retsurf (retro + surfing) is a web browser powered by Servo for web rendering and SDL2 for windowing and input. It doesn't require X11, Wayland, or a GPU, and provides gamepad-first navigation. The goal is to bring a fully featured web experience to devices that traditional browsers weren't designed to run on.

It runs on PortMaster-compatible handhelds, Miyoo Mini Flip and Plus running OnionOS and Allium, as well as regular desktops and Android. It renders on the device's OpenGL ES driver, or on the CPU through the software build where there is no GPU, as on the Miyoo Mini.

Work in progress. Early development — expect bugs.

Demos

Powkiddy RGB30	Miyoo Mini Flip
OpenGL ES	software build, no GPU

Screenshots

Start page	Browsing	Link hints	Keyboard

Tabs	Downloads	Reader mode	Settings

Why?

Handheld Linux devices lack good browser options. Lightweight browsers struggle with modern, JS-heavy sites, while desktop browsers rely on windowing systems, mouse and keyboard input, and more capable hardware. retsurf is an attempt to build a web browser for devices like this, combining a modern web engine with gamepad-first controls and direct rendering that requires no compositor.

Features

• Gamepad-first navigation
  Virtual cursor with stick/D-pad control, Vimium-style link hints, and an on-screen keyboard (QWERTY + ЙЦУКЕН).

• Customizable controls
  Every action is rebindable in-app or in bindings.toml: with support for taps, holds and button chords.

• Tabs, bookmarks, history, and downloads
  Everything lives in one full-screen menu. Downloads run in the background with progress and cancellation, with a toolbar chip for active downloads.

• Real page zoom
  Reflows the layout rather than magnifying it, following Firefox's 50–300% zoom ladder; zoom is per-tab.

• Reader mode
  Strips pages down to their articles using Mozilla's Readability. Runs in place, so it also works with logged-in and dynamically rendered pages.

• Dark web pages
  Uses sites' own dark themes through prefers-color-scheme, or forces a dark appearance by inverting pages that don't provide one.

• Ad & tracker blocking
  Network-level blocking powered by Brave's adblock-rust, using EasyList and EasyPrivacy. Filters are compiled and cached locally for instant warm starts and offline blocking.

• Native start page
  A search/URL field over a speed-dial grid of pins (retsurf:home), fully controller-navigable like every other overlay.

• In-app updates
  Checks GitHub for updates, displays release notes, and installs updates in place on PortMaster handhelds and Linux desktops. Supports stable, beta, and nightly channels.

• Web Audio
  Custom servo-media backend over SDL2: oscillators, gain, filters, panners, buffers, and decodeAudioData for MP3, WAV, FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, and AAC/M4A, with resampling to the context rate.

• Audio & video elements
  <audio> streams MP3, WAV, FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, and AAC/M4A as they download, with HTTP Range seeking. <video> decodes H.264-in-MP4 in software through OpenH264 and syncs to the audio track. No MSE, so this supports direct files and embeds rather than streaming sites.

• Hardware-accelerated rendering
  Servo's WebRender uses OpenGL ES 3.x with a single GL context and zero CPU readback, drawing directly into the on-screen framebuffer.

• Software rendering
  The software build replaces both renderers with CPU-based ones: SWGL rasterizes web pages, while SDL's 2D renderer draws the browser UI.

Install

Download from Releases, then:

Device	Package	Where it goes
PortMaster handhelds	retsurf-portmaster.zip	ports folder, e.g. /roms/ports/
Miyoo Mini on OnionOS	retsurf-onionos.zip	App/Retsurf/ on the SD card
Miyoo Mini on Allium	retsurf-allium.zip	Apps/Retsurf.pak/ on the SD card
Android	retsurf-android-arm64.apk	sideload it
Linux	retsurf-linux-x86_64.zip, retsurf-linux-aarch64.zip	unpack and run
Windows	retsurf-windows-x86_64.zip	unpack and run
macOS	retsurf-macos-aarch64.dmg	open it and run Retsurf.app

On both Miyoo firmwares the app shows up in the Apps menu, and MENU quits it.

Building

cargo run, once Servo's build dependencies are installed. See Building from source for the prerequisites on each OS, the Cargo features, Android, and the handheld cross-builds.

Configuration

config.toml (settings) and bindings.toml (gamepad/keyboard mappings) live in the user data dir (SDL_GetPrefPath, e.g. ~/.local/share/mxmgorin/retsurf/ on Linux). Templates with the defaults are written on first run. See Configuration & bindings for every option and the full bindings reference.

Support

If you find the project useful, here is how you can help:

• Tell other people about it. Sharing the project helps it reach more users.
• Report bugs and request features in Issues. If something is broken or you have an idea, let me know.
• Star the repo. It helps the project get noticed and keeps me motivated.

Credits

• Web rendering by Servo
• SDL2 through rust-sdl2 for window, input and audio
• egui draws every overlay, with icons from Phosphor
• Blocking by Brave's adblock-rust, over EasyList and EasyPrivacy
• Reader mode by Mozilla's Readability
• Media by Symphonia and openh264 over Cisco's codec
• TLS by rustls
• SDL2 for the Miyoo Mini by Steward Fu