Graphical web browsing from the terminal
Tutorial – Carbonyl Graphical Web Browser
This Chromium port can run inside any console, with minimal resources, and is a great tool for making old computers really useful – and learning programming along the way.
Carbonyl [1] is a fork of the 100-percent open source version of Chrome called Chromium [2], which has a unique mission: turning any Linux terminal into a modern graphical web browser. In this tutorial, I describe how Carbonyl works, how to use it on Linux, and above all, why I consider this project interesting for programmers – and much more interesting for ordinary web users.
Features and Limitations
Let me acknowledge right away that, as cool as the concept is, Carbonyl has a few serious limitations – if you compare it to "ordinary" 100-percent graphical browsers, that is, and expect Carbonyl to replace them completely. The first obvious limit is that, while Carbonyl does handle images and video streaming, it does it at a much lower resolution than any browser running on top of a full-fledged, window-based interface.
Figure 1 is a good visual introduction to both the power and the limits of Carbonyl because it shows how the text browser w3m (left) and Carbonyl (right) render a page of the Linux Magazine website.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.