I feel like I’m one of the few people who actually used lynx before I had a graphical browser
The thing is in the Win 3.1 days getting a working TCP/IP stack could be really hard, even if you had Trumpet Winsock. Couldn’t get it working, so did a bunch of my early browsing using the dial-in Chebucto Freenet free internet service using a dial-in DOS BBS client, and it had lynx integrated for browsing the web and PINE for email
This was probably about 1993. In retrospect I guess that’s right when lynx first got internet support in the first place? But at the time I just kind of knew of it as an option that exists. Definitely had a proper browser working by about 1994 or so, I remember we ended up switching to the university’s ISP and installing an early version of Netscape
My timeline was a couple years later, but also via a Freenet (AzTeC). That freenet is also why I preferred emacs for a long time (yeah, I know, but I'm never gonna learn vi) and also why I have ptsd from trying to get uuencodes of binaries.
But I was also still using Lynx in, like, 2013 to get the download links to Giant Bomb's Unprofessional Fridays so I could tell my server at home to grab that and send it to the TiVo while I was at work, and everything would be ready for me to watch when I got home at 11pm that night.
Lynx really was the best/fastest way to surf the internet.
I don't think I'd like to try it with today's ad-parasite infested garbage... if it isn't just straight up blocked by some bit of CDN/javascript bullshit.
Hm.
