DosLynx Quick Start Home Page

If you're new to DosLynx, you may be interested to know that DosLynx v0.29b has a new menu entry or command. Namely, the Navigate|Go To (Alt-G) command. DosLynx has matured to the point that long histories of visited URLs are easy to develop. As a result, the new command has become desirable for reviewing where one has been. And, for saving time in making returns that skip one or more intermediate levels. The Go To command also may be used to reopen a visited URL in a new window. And, to paste a visited URL into the File|Open URL... menu entry or command's history.

Once in the Open URL... command's history, a URL may be edited before being visited or downloaded. A Paste button has also been added to the Navigate|Show Destination URL (Alt-U) menu entry or command. Look for those new Paste buttons. They pretty much eliminate having to retype URLs for the purpose of editing before use.

If you're a DosLynx veteran, you may be interested to know that a systematic effort has been made to eliminate memory leaks from DosLynx v0.29b. All the memory leaks that were practical to demonstrate have been fixed! Also, a few areas of inefficient memory usage have been improved. As a result, DosLynx can now handle somewhat larger documents, than before. And, more important, it can now maintain its enlarged document capacity through hours of vigorous surfing.

A close look at the display and DOSLYNX.CFG file will discover two more enhancements in DosLynx v0.29b. All of the bottom line command status indicators have come alive. They and the corresponding Navigate menu entries have joined the Search command status indicator in going bright or dim to indicate when the named commands are available or not. Also, a fourth display attribute table and the contrast= configuration value have been added for improving contrast with old monochrome displays. If you have a display which hasn't been distinguishing link text or found text from normal text, check DOSLYNX.CFG's comments describing the new contrast= configuration value.

The fixes mentioned above, along with some others, make for an ever stronger running version of DosLynx. This is not your same old DosLynx!

There are a couple other readme files for DosLynx. One is the again updated README.HTM which still tells about the original features, command line parameters, and other important stuff. There is also a history file which describes the major changes I've made in bringing Doslynx from v0.28b to v0.29b. The history file also contains known bugs or missing features. If you find one that isn't there, or find that the contrast= configuration value can't solve a problem with your display, please email me at the address in this graphic. Finally, Wayne S. Buttles has provided a little cheat sheet of the key commands to run Doslynx from the keyboard. It includes ones he added. I've brought it up to date and added a second page listing the "DosLynx Control, Movement, and Navigation Keys".

Remember that you can navigate with your numeric key pad by putting Num Lock ON.

DosLynx no longer contains a built-in graphics viewer. That has been replaced with a swap out and call to DLXVIEW with a parameter naming the .BMP, .GIF, .JPG, .PCX, or .TIF file to be viewed. You may edit DLXVIEW.BAT to invoke your favorite viewer. The DosLynx v0.29b package contains a sample DLXVIEW.BAT which invokes LXPIC (requires CGA+).

As Wayne said: "I have enhanced DosLynx for my own personal enjoyment. It will never be as good as the ['386+ based] versions of Lynx, but at least it is better than nothing. . . . I am just releasing my changes to the general public in hopes that it will help some other DOS User. I have made every attempt to keep it compatible with the lowest IBM-Compatible computer so that the greatest number of people can benefit and I will continue to do so as long as I play with the code."

Good luck, and happy browsing.

Fred C. Macall
17 June 2005