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MicroWeb DOS web browser
MicroWeb is a web browser for DOS that runs as a 16-bit real mode application and is designed to run on minimal hardware.
Minimum requirements
To run you will need:
- Intel 8088 or compatible CPU
- CGA, EGA, VGA or Hercules compatible graphics card
- A network interface (it is possible to use your machine's serial port with the EtherSLIP driver)
- A mouse is desirable but not 100% required
- 640K RAM is desirable but can run with less
- EMS can be used if available and is recommended for loading heavier web pages and images
Limitations
- HTTP only (See HTTPS limitations below)
- Only GIF images are rendered, although PNG and JPEG dimensions are loaded for layout purposes
- No CSS or Javascript
- Very long pages may be truncated if there is not enough RAM available
- Mouse cursor is currently not visible in Hercules mode
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Escape | Exit |
| F2 | Invert screen (useful for old LCD displays) |
| F3 | Toggle title bar / status bar visibility |
| F5 | Reload page |
| F6 / Ctrl+L | Focus address bar |
| Tab / Shift+Tab | Cycle through selectable page elements |
| Enter | Follow link / press button |
| Cursor up/down | Scroll page |
| Page up/down | Scroll page in large increments |
| Home | Jump to start of page |
| End | Jump to end of page |
Supported video modes
MicroWeb supports a wide range of different video modes. You will be asked on startup to select a mode and one will be suggested based on your detected hardware.
- 640x200 monochrome (CGA)
- 640x200 inverse monochrome (Palmtop CGA)
- 320x200 4 colours (CGA)
- 320x200 16 colours (Composite CGA)
- 640x200 16 colours (EGA)
- 640x350 monochrome (EGA)
- 640x350 16 colours (EGA)
- 640x480 monochrome (VGA)
- 640x480 16 colours (VGA)
- 320x200 256 colours (VGA)
- 720x348 monochrome (Hercules)
- 640x400 monochrome (Olivetti M24)
- 640x400 monochrome (Toshiba T3100)
- 240x128 monochrome (HP 95LX)
Command line options
You can use a URL as an argument to load a specific page on startup. This can also be a path to a local html file.
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| -i | Start with inverted screen colours (useful for some LCD monitors) |
| -noems | Disable EMS memory usage |
| -noimages | Disables image decoders - useful for very low memory setups |
For example MICROWEB -noems http://68k.news will load the 68k.news website on startup but disable the EMS routines
HTTPS limitations
TLS encryption is currently not supported which means that only HTTP servers can be accessed directly. There are some options for HTTPS sites:
- Use a proxy server such as retro-proxy which converts HTTPS to HTTP. You can configure a proxy server by setting the HTTP_PROXY environment variable before running MicroWeb. e.g.
SET HTTP_PROXY=192.168.0.50:8000 - Use the FrogFind! web service to view a stripped down version of a site. If MicroWeb is redirected to an HTTPS site then it will generate a FrogFind link for your convenience.
Getting started
Check out the releases page which will include a pre-built binary. Also available are FreeDOS boot disk images for 360K and 720K floppies, which are configured to work with a NE2000 network adapter. These boot images can be used in an emulator such as PCem.
Network setup
MicroWeb uses Michael Brutman's mTCP networking library for the network stack. You will need a DOS packet driver relevant to your network interface. You can read more about configuring DOS networking here
Build instructions
To build you will need the OpenWatcom 1.9 C++ compiler. Use OpenWatcom's wmake to build the makefile in the project/DOS folder. Currently only builds in a Windows environment.