HTML for DOS

links

Status: Active through 2025. Excellent Graphical and text browser.
Core links: [homepage] [wikipedia] [cwsdpmi]

elinks

Status: Active through 2025. Another excellent and currently maintained DOS text browser.
Core links: [homepage] wikipedia [cwsdpmi] [tips] [about]

DilloDOS

Status: version 3.0.2b from 2013. Graphical browser that remains a premiere solution for DOS users. Its rendering engine is still effective today on many sites.
Core links: [download 1] [download 2] [download 3] [nullpkt]

Arachne

Status: version 1.99 from 2021. Internet suite containing an excellent graphical browser. The most famous and influential browser for DOS. It gave us hope during a time when everyone was transitioning away from DOS.
Core links: [wikipedia] [download]

Lynx

Status: version 2.9.0dev.5 from 2021. Still remains a premiere browser for DOS with support for additional protocols.
Core links: [Community Edition w/TLS] [v2.8.5 for DOS] [v2.8.5 download]

MicroWeb

Status: active through 2025. A new entry into the DOS Browser space. 16-bit real mode graphical browser.
Core links: [github]

Bobcat

Status: c. 1998. Text-based browser based on Lynx, not a Lynx port.
Core links: [download standard] [download latest] [What is Bobcat?]

DOSLynx

Status: c. 1997. DOS text-based browser with drop-down menus. I personally love the way it's put together with drop-down menus, color scheme, etc. Lots of old school charm. Sadly... weaker html rendering.
Core links: [home] [download] [readme]

WebSpyder

Status: 2.1 beta 2 from 1998. DOS graphical browser based on Arachne.
Core links: [download] [wikipedia] [2.1 announcement]

Webboy

Status: latest version 1998. DOS graphical browser. Great UI but weak rendering engine. Trial downloads still available.
Core links: [Webboy Home] [download]



HV

Status: latest version 1999. HV - a graphical offline viewer - works with WWW/LX to turn it into a full browser. Needs int5f to run in regular DOS.
Core links: [WWW/LX Home] [download] [int5f/TSR]

Minuet

Status: latest version 1994. Text-based. The best TUI for an internet suite, multiple windows. HTML rendering nearly non-existant (pre-HTML 2.0).
Core links: [wikipedia] [download] [download]

Net-tamer

Status: latest version 1998. Text-based Internet suite. Poor HTML 3.2 rendering.
Core links: [home] [download]

Own

Status: latest version 1997. Open World Navigator (Own) - text-based offline browser, works with 'gethttp.exe' to transform it into an online browser. Decent HTML coverage for its time.
Core links: [download]

Yan

Status: latest version 2001 or 2003. Both an online/offline browser. HTML rendering produces wall of text (missing blank linefeeds). John Lewis page for latest.
Core links: [home] [download] [john lewis]

Spin

Status: latest version late-90s (?). Saturnus Personal Internet Navigator: Spin.
A graphical browser. Never saw a general release to the public (beta requests only). No downloads anywhere. From my testing in the late-90s: Needed a 486+ and more RAM that any of its competitors.
Core links: [Original Site/Docs]



Alice

Status: latest version 2001 (?). Small graphical browser for DOS & embedded DOS.
Core links: [Home Page] [Current site]

smxbrowser

Status: latest version 2001 (?). Light DOS & embedded DOS browser. Note: I could never get the DOS demo to run on various machines.
Core links: [Graphical MicroBrowser] [Browser Demo Instructions]

Skipper / WebMagick

Status: latest version 2002 (?). Browser that was part of Breadbox Ensemble (which ran on top of DOS).
Core links: [screenshots] [youtube] [download] [download] [search wayback] [PC/GEOS]

SSH

Status: latest update 2021. SSH for DOS as a means to access browsers on remote machines.
Core links: [SSH2DOS]

curl for DOS

Status: Active, 2025. curl for DOS is a tool that can be used to retrieve web pages (along with resources for many other protocols). This is one of the few programs I have not tested. Binaries and sources available.
Give the page (http://mik.dyndns.pro) time to load. If it fails the first time, come back several minutes later and try again (re: dyn).
Core links: [DOS curl] [downloads] [FreeDOS post]

Viewht25

Great viewer, can even handle modern sites (stripping away stuff it doesn't understand and displaying content in a readable way.
Core Links: [download] [download] [download] [Solway's Software Page]

View

View, convert and print Wordperfect, Word, Ami Pro, Wordstar, Write, Notepad, HTML, ASCII, ANSI and UNIX files. The HTML viewer excellently converts (to text) and displays with smooth, line-by-line, scrolling.
Core Links: [download] [view113a.zip & view111.zip]

dview172

Strips all the html tags away, all the render and display the unaltered text.
Core Links: [download] [download]

IntraDOS

A 300kb powerhouse. More than just a viewer. It's an internal (offline) LAN-based browser.
Core Links: [download] [download]

htmlvw

It's only 8.4kb and... yet so fast at stripping tags and displaying!
Core Links: [download]

knots

I always loved knots. It was a lightweight local graphical browser that was visually appealing to me. It has some issues with smooth scrolling and HTML support but when it worked, it was a thing of beauty.
Screenshots: [startup] [features] [limitations] [future of knots]
Core Links: [download] [download] [download]

Elvis

An editor that renders html and shows you the rendered output. It's an editor and a viewer. On some systems (windows and linux), it's also a browser.
Core Links: [wikipedia] [home]



ev

Extreme Viewer (ev.exe arstechnica.htm): failed. The program nearly crashed my system.

heavy

Limited to 32kb files as a viewer. Untested this as an editor. The Ars Technica test page is 132kb in size.

highview

highv126.zip: highview file.htm : multiple issues. Scrolling not smooth, displayed text not well aligned, missing linefeeds.

hlist064

hlist.exe file.htm : failed. Only managed to display a few links from the top of the test page (Ars Technica). Nothing else displayed. Also... five lines are used to display file and program information. Too much lost screen real estate.

hlist081

hlist.exe file.htm : failed. Smooth scrolling, very fast load and display but... it loaded too much non-content (css, script info) and failed to display actual content because it was overwhelmed.

htmlv10c

I tested this a long time ago. On even simple html, it would report errors and crash. I did not retest.

l_h

Found L_H inside hpg13.zip. Long ago determined this was not a good html viewer. Did not retest.

vhtml12

vhtml.exe : It is like the more command. Displays one screen at a time. No ability to PgUp. No smooth scrolling. There is no way to exit until you reach the end of the file. Its html rendering is basic.

h2t151b

h2t151b.zip: lots of command-line options to fine tune the output (that can be reused in a batch file). Performed excellently on my test HTML page (Ars Technica).
Core links: to follow...



h2txt102

h2txt102.zip: failed. Displayed 100s of lines of internal html non-content from modern HTML page. Scrolled more than half-way through document in order to start seeing actual content. The content itself not extracted well: shortened sentences, line breaks - not very readible.
Core links: to follow...

htm2txt1

Included about 500 lines (80 characters/line) of non-content from modern HTML page. Does not process the content in a readable way: no linefeeds (ie, wall of text). Fail.
Core links: to follow...

htmlco20

htmlco20.zip: Fail. Same issues as above. Displays hundreds of lines of non-content HTML. Displays the actual content in a difficult to read manner.
Core links: to follow...

htmstrip

htms0208.zip: Fail. Very surprised by this. This had always been a great program for HTML conversion to text. It not only displayed the recurring issue with HTML non-content being shown but it failed to produce any of the actual content itself. It's still the most powerful converter with tons of INI options. It just needs less modern HTML.
Core links: to follow...

frogfind.com

The Search Engine for Vintage Computers.

SSL Client Test

Tests SSL/TLS capabilities of your browser.

cwsdpmi

Provides DPMI services for DOS. A few DOS browsers require this.

nullpkt

Fakes a Packet Driver. This allows some programs to run even without a real packet driver. (note: works great!)

int5f/TSR

run programs written for the HP 200/LX computer.

htmlc200

Superb HTML-based Calendar Creator. htmlcal.exe /a will generate all 12 months of the current year. Many more options are available via command line switches. Protip: In Linux, rename all filenames in the current directory to lower case (the program outputs filenames in All Caps):

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

I've included here a sample of its 12-month output for 2024 (htmlcal /a) and its original documentation (the document is original - not a word changed; I just stylized it a bit). Direct download here too.

DOS Software Sites

Disk Operating System