Mastodawn

Ottmar May 15, 2023

Linux users who want to read @annaleen's piece about the open social web in The Atlantic, but don't have a subscription -- the way I do it is to use Lynx, the text-based web browser, in a terminal.

If you don't have Lynx, install it, then, in a terminal:

lynx https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/social-media-centralism-fediverse/674041/

As it loads, reject any cookies with <Shift>V, and there you go.

I use this technique all the time for NYT and WP articles.

#linux
#fediverse

Social Media Has Entered Its Chaos Era

Facebook and Twitter seem less relevant by the day. They may be replaced by new “federated” platforms.

The Atlantic

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

And you linux folks know, of course, that you don't have to type that URL, because you can copy it with <Ctrl>C, then paste it into the terminal with <Shift><Ctrl>v. Less keystrokes FTW.

#linux

Vesp May 14, 2023

@dana or simple press the middle mouse button to paste it in ;)

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@Vesp If you're a mouser, yes. Some of us Olds look askance at mice, and finger our keyboards still when we can. 😜

Blinker Fluid May 14, 2023

@dana post more random terminal stuff

>cd can go back more than once
cd ../../..

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@FartsMusically top is cool. htop even more cooler. 😜

Blinker Fluid May 14, 2023

@dana I hear you, I do. I've taken it into consideration.

But for me? Personally?

glances

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@FartsMusically Hmm. Gotta check that one out.

Blinker Fluid May 14, 2023

@dana it even has an optional web console. I just use the terminal. Some guy's overkill idea for system monitoring.

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@FartsMusically Tried it just now. Better layout than top. Thanks.

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

Lynx happens to be one of the oldest web browsers out there, dating from 1992 (and still being maintained). Check it out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)

Lynx (web browser) - Wikipedia

Probably Paul May 14, 2023

@dana So using Linux and Lynx breaks paywalls and gives you the full ASCII text of articles without ads, banners, etc.? And this works for the NYT, Financial Times, and every other online publication?

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@BarrenPlanet I haven't run the test of trying it on everything, but like I said, I use it as a quick way to read articles on NYT, WP, The Atlantic, The New Republic. A bunch of folks, and Annalee themselves, suggested a few other methods too. Turned into kinda an interesting thread.

Probably Paul May 14, 2023

@dana Sounds like I need to get one of these old Debian boxes updated! I really dislike paywalls.

Thanks for letting the fedi know about this.

jrm4 May 14, 2023

@dana @annaleen

Interesting; this *always* works with Lynx?

There's gotta be a way with one of the alt graphical browsers, or perhaps even Firefox, no?

#linux #fediverse

Dana Priesing May 14, 2023

@jrm4 Always is such an absolute term. But in my experience, yes. I suspect Lynx isn't parsing some paywall script or another that these sites use. Try it, see if you like it. The wikipedia article implies that it's available, or can be ported to, Windows and Mac too.

Annaleen recommended another method as well, yesterday, for reading paywalled articles -- involving archive.ph. I'm not familiar with that technique, but you can check their feed for details.

JProl 🌍🎶💾🆓🐦May 15, 2023

https://archive.ph/www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/social-media-centralism-fediverse/674041/ then https://archive.ph/XFnC2

Mark 🖥️May 14, 2023

@jrm4 @dana
With Firefox, you can do this with reader view. Click the page icon on the right side in the address bar, or ctrl+alt+r. You might have to refresh in reader view for the full article to appear.

:dontpanic_nobg:May 15, 2023

@dana @annaleen

Or use archive.is
https://archive.is/XFnC2

Using Lynx is obviously the cooler way, but for those less cool Archive.is is a great service

archive.is

archive.is allows you to create a copy of a webpage that will always be up even if the original link is down

Zach777 Jun 11, 2023

@dana This is awesome. Thanks for the tip on using Lynx with the site.