University Computing Services

Lynx

Mailer, Garnet, and other UCS systems provide the Lynx program for browsing information on the World Wide Web.

What is Lynx?

The World Wide Web is a `client-server' system, and Lynx is the `client' part. Each highlighted phrase shown by Lynx is a link to a document or other information resource on a `server'. When you select an item on the screen, Lynx sends a request to the server, then formats the information and displays it on the screen. The server may be at FSU or it may be an Internet computer anyplace in the world. Lynx initially connects to the FSU Home Page, but you can make selections from there to connect to systems all over the world.

1. Start Lynx by typing lynx at the prompt or by selecting it from the Services menu. It should initially connect to the FSU "Home Page".

2. Highlighted text represents links to other information at FSU or to information sources elsewhere on the Internet. To follow a link, select the phrase by pressing Return. You can move around the links by using the up and down arrow keys.

3. The left arrow key will take you back to your previous selection.

4. Lynx help is available via the `?' key.

5. You can store a document into a file. Press `p' to bring up the menu that includes saving, mailing, and other options.

6. Typing `q' will exit Lynx.

7. You can't view images with the VT100 terminal interface Lynx provides. So don't waste your time trying. And don't waste disk space downloading image files you find unless you have some other system (e.g., a PC or Macintosh with the necessary software) on which to view them. Images can be viewed directly over the network via programs such as Netscape Navigator on Macintosh, Windows, and X-Windows computers with high-speed network connections.

8. When displaying a Gopher menu, Lynx tells you what kind of items it contains:
   • A directory (sub-menu) is marked (DIR)
   • A file is marked (FILE)
   • A telnet session is marked (TEL) (or (3270) for TN3270 a connection)
   • An image is marked (IMG)
   But you don't need to know what the item is in order to connect to it.

Advanced Use

1. You can create `bookmarks' that store paths to especially useful Internet resources. When you find an item you want to `remember', use the `a' command. To display the file of bookmarks, press `v'. (If Lynx tells you no bookmark file is defined, use the Options menu to define one.)

2. To call up the Options menu, press `o'.

3. A hypertext link in Lynx may connect you to an information server any place in the world, and it is often useful to know where you are and where other links will take you. Every resource Lynx can access has an address on the Internet, known as its Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Any time you are in Lynx, pressing the "=" key will show you the location (URL) of the resource you are currently viewing and the URL of the currently highlighted hypertext link.

4. A URL has the form resource-type://hostname:port/path. For example, FSU job listings are at http://www.fsu.edu:80/Jobs/index.html, where http indicates that the World-Wide Web HTTP protocol should be used, sis.fsu.edu is the Internet domain name of the server, 80 is the port number, and the file is index.html in the subdirectory Jobs. Lynx will allow you to specify the URL for that resource directly without having to find it on some other WWW page., if you press the `g' key.

5. Lynx can copy files from anonymous FTP archives. You can specify the FTP server to connect to by typing `g' and then entering the URL as ftp://hostname. Lynx is much easier to use than the FTP program itself, since it provides a menu interface and won't scroll directory listings off your screen. If you select a text file (by pressing Return while it is highlighted), it will be displayed on your screen. To get the file (download it to your disk), highlight the filename and press `d', then follow the instructions. If it is a binary file, the transfer will be done in binary mode. For help, press `?'.

If you need additional help, contact the
Technology Services Helpdesk
(850) 644-HELP (644-4357).

 

Contact the Technology Services Help Desk.