Yes, it’s possible to browse the internet on a 1980s 4.77MHz IBM PC running DOS with just 640KB of RAM, but you’ll need MicroWeb. The latter is essentially a web browser for DOS, and it uses a 16-bit real mode application, designed to run on minimal hardware.
To run MicroWeb, all you need is a computer with an Intel 8088 or compatible CPU, CGA / EGA / VGA / Hercules compatible graphics card. a network interface, and a mouse (optional). Just note that there are limitations to this web browser, such as not being able to display CSS or graphics and run Javascript. Fortunately, there’s FrogFind, which renders barebones versions of websites specifically for vintage computers.
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MicroWeb uses Michael Brutman’s mTCP networking library for the network stack. You will need a DOS packet driver relevant to your network interface,” said the developers of MicroWeb.
[H/t: Hackaday]
