Web Browsing

If you want to browse the Web from your Linux account, you can use any of several programs. First of all, if you are accessing Linux from a Windows computer with VNC, you can use the Windows version of Netscape or Internet Explorer to browse the Web. There is nothing to stop you from using other Windows programs at the same time as VNC. In fact, you will probably find it better to use a Windows Web browser than to use a Linux Web browser over the network. However, if you are working under Linux, you do have a choice of Linux Web browsers.

Firefox

Firefox is a very modern browser that implements all the latest Web standards. It is also available for Windows and for Mac OS. Many people are recommending it as a more secure and feature-rich replacement for Internet Explorer.

There should be a Firefox icon on your desktop. If not, you can find it in the KDE Start menu, under "Internet". Note that if want more featuers or if you don't like the appearance of Firefox, you can download new Themes and Extensions under the "Tools" menu.

You can configure Firefox using the "Preferences" command in the "Edit" menu.

Konqueror

The KDE desktop has an integrated Web browser known as "konqueror". This is actually a multi-purpose program that also serves as the file manager for the KDE. Start konqueror as a Web browser by clicking the "Konqueror Web Browser" icon in the panel at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can select it from the "Internet"/"Web Browser" sub-menu of the KDE Start menu. have one, or by selecting "Konqueror Web browser" from the "Internet" submenu of the "K" menu. Start it as a file manager by selecting "Home" from the Start menu or by clicking the home directory icon in the Panel at the bottom of the screen. Even if you start konqueror as a file manager, you can always use it to view a Web page just by entering a Web address in the "Location" box near the top of the window.

Konqueror has other interesting features. You can use certain specialized Web addresses to access certain utilities on the Web. Use a Web address beginning with "gg:" to do a search on google.com. For example, to search google for "introductory java programming", enter "gg: introductory java programming" in the "Location" box. Similarly, you can use "av:" for an alta vista search. Use "dict:" to look up the definition of a word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. For example, if you want to know what "obfuscation" means, enter "dict:obfuscation" in the "Location" box. And "ths:" will give you the thesaurus entry for a word. To see the "manual page" for a Linux command, use "man:". For example, "man:chmod" will display the man page for the chmod command. Also, you can use konqueror as an FTP client, if you know what that means. (You can look up the details; FTP is actually a standard part of the Web.)

Note about Netscape

We no longer support any version of Netscape on the computers in the lab. Please use Firefox or one of the other browsers instead.

Text Browser: w3m

"w3m" is a text-only Web browser that you can use in a command-line window. It can do a fairly reasonable job of displaying most Web pages, though without the graphics of course. When you start w3m, you have to specify a Web address on the command line. For example: "w3m math.hws.edu". You can double-click on a link to follow the link to another Web page. Right-clicking the page will bring up a menu. You can use the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys to move through the document, or use the up and down arrow keys to move from link to link within the document. When a link is selected, hit the right arrow key or the return key to follow the link to a new page. Use the left arrow key to return to the previous page. Hit "Q" to quit. (Use SHIFT-Q if you don't want to have to confirm that you really want to quit.) Hit the "G" key if you want to go to a specific Web page; you will be asked to enter the URL of the page.