elinks/doc/faq.txt

Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------
:Description:	FAQ for the ELinks project

This is an attempt to capture some of the questions that appear once in a
while on the mailing list.


[[instances]]
I rebuilt/upgraded/reconfigured my ELinks, restarted it, but it looks nothing has changed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ELinks instances connect together so that they share the cache, bookmarks,
cookies, configuration, etc. Only the "master" ELinks instance does any real
work and any other ELinkses you run will only connect to this instance. So
when you want to restart ELinks, make sure you have no other ELinks instances
running at the time.

Alternatively, you can use the `-no-connect` parameter to make the ELinks
always run standalone, or create a parallel group of ELinks instances by the
`-session-ring N` parameter (where `N` is a number larger than zero); however,
be aware of the fact that in those cases ELinks won't touch any configuration,
bookmark, cookies, etc files - you can force that by the `-touch-files`
parameter, however beware - this can result in a data loss! (E.g., when two
master ELinks instances will try to save their bookmarks and you add a
bookmark to each of those, only one of the bookmarks survives.)


[[cutnpaste]]
How does cutting and pasting work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason why normal cut and pasting does not work is that ELinks requests to
receive any mouse event info even if it is compiled without GPM. Therefore it
is necessary to also hold down the Shift key when cutting or pasting text. If
you do not need to use the mouse for navigation you can disable mouse support
by passing `--disable-mouse` to configure.


[[move]]
How does the "Move" button on the bookmark manager work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First you need to mark all the bookmarks (or even folders) you want to move.
This can be done with the Insert key if you're using the default keybindings.
Asterisk will appear near of all marked bookmarks. Next move to where you want
to have the stuff moved to, and press the "Move" button.


[[navigation]]
What's up with the navigation in the various managers?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The managers use list boxes. To navigate (assuming you're using a default
keybinding configuration) use Space to open and close the folders.


[[flavours]]
Why are there so many Links flavors?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please refer to the link:http://elinks.or.cz/history.html[history page] to
read about the various flavors and the differences between them.


[[which-one]]
Which one to use?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want a fast, stable, and feature-thin text browser, use
link:http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links[Links-0.99].  Main
drawbacks include: No HTTP-auth support and no persistent cookies (i.e.  they
die when all instances of Links are closed).

If you want additional features, including HTTP-auth, persistent cookies, and
on-the-fly compression, try ELinks.  (Note: links-0.9x and ELinks versions >
0.3 do not share executable name or configuration files so you can safely run
these on the same machine.)

If you want the option of graphics mode, use
link:http://links.twibright.com[Links2] or
link:http://xray.sai.msu.ru/~karpov/links-hacked/[Hacked Links].  Be aware
that some people have reported the latter as hard to configure/compile. You
cannot run either of these with Links-0.9x on the same system without hacking
the compile-time configuration.


[[kibi-and-mebi]]
What are the Ki (kibi) and Mi (mebi) units?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They are binary units defined by
link:http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html[the International System of Units].
Examples:

`---------------`--------------------------------------------------------------
Unit		Definition
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One kibibit	1 Kibit = 2^10 bit = 1024 bit
One mebibyte	1 MiB = 2^20 B = 1 048 576 B
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[christmas]]
Why are stable releases made at christmas?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This yearly present has become a tradition suspectedly because pasky worships
the christmas spirit. ;-)


[[get-256-colours]]
How can I get 256 colours?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, you must enable it in the `feature.conf` file before compiling.
	
Second, you must run ELinks on a terminal that supports 256 colours:

 - link:http://dickey.his.com/xterm/xterm.html[Thomas Dickey's XTerm],
   revision 111. XTerm must be compiled with `--enable-256-color`.

 - Recent versions of
   link:http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/[PuTTY].

Third, you must set the `TERM` environmental variable to `xterm-256color`
before running ELinks.

[NOTE]
.Only 16 colors on The Linux console
===============================================================================
Altho the Linux framebuffer supports 256 (or more) colours, the Linux console
driver does not; therefore, console applications are still limited to 16
colours on the Linux console, framebuffer or not.
===============================================================================


[[useragent]]
What User-Agent header does ELinks send?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The older ELinks versions (up to 0.4.3) send:

	ELinks ($version; $osinfo; $textmode_dimensions)

The new ELinks versions (from 0.9.0 on) send:

	ELinks/$version (textmode; $osinfo; $textmode_dimensions)

You should therefore check against something like /^ELinks[\/ ]/, since more
fields can be added inside the parenthesis in the next versions.  Note that
users can change their User-Agent through the options system.


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$Id: faq.txt,v 1.5 2005/05/24 18:21:45 jonas Exp $
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