Comments on: Text-mode MeFi?

Text-mode MeFi?

d. z. wang — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:25:52 -0800

Reading works just fine already, either via RSS or just a text-mode browser. Posting is a little harder. Links, Elinks, and w3m all seem baffled by the login---Elinks, for example, reloads the login page, while w3m gets back to the question but then asks me to log in again. Does anyone know why this is so? Is there some common unsupported standard that prevents these browsers from logging in? (Note: It happens with a lot of sites that need login, not just MeFi.)

By: enn

enn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:48:49 -0800

I'm using Links (X just fucking keeled over and died on me, again ... damn it) to post this and it seems to be working. I had no problems logging in.

By: empath

empath — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:49:51 -0800

Probably has to do with cookies. I bet most text browsers don't support them.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:53:38 -0800

I've had issues logging in with w3m and lynx in the past, but it was usually resolvable by explicitly heading to the home page after logging in and getting a weird hang or redirect. Have you tried that?

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:07:40 -0800

I was going to say that I was having a similar problem with my blackberry browser, but then it let me log in just now. Hmmm.

By: chrisamiller

chrisamiller — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:36:46 -0800

Just tried links. I had to reload the main page after logging in to get the expected links to my profile, etc.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:30:06 -0800

I think links & elinks cache relatively aggressively, so, er, what chrisamiller said: reload.

By: majick

majick — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:19:53 -0800

"...cookies. I bet most text browsers don't support them."

That's crazy talk. I can't think of a character cell browser that doesn't support cookies in a current version. I'm pretty sure even www has cookie support these days.

In any case, w3m works fine for me once you reload.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:32:46 -0800

Is it using text-mode browsers that give ppl the confusion over where ye goddamn title shows up, then?

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:05:41 -0800

Yeah, this website's level of support of Cyberdog is pretty deplorable too.

By: majick

majick — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:13:33 -0800

That's because the unencrypted login page doesn't exist any more and Cyberdog can't do anything beyond SSL 2 (if it can even muster itself to do that). Cyberdog works if you're just reading and not logged in (I'm looking at it in my Chubby Bunny window right now), although it's mighty ugly. See the awesome screenshot?

By: d. z. wang

d. z. wang — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:01:05 -0800

Oh, how silly of me not to think of caching. Thanks!

@bonaldi: No, in my experience it's posting for the first time that gives ppl that confusion. I'll know better next time.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:41:33 -0800

Man, you cannot make a joke about obsolete software on MetaFilter without getting burned. Thanks majick. I guess now I have to resort to snide comments about how the page is too wide for my TI-82.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:36:29 -0800

Lifehacker has a screen mod for that using parts from old gameboys, Deathalicious.