WIP: This page was originally developed for the Lynx text browser while testing
Markdown over the Finger protocol. It remains a smolnet-friendly page (with text-friendly
HTTP links) at happynetbox.com.
As I work on this site's version of the page, I'll proxy the smolnet-specific links instead.
(Gopher, Finger, etc.) because standard GUI browsers don't support them.
I want to evolve this page further into a low-bandwidth, text-friendly version. Most
links will be tested in Lynx to ensure good compatibility with terminal browsers.
| Site | Description |
|---|---|
| frogfind | Text-browser optimized search |
| Wiby | Search Engine for light websites |
| DDG Lite | The search results are regular web |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| NPR Text | Nonprofit, public-service journalism |
| CBC Lite | Canadian news with a progressive focus |
| CSMonitor Text | Non-partisan, Centrist Global News |
| The Daily Populous | What's popular on social media snapshot (hn) |
| Stallman News Notes | Richard Stallman's personal political notes |
| CNN Lite | Narrative-shaping news network |
| Daily Mail Text | Tabloid sensationalism with right-wing hammer |
| Timeswire (NYT) | News wire: articles display with lynx |
| Legible News | Text-friendly news with sources |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Hacker News: gopher | Community-driven tech aggregator (https) |
| Alterslash | Text-friendly Slashdot |
| Subreply | Text-based social media site |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Best Page / Universe | Cult-classic internet commentary |
| Usenet Archives | Organized collection of Usenet posts |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| The ASCII Art Emporium | All Things ASCII Art (https/proxy) |
| Gutenberg: Categories | Text ebooks, sorted by category |
| Gutenberg: Popular | Sorted by popularity/downloads |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| wttr: Nuuk, Greenland | Sample link: Edit location, URL |
| Low Bandwidth Weather | Smolnet-friendly: Not text browser friendly |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| NBA Boxscores | Text-friendly daily NBA Boxscores |
| Protocol | Port | Description | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| gemini | 1965 | Lightweight modern web with mandatory TLS | 2019 |
| gopher | 70 | A WWW text-based alternative | 1991 |
| spartan | 300 | Retro-friendly Gemini alternative; no TLS | 2021 |
| nex | 1900 | Unencrypted pure text-based protocol | 2023 |
| finger | 79 | First decentralized micro-blogging platform | 1971 |
| ? http | 80 | Unencrypted web browsing (light html) | 1991 |
| ? https | 443 | Secure web browsing (TLS/SSL) (light HTML) | 1994 |
This page was originally developed for lynx with the following specs.
-- Lynx-supported direct links: (https://) (gopher://) (finger://)
-- Not-supported: Proxied links: (gemini://) (spartan://) (nex://)
-- table widths are a text-browser friendly 80 columns max
-- Helpful Lynx Tips - Smooth Scrolling & Foreground Colors
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| markdown@happynetbox.com |---| Mar 24, 2026 |---| 640kb.neocities.org |
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