Using Lynx

When you type lynx at the $ prompt, the home page of Tennessee Tech's World-Wide Web server will appear. Note that a short list of Lynx commands also appears at the bottom of the screen.

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Viewing Local Campus Information

Example - The Computer Center at Tennessee Tech

  1. At the $ prompt, type: lynx
  2. Press the down arrow key until Computer Center is highlighted under Offices, Services, and Organizations, then press: [ENTER]
  3. To move through the document, press: [PAGE DOWN] or [SPACEBAR]
  4. To return to TTU's home page, press: m and then y for yes

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Viewing Information Elsewhere on the Internet

Example - Upper Cumberland Area

  1. Press [SPACEBAR] to move to the second page
  2. Select: Beyond TTU
  3. Select: Cookeville Area Information
  4. Select: Attractions and Recreational Opportunities
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Saving Information in a File

  1. Press: p
  2. Press: [ENTER](to save to a local file)
  3. Press [DELETE] and rename the file as recreation.txt then press [ENTER]
  4. To return to TTU's home page, press: m and then y for yes
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Getting On-Line Help with Lynx

  1. Press: h
  2. Select: Lynx Users Guide
  3. To move up a level, press: u
  4. Press u again to return to the home page
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Setting Up Bookmarks

Bookmarks allow you to customize your view of the Web, and provide a quick way to access frequently-used items.
Example - Daily Headline News Summary
  1. From the home page, select: World-Wide Web Info by Subject
  2. From the next page, select: Yahoo - A Guide to WWW
  3. Select: News
  4. Select: Current Top Headlines
  5. After browsing a bit, return to the News from Reuters Online page, and press u to go up a level
  6. To save as a bookmark, press a and then l
  7. Press u to get back to the Yahoo Subject Index
Example - List of Internet Resources about Cats
  1. Select: Recreation
  2. Select: Animals, Insects, and Pets
  3. Select: Cats
  4. Press: u
  5. To save this page as a bookmark, press a and then l
  6. To view a list of bookmarks, press: v
  7. Select one of them
  8. To return to TTU's home page, press: m and then y for yes
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Using Search Engines

Another way of finding information on the Web is by using search programs such as Lycos and Webcrawler.

Locating Files Retrieved by Lynx

  1. To get a list of files in your directory, type: dir
  2. Note the file recreation.txt
  3. To type this file out on your screen, type: type recreation.txt
  4. Get a list of files in your directory again by typing: dir
  5. Note the file named lynx_bookmarks.html. This is the file where your bookmarks are stored. Do not delete it unless you want to lose your bookmarks.
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Connecting to a Specific URL

You can also get to a specific site on the Web more directly, by specifying its address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A URL is of the form:

protocol://host/directory_path/filename

Example: http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/schedule/96s/acct.html

To use lynx to access a URL, type lynx followed by the URL

Example - US House of Representatives

  1. At the $ prompt, type: lynx http://www.house.gov/
  2. Select: The Legislative Process
  3. Select: Recent House Floor Actions
  4. Press: u
  5. To save this page as a bookmark, press a and then l
  6. To view bookmark list, press: v
  7. To remove an item from the bookmark list, highlight it and press r, and then y for yes
  8. To exit Lynx, press: q
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Maintained by:
Academic Computing Support
D.W. Mattson Computer Center
Tennessee Technological University
Revised August, 1996