying "it won't work"?
This works WITHOUT running X on my machine.
As I said - run it from real terminal. Real terminal is at Alt+Ctrl+F1, for example.

Also, did you check "man links"?
Links support "-driver" key. And "-driver" key allows to select different output device. Like svgalib, fb, directfb and others. Also there is "-mode" key which allows you to select display mode like "1024x768x16M" (most modes are supported only with svgalib, but even without svgalib you can view pages with pictures with fb device). Check "man links". And install svgalib with svgalib_helper to make most out of "links" graphical mode.

Here is a picture of what you get with links -g without X and without svgalib(with svgalib picture quality will be better). (Picture is dark, because monitor is nearly dead)

I'm not familiar with slitaz at all but I just tried googling "slitaz framebuffer" and the 1st hit was:
http://www.slitaz.org/en/doc/handbook/livecd.html

The site itself was not accessible when I checked but the page was in google's cache. Slitaz evidently already has framebuffer enabled using the vesafb driver, which is pretty much compatible with any graphics card. All you need to do is add an argument to your kernel command line in your grub menu. vga=792 will give 1024X768 with 16.8M colors. If you have a laptop or lcd monitor you may have to select a mode that matches the physical resoluton of the monitor. My laptop has 1024X768 pixels so I use vga=792. There is a chart on the site (or google's cache if it is till not available) that gives other resolutions and numbers of colors.

If fbi works for viewing images then you already have a framebuffer working, but you can use the vga=xxx setting to increase/improve resolution. Is your system currently booting up into X and some sort of graphical desktop, or just text mode? If it is running X, switch to a vt by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (You can select different vt by using F1 through F6) Try using fbi to view a jpg, then try starting one of the fb-enabled browsers mentioned in this thread.