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

Introduction

Mini web browsers are designed for computing systems with a limited amount of RAM. Netsurf requirements start at 16 MB of RAM. Netsurf was originally written not for computers, but for set-top boxes, mobile phones and other smart but power-limited devices running on ARM architecture RISC processors. The article discusses the Netsurf browser port for 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.

Netsurf's license is GPL version 2, allowing 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 option- from Flatpak suitable for most Linux OS:

• Ubuntu
• Fedora
• Endless
• ChromeOS
• Redhat

Check if Flatpak is installed

flatpak --version

If you don't have Flatpak, 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 from 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 option

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".

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, if Direct connection doesn't work.

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

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 into Russian.

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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