What is Bobcat?  

Bobcat aspires to be a text WWW browser. 

In the big picture, Bobcat is a project that I dreamed up to
amuse myself.  I like to dabble with code as a hobby.  I'm not
very good, so things can get pretty messy.  

Before Bobcat I played with altering DOSLYNX, but there came a
point in which it started frustrating me more than being fun.  At
that time I knew it was time to try something new.  I have always
liked Lynx.  It is a great web browser!  I really wanted to see
it work in plain DOS, even though I knew there would be some
painful limitations.  I also knew there were other people looking
into making 386 and Windows versions so I figured I would give it
a try.

Bobcat, by definition, means a small Lynx.  The name was picked
to imply that it is a less mature sibling to the Lynx browser. 
Bobcat started life as Lynx2-4-2. The reason 2-4-2 was chosen is
because starting at 2-5, many files in the Lynx distribution
became too big to compile out of the package targeted towards a
plain DOS version. There have been many changes since 2-4-2,
however, it does support many things that DOSLYNX didn't.  I have
also made many modifications to Bobcat's original behavior to
make it more functional.

Taking the 2-4-2 base, I then added PDCurses2.2, WATTCP, SPAWNO
and bits of DOSLYNX and Lynx2-6 code. I then mixed vigorously in
Borland C++ 3.1 until it actually compiled.  The first step,
getting it to compile into an EXE, was deceptively simple.
However, as many hackers know, you can get a LOT of code to
compile and still not have it do anything.

After that I made personal decisions on what to support. Although
it may disappoint some people, news support is not in Bobcat. It
didn't ever work correctly in DOSLYNX and I didn't feel it was a
priority. Gopher and Ftp will be hopefully work to some degree,
but they are not the top priority.  The important thing, as far
as I am concerned, is good web support. This is the reason for
cutting corners on the other features.  There is a new feature
added to Bobcat that will allow people to define external
programs for certain URLs.  Hopefully this will help compensate
for Bobcat's shortcomings.

This new Lynx for DOS is a big switch from DOSLYNX. It is Curses
based, so it looks like the real Lynx. It does not have pull down
menus or a multiple document interface. I prefer the real Lynx
interface which is partially why I made the switch in
development. Other good reasons for starting with a new code base
are instant support for forms, numeric links, view source,
history list and other features which were not available in
DOSLYNX.

The first version of Bobcat has severe memory constraints because
of the way the original Lynx was designed.  In Un*x, programs
assume they have unlimited memory and the programs are coded as
such.  Bobcat has yet to have memory checking added to it, so
when you run out of the tiny amount of conventional memory
available it will very unceremoniously drop you to the DOS
prompt.

Bobcat is NOT a Lynx port.  It is a work based on Lynx.  This
means that it can not keep up with the current Lynx development
nor can Lynx patches be added to Bobcat.  Hopefully, some of the
forthcoming 386 and Windows ports will have this ability.

I am pretty excited about having a new variant of Lynx to play
with. I hope other people will be receptive.
 
 If you have comments or suggestions you can send them to bobcat@fdisk.com. 
 Please remember that this is a hobby and I do it solely for fun.  Flames
 will be publicly ridiculed.

  No payment has been given for the
work done so far and none is expected for continued use of the
program. Obscene, no-strings-attached, gratuitous donations of
cash will, however, be gleefully accepted *grin* but if you
really have nothing better to do with your money then donate some
to a thoughtfully chosen charity.

Licence:

The pieces of code that Bobcat is based on all have their own
licence agreements and my arrangement of them should in no way
revoke any of their individual licences.  On top of that, the
Bobcat program itself and my contributing code is copyright  
1997 Wayne Buttles to be distributed freely and without charge in
source and executable form.  

The program can be modified and repackaged, but it must continue
to be free except for nominal copying charges.  Part of this
"restriction" is placed on Bobcat by the original Lynx licence on
which much of the code is based.  

Bobcat comes with no warranty of fitness for any purpose.  By
using this software you are agreeing to take responsibility for
any adverse consequences.