Re: Apple // & Lynx

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

tidycat@news.bridge.net (Jeff Davidson) recently wrote:

> I have been having this problem for a long time, ever since I
> switched ISP's. On my old ISP which went out of business, I had no
> problem with Lynx, but with my new ISP, when I use lynx (w/VT-100
> emulation) I see the text fine, but there is no cursor or indicator
> as to which particular link I am on, on a certain web page.
> 
> For example on the CNN page, if I want to read the third story from
> the top, I have to press the down arrow 3 times and press return, I
> see nothing indicating which one I am about to select. It kind of like
> driving without headlights or something. Anyway no one at my ISP can
> help me, and I have tried every terminal program for the // and //gs.

One of our club members had this problem using Lynx version 2.5 on a
University UNIX (well, actually AIX) system. She was using a IIgs with
ProTERM 3.1. We found three things to do to alleviate her problem:

1) Instead of typing: lynx <return>

at the UNIX % prompt, try typing: lynx -show_cursor <return>

This should let you see the cursor. If the cursor blinks (as it will
with ProTERM 3.1) so much the better.

2-a) When you get into Lynx you should see at the bottom of the screen:

H)elp O)ptions P)rint G)o M)ain screen Q)uit /=search [delete]=history list

Hit "o" to go to Options. You'll see a menu. The item labeled:

K)eypad as arrows or Numbered links

is the one you want. Type K (that is an UPPER case letter "K") and see:

Hit any key to change value; RETURN to accept:

Hit the SPACE bar (or anything else except the <return> key) and the tag:

"Numbers act as arrows" should change to "Links are numbered"

When it says "Links are numbered" then hit <return> as it says on screen.

Now it tells you to type '>' to save, so hit the ">" key.

Now you may want to Quit out of Lynx back to your UNIX % prompt. Then
re-enter Lynx as before with:

lynx -show_cursor <return>

Now you should not only see your blinking cursor next to each selection,
you should also see a number in square brackets [n] to the left of each
selection. The number in square brackets is proof positive (in addition
to the visible cursor) that that item is a selection, not just text.

2-b) You may want to add a line to your UNIX .cshrc file to make an
alias so typing "lynx" will really do "lynx -show_cursor". Such a line
would look like:

alias lynx 'lynx -show_cursor'

and you can add this line just by editing your UNIX .cshrc file.

3) The Apple II text screen is not able to show all possible attributes
that you might see if you were running Lynx on a pee cee or a Mac or
some other kind of terminal. But, ProTERM gives you a way to select
which attributes will show up in inverse. To check on this, do:

Get into ProTERM. Select "Misc" then "Preferences" then "More" and see
which are checked among "Bold" or "Dim" or "Reverse" or "Underline" or
"Flashing". (My ProTERM is checked for "Bold" and "Dim" but I don't
normally use ProTERM to get to Lynx so I'm not sure these settings are
appropriate.) Change any that seem appropriate and try it. You may have
to change more than once by trial and error until it does what you want.

With Spectrum (or other communications programs) this process will be
similar but the details will be different.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to our UNIX consultant Mary Berrens, our Lynx consultant Mat
Anderson and our club Apple II consultant Jim Wifall for these tips.

- Jim Pittman - AppleQuerque Computer Club - casa at unm dot edu