Netsurf Mini Web Browser

November

2025

linux

25 November 2025 11:34

Netsurf is an alternative web browser that is written in C and uses its own engine.

Introduction

Mini web browsers are intended for computing systems with limited RAM. Netsurf's requirements start at 16 MB of RAM. Netsurf was originally written not for computers, but for TV set-top boxes, mobile phones, and other smart but limited-power devices running on ARM RISC processors. This article discusses a port of the Netsurf browser to personal computers running Linux and Mac OS, for x86/x64 (amd64) architectures.

The web browser is compatible with HTML 4.01, CSS 2.1, HTTPS, Unicode standards and understands almost everything image formats. The engine built into the browser is written in C language - similar in speed and code compactness to Assembly language and machine codes. To display 2D graphics, the stable and free GTK library is used.

Netsu licenserf - GPL version 2 allows users to freely use, modify and redistribute the software, provided that any modified versions are also released under the same license. The GPL version 2 was released in June 1991 and is widely used in open source software projects.

Netsurf Home Page -https://www.netsurf-browser.org/.

Installing NetSurf

First installation way - from Flatpak is suitable for most Linux OS:

Ubuntu
Fedora
Endless
ChromeOS
Redhat

Check if Fl is installedatpak

flatpak --version

If Flatpakno, follow the instructions for your OS. OS selection page:https://flathub.org/ru/setup.

Installation from the command line for all users of this computer of the flathub application source

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Installing NetSurf из Flathub

sudo flatpak install flathub org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf

Installation option for current user only:

flatpak install --user flathub org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf

Second installation way

sudo apt install netsurf-common netsurf-fb netsurf-gtk

Launch of Netsurf

flatpak run org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf

or in the "Start" menu - "Internet" - "NetSurf Web Browser".
netsurf-start

Settings

I immediately recommend replacing the home page and search engine:

Hamburger menu - Edit - Preferences - Main - Startup page:

https://html.duckduckgo.com/html

Search
*Provider DuckDuckGo

Network setup:

"Network" - "HTTP Proxy"
*Proxy type - System settings, если Direct connection does not work.

Close. Close your browser and launch again to apply the changes.

Enable JavaScript в Edit - Preferences - Content - Enable JavaScript doesn't work, no effect.

Checking NetSurf operation

You can perform a search or directly open a simple web page. for example, weather forecast:

*rp5.ru

Features of the NetSurf browser

1) Javascript doesn't work.
2) The menu is not translated into Russian.
3) The display of sites is most often incorrect. Browser understands CSS style sheets not completely.
4) Low use of RAM - up to 36 MB.
5) Documentation has not been translated from English to other languages.

Uninstalling NetSurf Browser

sudo flatpak uninstall flathub org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf
flatpak uninstall --user flathub org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf

sudo apt remove netsurf-common netsurf-fb netsurf-gtk  libvncserver1

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