Re: Debian Wheezy and Command-shell Browser Output
Hi
On Wed, 2013-02-27 at 16:14 +0000, Martin McCormick wrote:
I use Debian Wheezy with the speakup kernel modules that
make it possible for computer users who are blind to access the
system. The particular hardware I am using should run gnome with
orka but tell that to the box and see how far that gets you.
Right now, bash command-line operation is all I have. I
need to be able to access a couple of NetGear routers whose
interfaces are heavily infested with _javascript_ and optimized
for Internet Explorer.
Ouch. Does not sound nice.
Surely there must be some more sensible interface? The netgear routers I have worked with in the past did have a command-line interface, but I cannot recall whether it was enabled by default. It's been a while.
While searching for text-mode browsers and _javascript_, I
found a virtual package called www-browser and thought it might
be able to call iceweasel in such a way as to get it to run and
produce text output.
What www-browser does is to call lynx, something I have
been able to do for 12 years or so.
Actually, the www-browser is a debian-specific command - it simply uses the "alternatives" system:
# update-alternatives --display www-browser
will show you the current setting. By default this will be the highest priority (which hopefully translates to "best") browser you have installed.
But you can force it to call your browser of choice using:
# update-alternatives --config www-browser
"www-browser" is just a way to invoke a browser, just like "vi" will run one of the multiple vi-implementations.
I looked at a package called elinks which was under
development some years back. It can do some _javascript_ if you
compile it after installing the Mozzilla spidermonkey libraries.
The latest version I found was elinks 0.12.x. With the
spidermonkey libs, it compiles and at some point, it blows up
with an error so that's not going anywhere.
Can www-browser run iceweasel and deliver output to a
command-line console? That would be the best way to access many
applications since iceweasel (firefox) is current and less
likely to slip through the cracks as some of the older nitch
applications have done.
Probably not - see above.
Unfortunately, I do not know any text-mode browsers which support _javascript_. Actually, I have found myself occasionally using text-mode browser exactly for that reason.
I wish you luck in your search though - surely you cannot be the only searching..
--
Regards
Reply to: