dpk’s weblog

and I have trouble getting the X server to see the right amount of video memory. It turns out it’s because the default Dell Dimension 3000 BIOS options only allocate 1MB to the video card, rather than the extremely beefy 8MB(!!). Anyways..

At 1MB of video RAM you are pretty much stuck with a max of 640×480 and 16 bit color. I wasn’t too interested in trying a graphical browser in such a small space, so I went to the old standby, lynx. A quick “aptitude install lynx” and I’m ready, right?

$ lynx http://www.google.com/
Alert!: HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request
   Google
            Error
                                  Bad Request

     Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request.

What the hell? I try all sorts of things, eventually running “strace -s65536 lynx” to figure out what it is sending. Here’s what I found:


write(3, "GET / HTTP/1.0rnHost: www.google.comrnAccept: text/html, text/plain, application/vnd.sun.xml.calc, application/vnd.sun.xml.calc.template, application/vnd.sun.xml.draw, application/vnd.sun.xml.draw.template, application/vnd.sun.xml.impress, application/vnd.sun.xml.impress.templaternAccept: application/vnd.sun.xml.writer, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.global, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.math, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.template, application/x-archive, application/x-bzip, application/x-gzip, application/x-lharnAccept: application/x-lzop, application/x-rar, application/x-tar, application/x-tarz, application/x-tbz, application/x-tgz, application/x-tzo, application/x-zip, application/x-zoo, application/pdf, application/x-shellscript, text/english, text/x-c++rnAccept: text/x-c++hdr, text/x-c++src, text/x-c, text/x-chdr, text/x-csrc, text/x-java, text/x-makefile, text/x-moc, text/x-pascal, text/x-tcl, text/x-tex, application/x-deb, application/x-rpm, application/x-dia-diagramrnAccept: application/x-bzip-compressed-tar, application/x-compress, application/x-compressed-tar, application/x-java-archive, application/x-stuffit, application/ghostview, application/postscript, application/x-gnumeric, text/comma-separated-valuesrnAccept: application/vnd.ms-excel, application/x-applix, application/x-troff-man, image/avs, image/bie, image/x-ms-bmp, image/cmyk, image/dcx, image/eps, image/fax, image/fits, image/gif, image/gray, image/gradation, image/hdf, image/jpeg, image/pjpegrnAccept: image/map, image/miff, image/mono, image/mtv, image/x-portable-bitmap, image/pcd, image/pcx, image/pdf, image/x-portable-graymap, image/pict, image/png, image/x-portable-anymap, image/x-portable-pixmap, image/ps, image/rad, image/x-rgbrnAccept: image/rgba, image/rla, image/rle, image/sgi, image/sun-raster, image/targa, image/tiff, image/uyvu, image/vid, image/viff, image/x-xbitmap, image/x-xpixmap, image/x-xwindowdump, image/yuv, image/svg+xml, image/svg, image/fax-g3, image/x-epsrnAccept: image/x-jng, image/x-xbm, video/x-mng, image/bmp, image/x-xpm, text/xml, application/x-ogg, application/ogg, audio/mpeg, audio/x-mpegurl, audio/x-ms-wax, audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-pls, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mpeg, video/quicktimernAccept: video/x-mpeg2, video/x-mpeg, video/x-ms-afs, video/x-ms-asf, video/x-msvideo, video/x-ms-wma, video/x-ms-wmv, video/x-ms-wmx, video/x-ms-wvx, audio/mpegurl, audio/x-mp2, audio/x-mp3, application/x-staroffice, application/vnd.stardivision.calcrnAccept: application/vnd.stardivision.chart, application/vnd.stardivision.draw, application/vnd.stardivision.impress, application/vnd.stardivision.math, application/vnd.stardivision.writer-global, application/vnd.stardivision.writer, audio/x-mpegrnAccept: application/x-flac, application/x-gtar, audio/x-ogg, application/x-dvi, application/msword, application/mspowerpoint, application/vnd.ms-word, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/rtf, application/x-msword, application/x-msexcelrnAccept: application/x-mspowerpoint, application/wordperfect, application/wordperfect5.1, application/vnd.wordperfect, application/x-abiword, text/abiword, text/richtext, text/rtf, text/*, application/x-debian-package, audio/basic, */*;q=0.01rnAccept-Encoding: gzip, compressrnAccept-Language: enrnUser-Agent: Lynx/2.8.5rel.1 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 GNUTLS/1.0.16rnrn", 3348) = 3348


This is from a stock Sarge install, with nothing more added than lynx, epic4, screen, and a couple of small programs. I’m not sure why Lynx would feel the need to send all of that, by default. :) Anyways, if you get this error, here’s the fix:

DISPLAY= lynx http://www.google.com/

(mind the gap)