diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6ba98f3..c2698e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 BFG (stands for Back/Forward/Go) is a free (absolutely), open-source, cross-platform, single-script, self-contained GUI client for a number of "small web" protocols like Gopher, Finger, Nex, Spartan and Gemini.
 
 BFG is written in under 1000 SLOC of Tcl 8.6 and depends upon Tcllib, Tk (obviously) and TclTLS.
+The TclTLS dependency can be turned off in the configuration file at the expense of losing Gemini and Gopher-over-TLS support
 
 If you found any bugs, feel free to submit an issue into this repo!
 
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ The following features are already (fully or partially) supported in BFG.
 * Dynamic window title based on the current URL
 * In-page text search
 * Ini-based customization of the current Ttk theme, content fonts and colors
+* Non-TLS mode for systems without TclTLS support
 
 ## Non-supported features
 
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ The following mouse bindings are currently supported:
 BFG ships with a `bfg.ini` file that holds your configuration values and bookmarks.
 The main configuration sections are:
 
-* `[net]`: network-related configs, currently only has "timeout" parameter
+* `[net]`: network-related configs, currently has "timeout" parameter and an optional "tls" parameter
 * `[widget]`: general UI widget appearance (ttkTheme, font (button font), entryfont, statusfont)
 * `[style.general]`: general content area appearance (textfont, monofont\*, foreground color, background color)
 * `[style.link.normal]`: normal link colors (foreground, background)
@@ -177,6 +179,11 @@ The [Scroll protocol](gemini://scrollprotocol.us.to/) is essentially advertised
 
 Due to a purely technical limitation of the Gopher protocol (or rather the Gophermap format) itself, we cannot determine if a particular Gophermap entry points to a plain Gopher or a Gopher-over-TLS resource. Hence, only the links belonging to the same host/port pair that was already opened with a `gophers://` link are displayed as `gophers://` links. Everything else needs to be adjusted manually for now. Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
+### My system (or Tclkit) doesn't have TclTLS available, can I still use BFG for plaintext protocols?
+
+Sure! Just supply `tls=off` (or `0`, or `none`) in the `[net]` section of the `bfg.ini` file.
+You'll lose the ability to browse Gemini and Gopher-over-TLS resources but other protocols will be fully functional.
+
 ## Credits
 
 Created by Luxferre in 2024, released into the public domain.
diff --git a/bfg.ini b/bfg.ini
index 194bf2f..b31c879 100644
--- a/bfg.ini
+++ b/bfg.ini
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ foreground=red
 
 [net]
 timeout=5000
+tls=on
 
 [style.highlight]
 background=yellow
diff --git a/bfg.tcl b/bfg.tcl
index c32a7b6..3e2a133 100755
--- a/bfg.tcl
+++ b/bfg.tcl
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 # created by Luxferre in 2024, released into public domain
 
 package require uri
-package require tls
 package require inifile
 package require Tk
 
@@ -43,6 +42,7 @@ set bfg_highlight_fgcolor $bfg_main_fgcolor
 set bfg_highlight_bgcolor yellow
 set bfg_error_fgcolor red
 set bfg_error_bgcolor $bfg_main_bgcolor
+set bfg_tls_support 1
 
 # read configuration from ini
 set confini ""
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ set bookmarks ""
 if {$confini ne ""} {
   set val [::ini::value $confini net timeout $bfg_net_timeout]
   if {$val ne ""} {set bfg_net_timeout $val}
+  set val [::ini::value $confini net tls "on"]
+  if {$val ne ""} {set bfg_tls_support $val}
   set val [::ini::value $confini widget ttkTheme $bfg_theme]
   if {$val ne ""} {set bfg_theme $val}
   set val [::ini::value $confini widget font $bfg_widgetfont]
@@ -106,6 +108,16 @@ if {$confini ne ""} {
   ::ini::close $confini
 }
 
+# load TLS support
+if {($bfg_tls_support eq "off") || ($bfg_tls_support eq "false" || ($bfg_tls_support eq "none"))} {
+  set bfg_tls_support 0
+} else {
+  set bfg_tls_support 1
+}
+if {$bfg_tls_support eq 1} {
+  package require tls
+}
+
 # generate fonts
 foreach fid {widget entry status text mono} {
   set vname [string cat bfg_ $fid font]
@@ -392,6 +404,7 @@ proc extOpen {url} {
 # common URL downloader
 # return the contents in $bfg_response
 proc urldl {inputurl isbinary} {
+  global bfg_tls_support bfg_response
   set parts [url2dict $inputurl]
   set host [dict get $parts host]
   set port [dict get $parts port]
@@ -399,8 +412,18 @@ proc urldl {inputurl isbinary} {
   set selector [dict get $parts selector]
   set scheme [dict get $parts scheme]
   set is_tls 0
-  if {$scheme eq "gemini"} {set is_tls 1}
-  if {$scheme eq "gophers"} {set is_tls 1}
+  if {($scheme eq "gemini") || ($scheme eq "gophers")} {
+    if {$bfg_tls_support eq 0} { # report unsupported content
+      set errmsg {BFG error: TLS support is turned off in the configuration}
+      if {$scheme eq "gemini"} {
+        set bfg_response [string cat "50 " $errmsg "\r\n"]
+      }
+      if {$scheme eq "gophers"} {
+        set bfg_response [string cat "3" $errmsg "\t-\t-\t-\r\n"]
+      }
+      return $scheme
+    } else {set is_tls 1}
+  }
   set encoding "utf-8"
   if {$isbinary eq 1} {set encoding "binary"}
   reqresp $host $port $selector $is_tls $encoding