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UNIX WWW BROWSERS

There is as wide a variety of WWW browsers for UNIX systems as there is for any other platform. These range from still-popular text-based products such as Lynx, to experimental HTML3-compliant ones such as Arena, to the ubiquitous Mosaic and Netscape, for whichever flavour of UNIX suits your fancy.

Arena

Arena is one of the few browsers which is designed with full support for HTML3 (aka HTML+) documents, including tables, math, and an experimental style sheet mechanism, so it makes sense that it's been developed by members of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). For more information, you can visit the Arena status page at http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Arena/ which contains a link to the Arena FAQ and a link to download one of the many binaries for your particular flavour of UNIX.

Chimera

Chimera is a World-Wide Web browser with an X/Athena graphical interface. It does not require Motif. Chimera can access HTTP, FTP, and Gopher information servers and can access local files. Chimera supports forms and inline images. You can download the current version from ftp://ftp.cs.unlv.edu/pub/chimera/chimera-1.65.tar.gz. The Chimera home page can be found at http://www.unlv.edu/chimera/, and includes mirror sites where the package can be found, as well as links to additional information on Chimera setup, operation, and support. A screen capture of Chimera displaying the UNLV home page is also available if you're curious.

CLRMosaic

This extention of NCSA Mosaic 2.4 for X was developed by the Centre for Landscape Research here at the University of Toronto. CLRMosaic adds a 3D interactive model window to XMosaic, allowing live 3D models such as geographic mapping information and virtual architecture to be hyperlinked to HTML documents. For more information, see the CLRMosaic home page. The is available for download from ftp.clr.utoronto.ca/pub/sgi/clrmosaic/.pub/sgi/clrmosaic/.

HotJava

Developed by Sun Microsystems HotJava represents the next generation of WWW browsing technology. With full support for HTML, the HotJava client is also able to download and run platform-independent "applets" programmed in a new object-oriented language called Java, allowing more advanced client-server interaction than is available with HTML browsers. Currently, HotJava is only available for Solaris (not SunOS 4.1 or Solaris x86), Windows NT, and Windows 95; ports to Linux, MacOS, and OS / 2(?) are in development. For more information on HotJava and Java, including how to get on the listserv mailing lists for the latest news and how to obtain a copy of the software, see Sun's HotJava home page at http://java.sun.com. Another HotJava information site maintained by Joey Oravec can be found at http://www.science.wayne.edu/~joey/java.html, and contains links to the official Sun Web page mirror and FTP site mirror.

Lynx

Lynx is a full screen text-mode hypertext browser for the WWW. It uses arrow and tab keys, cursor addressing and highlighting to indicate hypertext links, FORMS regions, etc. Lynx can be run from any text terminal, such as a VT-100 or WYSE, making it extremely useful for accessing WWW via a dial-in terminal connection. Source code and several precompiled binaries are available from ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/lynx. YOu may also need the ZIP program to uncompress the archive. This can be found at ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/lynx/unzip/. The Lynx home page at the University of Kansas can be found at http://www.cc.ukans.edu/about_lynx/about_lynx.html.

Mosaic for X-Windows (X-Mosaic)

This package is developed by NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and is quite full featured. The latest version of X-Mosaic is available for download via anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Unix/binaries/2.6/. There is also a XMosaic Developers home page at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XMosaic/. The latter is very useful for getting XMosaic up and running, and includes links to troubleshooting tips, online documentation, and supplementary software.

Netscape for UNIX

Developed by Netscape Communications, this is a fast and full-featured browser, and is the most popular Web browser currently in use. You can download a free copy from the Netscape Anonymous FTP server at ftp://ftp.mcom.com/netscape1.1/unix, from one of its mirror sites, or by doing an archie search for the word netscape. The free version is for non-profit, academic, or evaluation use only, and a recently released Personal Edition is moderately priced at U$44.95 otherwise. This fully documented and supported version features e-mail capabilities using Eudora Light, and automatic dial-up connection through your choice of a number of national Internet Service Providers. Netscape Navigator Personal Edition can be purchased at the Netscape General Store*.

*Note: The above link to the Netscape General Store is a secure transaction (https:) link supported by Netscape only. Select this non-secure version if you aren't using Netscape, but would still like to look around without purchasing.

TkWWW

TkWWW is a Tk/Tcl-based WWW browser that also allows for editing and preparation if html documents. It is almost a WYSWIG editor, but not quite. You can download version 0.11 from ftp://ftp.isri.unlv.edu/pub/mirror/infosystems/WWW/cern-mirror/dev/tkWWW-0.11.tar.Z or do an Archie search for TkWWW. Note that you will also need to install A TkWWW overview can be found at http://uu-gna.mit.edu:8001/tk-www/help/overview.html, and the TkWWW home page can be found at http://www.osf.org/ri/hci_papers/tkwww.html.

ViolaWWW

A browser based on the "Viola" hypertext system. Multifont, neat buttons. One text window with "clone" facility. Other features include bookmarks and history list support. Future enhancements to include graphics and general SGML support. It is available for download at ftp://ftp.std.com/src/X11R5/viola/viola.0.8.tar.Z. The ViolaWWW status page at www.w3.org contains additional information.

WebSpace (SGI)

The hottest new interactive technology on the Web is currently VRML--the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. While HTML describes text, VRML describes 2D and 3D objects; while Netscape allows you to browse pages, WebSpace allows you to navigate and interact with 3D environments which can themselves contain hyperlinks to other HTML and VRML resources.

WebSpace is a product of Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Template Graphics Software, Inc. The product's interface is elegant and powerful, providing full control of motion and perspective, and bearing a vague resemblance, for lack of a better analogy, to piloting a virtual helicoper. Applications range from "flying" through virtual cities to "handling" 3D protein models. Currently, WebSpace has been released for the SGI platform only, although beta versions are apparently available for Windows NT, Sun Solaris ZX/TZX, and IBM AIX, and soon for Windows 3.1 / NT, Power Macs running System 7.5, Digital UNIX, and HP/UX. For more information on WebSpace, including links to the software, the WebSpace FAQ, and sites with examples of this stunning technology, visit the WebSpace home page at SGI or the WebSpace home page at Template Graphics Software. If you've already installed WebSpace or another VRML browser, check out The Palladium.

WebView

WebView is another SGI / UNIX VRML--Virtual Reality Modeling Language browser (see WebSpace above). Key features include an integrated scene editor; support for multiple, simultaneous, independent windows viewing the same and separate worlds; four viewer styles--examiner, fly, plane, and walk; multiple loaded world caching; and a cameras "switch node" convention for specifying multiple viewpoints of a world. For more information, see the WebView home page which includes installation and configuration tips, as well as a link to download the source.
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