How to Install and Then Use NetSurf as a Web Browser for the User-Centric Web, Not 'GAFAMNet'

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2021-06-23 15:55:46 UTC
Modified: 2021-06-23 15:57:45 UTC

Video download link

Summary: Today we take a quick look at what it's like to actually install NetSurf (some distros, like some Xfce-based ones, are bundled with it); we then take it for a spin

Some months ago I began using NetSurf more and more. I fell in love. Suddenly the memory footprint of the Web browser just fell (decreased very sharply, almost tenfold), sites that I really needed still worked mostly fine, and NetSurf rarely bothered me with updates, crashes, and all sorts of other nuisance.

"So many operating systems are supported."Today, months later, I decided to do a quick and informal review, knowing that most people never even heard about NetSurf. It's grossly underrated.

As it turns out, installing it isn't as simple as one might hope. I ended up surprised by the need to get Flatpak files (here it is in Flathub). Nevertheless, eventually NetSurf installed OK:

flatpak install flathub org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf
Looking for matches…
Required runtime for org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf/x86_64/stable (runtime/org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/19.08) found in remote flathub
Do you want to install it? [Y/n]: Y





org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf permissions:
    ipc       network               fallback-x11      wayland
    x11       file access [1]





    [1] xdg-download





        ID                                   Arch   Branch Remote  Download
 1. [Ã¢Åâ] org.freedesktop.Platform             x86_64 19.08  flathub 189.0 MB / 238.5 MB
 2. [Ã¢Åâ] org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default  x86_64 19.08  flathub  89.1 MB / 89.1 MB
 3. [Ã¢Åâ] org.freedesktop.Platform.Locale      x86_64 19.08  flathub  16.7 kB / 318.3 MB
 4. [Ã¢Åâ] org.freedesktop.Platform.VAAPI.Intel x86_64 19.08  flathub   8.7 MB / 8.7 MB
 5. [Ã¢Åâ] org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf          x86_64 stable flathub   2.3 MB / 2.3 MB





Installation complete.

One can then run:

flatpak run org.netsurf_browser.NetSurf

And off we go, I carried on recording after that:

Video download link

Details about download of the software can be found here. So many operating systems are supported. ⬆

'Dark Patterns' or a Trap at the European Patent Office (EPO): insincere if not malicious E-mail from the EPO's dictators
There's an Abundance of Articles About the New Release of Kali Linux, But This One is a Fake: It can add nothing except casual misinformation (fed back into the model to reinforce lies)
IBM's Leadership Ruining Lives of People Who Thought Working for IBM Would be OK: Nobody gets fire-lined for buying IBM?
The United States' Authorities Ought to Become Enforcers of the General Public License (GPL) for National Security's Sake: US federal agencies ought to pursue availability of code and GPL compliance (copyleft), not bans
The Problem of Microsoft Security Problems is Microsoft (the Solution is to Quit Microsoft) and "Salt Typhoon" Coverage Must Name CALEA Back Doors: Name the holes, not those who exploit them.
A "Year of Efficiency": No, we don't mean layoffs
LLM Slop Disguised as Journalism: The Latest Threat to the Web: A lot of it is to do with proprietary GitHub, i.e. Microsoft
Gemini Links 20/12/2024: Regulation and Implementing Graphics: Links for the day
Links 20/12/2024: Windows Breaks Itself, Mass Layoffs Coming to Google Again (Big Wave): Links for the day
Microsoft: "Upgrade" to Vista 11 Today, We'll Brick Your Audio and You Cannot Prevent This: Windows Update is obligatory, so...
The Unspeakable National Security Threat: Plasticwares as the New Industrial Standard: Made to last or made to be as cheap as possible? Meritocracy or industrial rat races are everywhere now.
Microsoft's All-Time Lows in Macao and Hong Kong: Microsoft is having a hard time in China, not only for political reasons
[Meme] "It Was Like a Nuclear Winter": This won't happen again, will it?
If You Know That Hey Hi (AI) is Hype, Then Stop Participating in It: bogus narrative of "Hey Hi (AI) arms race" and "era/age of Hey Hi" and "Hey Hi Revolution"
Bangladesh (Population Close to 200 Million) Sees Highest GNU/Linux Adoption Levels Ever: Microsoft barely has a grip on this country. It used to.
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, December 19, 2024: IRC logs for Thursday, December 19, 2024
Gemini Links 19/12/2024: Fast Year Passes and Advent of Code Ongoing: Links for the day
Twitter is Going to Fall Out of Top 100 Domains as Clownflare (DNS MitM) Sees It: evidence of Twitter's (X's) collapse
[Meme] Making Choices at the EPO: Decisions, decisions...
Large and Significant Error Correction in South America?: Windows now has less than half what Android achieved in terms of "market share"
Links 19/12/2024: Astronaut Record and Observer Absorbed: Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Seven Dirty Words and Isle Release v0.0.3 (Alpha): Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Nurses Besieged by "Apps", More Harms of Social Control Media Illuminated: Links for the day
15 Countries Where Yandex is Already Seen to be Bigger Than Microsoft (in Search): Georgia, Syrian Arab Republic, Cyprus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Turkey, and Russia
Links 19/12/2024: Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake and Privacy Camp: Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/12/2024: Port Of Miami Explosion, TurboQOA, Gnus: Links for the day
Fake Articles About 'Linux': Dated yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 18, 2024: IRC logs for Wednesday, December 18, 2024
FSF Has Made It Halfway to Its Target (Funding Goal) a Week Before Christmas Day: $400,000 definitely seems reachable now, especially if they extend the "deadline"
[Meme] The Master Churnalist: Speaking of press releases being passed off as "journalism"
Spamnil's TFiR: Still Pretending Press Releases Are 'Articles' (TFiR 'Originals' as Plagiarism or Fluff): Same as last year
Links 18/12/2024: Zakir Hussain Dies, TuneIn Layoffs: Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Karate Love and Advent of Code: Links for the day
Windows (or Microsoft) Has Become the "One Percent" (Market Share) in Chad: How long before it falls below 1%?
Arvind Krishna, IBM's CEO, Will Eventually Suck Up to Donald Trump Like His Predecessor Did or the Watson Family Did With Adolf Hitler: Literally Hitler
Being a Geek Need Not Mean Being Sedentary: "In the past 18 months," Berkholz writes, "I’ve lost 75 pounds and gone from completely sedentary to fit, while minimizing the effort to do so (but needing a whole lot of persistence and grit)."
GAFAM Kissing the Ring of the Mafia Don: "resistance" to dictatorship and defenders of democracy?
Slop Spaghetti From the Chef, Second Time Today: Fresh slop ready out the oven!
IBM - Like Microsoft - Lies About the Number of People It's Laying Off (Several Tens of Thousands, Not Counting R.T.O. "Silent" Layoffs and Contractors/Perma-Temps): How many waves of silent layoffs have we seen so far at IBM this year?
Links 18/12/2024: EU Launches Probe Into TikTok (At Last!): Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Doha/Qatar Trafficking, Bloat Comfort Zone, and Advent of Code 2024: Links for the day
Saving What's Left of Decent and Independent Journalism on the Web: We increasingly (over time) try to make local copies (hosted on our server) of important documents; it's hard to rely on third parties
[Meme] Microsoft's Latest Marketing Pitch: "Stop Being Poor; buy a new PC with TPMs"
In South Africa, a Very Large Nation, Web Developers Can Already Ignore Microsoft Browsers (Edge Measured Below 3% in 55 Nations): The dumb assumption you must naively test with Microsoft browsers is no longer applicable in a lot of places
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the Voice of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella: Not hard to see what they've done with the money
Microsoft Boasts That Its (Microsoft-Sponsored) "Open Source AI" Propaganda Got Cited in Media (That's Just What the Money Did): This is a grotesque openwashing campaign
In Many Places Around the World, Perhaps as Expected, Yandex is Nearly Bigger Than Microsoft (Like in Several African Countries): Microsoft may soon fall to "third place" in search
Keeping Productive This Christmas: We've (pre)paid for hosting till almost January 2026 and fully back on the saddle
IBM and Canonical Leave Money on the Table Because Microsoft Pays Them Not to Compete and Instead Market Windows, WSL, Microsoft 'Clown Computing', and TPMs: Where are the regulators?
Other Editors Who Agree "Hey Hi" (AI) is Just Hype But Won't Say So Publicly as It Might Upset Key Sponsors: Some media would gladly participate in a scam to make money
Brian Fagioli's Latest "Linux" Article Appears to be Fake: Another form of plagiarism/ripoff using bots?
IBM (and Red Hat) is a Patent Troll, Still Leveraging Software Patents to Extract Money Out of Other Companies by Suing Them: Basically, when it comes to patents, IBM is demonstrably part of the problem, not the solution
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 17, 2024: IRC logs for Tuesday, December 17, 2024

How to Install and Then Use NetSurf as a Web Browser for the User-Centric Web, Not 'GAFAMNet'

Recent Techrights' Posts