![[BACK]](/cvsweb/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to howto.mn CVS log ![[TXT]](/cvsweb/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/cvsweb/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDTahoe / new / news / doc|
Return to howto.mn CVS log | Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDTahoe / new / news / doc |
1.1 root 1: .\" Modified 9/29/85 by Matt Bishop ([email protected])
2: .\" to work with the TROFF news document macros.
3: .ds h0 "How to Read the Network News
4: .ds h1
5: .ds h2 %
6: .ds f0 "\*(vr
7: .ds f1
8: .ds f2 "Spetember 22, 1986
9: .de Qp \" quoted command as hanging char
10: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
11: ..
12: .de Qc \" quoted command as hanging string
13: .lp "\\f3<\\s-2\\$1\\s0>\\f1" \\$2
14: ..
15: .de Op \" option as hanging string
16: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
17: ..
18: .mt
19: How to Read the Network News
20: .au
21: Mark R. Horton
22: .ai
23: AT&T Bell Laboratories
24: Columbus, OH 43213
25: .au
26: Revised by Rick Adams for 2.11
27: .bt
28: .hu
29: What is the Network News?
30: .pg
31: USENET (Users' Network)
32: is a bulletin board shared among many
33: computer systems around the world.
34: USENET is a logical network,
35: sitting on top of several physical networks,
36: including
37: .i UUCP ,
38: .i BLICN ,
39: .i BERKNET ,
40: .i X.25 ,
41: and the
42: .i ARPANET .
43: Sites on USENET include many universities,
44: private companies, and research organizations.
45: Most of the members of USENET are either
46: university computer science departments
47: or part of AT&T.
48: Currently, there are over 50,000 participants at over 2,000 USENET sites in
49: the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea with more joining every day.
50: Most are running the
51: .ux
52: operating system.
53: .pg
54: The network news,
55: or simply
56: .i netnews ,
57: is the set of programs that provide access to the news
58: and transfer it from one machine to the next.
59: Netnews was originally written at Duke University
60: and has been modified extensively by the University
61: of California at Berkeley and others.
62: Netnews allows articles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution.
63: This document contains a list of newsgroups
64: that were active at the time the document was written.
65: It exists
66: to assist you in determining which newsgroups you may
67: want to subscribe to.
68: When creating a new article,
69: the level of distribution can be controlled
70: by use of the
71: .cf Distribution
72: field.
73: This will prevent notices of apartments for rent in New Jersey
74: being broadcast to California
75: (or even Europe).
76: .pg
77: Any user can post an article,
78: which will be sent out to the network
79: to be read by persons interested in that topic.
80: You can specify which topics are of interest to you by putting them in a
81: .i "subscription list" .
82: Then,
83: whenever you ask to read news,
84: the news reading program will present all unread articles of interest.
85: There are also facilities for browsing through old news,
86: posting follow-up articles,
87: and sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an article.
88: .pg
89: This paper is a tutorial,
90: aimed at the user who wants to read and possibly post news.
91: The system administrator who must install the software
92: should see the companion document
93: .i "USENET Version B Installation" .
94: .hu
95: Why USENET?
96: .pg
97: USENET is useful in a number of ways.
98: Someone wishing to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audience.
99: A user can ask \*(lqDoes anyone have an
100: .i x ?\*(rq
101: and will usually get several responses within a day or two.
102: Bug reports and their fixes can be made quickly available
103: without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings.
104: Discussions involving many people at different locations
105: can take place without having to get everyone together.
106: .pg
107: Another facility with similar capabilities to
108: .i netnews
109: is the
110: .i "electronic mailing list" .
111: A mailing list is a collection of electronic mailing addresses of users
112: who are interested in a particular topic.
113: By sending electronic mail to the list,
114: all users on the list receive a copy of the article.
115: While the mailing list facility is quite useful,
116: USENET offers a number of advantages not present in mailing lists.
117: Getting yourself on a mailing list is not always easy.
118: You have to figure out who maintains the list and ask them to put you on it.
119: Often these people are out of town or busy,
120: and don't put you on the list for several days.
121: Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing list,
122: hoping that one of the readers will tell you who maintains the list.
123: Once you are on the list,
124: you often find yourself in the middle of a discussion.
125: Netnews keeps old articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks)
126: so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you missed.
127: Similarly,
128: referring to an old article is easy,
129: without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to the list.
130: .pg
131: Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of the system.
132: There is less overhead in having only one copy of each message
133: sent to each machine,
134: rather than having separate copies sent
135: to each of several users on the same machine.
136: This cuts down on computer time to process the messages,
137: and on-line costs for telephone calls to transfer messages
138: from one machine to another (when phone lines are used).
139: Another advantage is in the disk space consumed.
140: When only one message is sent to each system,
141: only one copy of the message is kept on disk.
142: In a mailing list environment,
143: each user has a copy in a mailbox.
144: Of course, if the mailing list is small enough the overhead is less
145: than an international newsgroup.
146: .hu
147: How do I Read News?
148: .pg
149: In the USENET jargon,
150: interest topics are called
151: .i newsgroups .
152: A newsgroup list appears in a later section,
153: current as this paper was written.
154: You have your own
155: .i "subscription list"
156: of newsgroups to which you are said to
157: .i subscribe .
158: .pg
159: The simplest way to read news is to type the command:
160: .sd c
161: readnews
162: .ed
163: Other possibilities include: a full-screen-oriented news reading program,
164: .i vnews (1),
165: (described in the Appendix,) the
166: .i notesfile
167: system, which can also be used for news (described in a separate paper,)
168: and
169: .i rn ,
170: a very popular news reading program distributed separately from this package.
171: Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented,
172: one article at a time.
173: As each article is presented,
174: you will be shown the
175: .i header
176: (containing the name of the author,
177: the subject,
178: and the length of the article)
179: and you will be asked if you want more.
180: There are a number of possible choices you can make at this point.
181: The three most common
182: .qp y , (
183: .qp n ,
184: and
185: .qp q )
186: are suggested by the program.
187: (To see a complete list of possible responses,
188: type
189: .qp ?
190: for help.)
191: You can type
192: .qp y
193: for \*(lqyes\*(rq
194: (or simply hit
195: .qc RETURN )
196: and the rest of the message will be displayed.
197: (If the message is long,
198: it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen.
199: Type
200: .qc SPACE
201: or
202: .qc RETURN
203: to see more of the message.
204: Another choice you can make is
205: .qp n
206: for \*(lqno\*(rq.
207: This means you are not interested in the message \-
208: it will not be offered to you again.
209: A third option is
210: .qp q
211: for \*(lqquit\*(rq.
212: This causes a record to be made of which articles you read
213: (or refused)
214: and you will exit netnews.
215: When you have read all the news,
216: this happens automatically.
217: The
218: .qp q
219: command is mainly useful if you are in a hurry
220: and don't have time to read all the news right now.
221: (Many users put a
222: .i readnews (1)
223: or
224: .i checknews (1)
225: command in their
226: .i .profile
227: or
228: .i .login
229: files so that they will see new news each time they log in.)
230: .pg
231: If you are reading news for the first time,
232: you may find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news,
233: especially if the default subscription is
234: .ng all .
235: Don't let this bother you.
236: If you are getting newsgroups in which you have no interest,
237: you can change your subscription list
238: (see below).
239: Also,
240: bear in mind that what you see
241: is probably at least two weeks' accumulation of news.
242: If you want to just get rid of all old news and start anew,
243: type
244: .sd c
245: readnews \-K \-n all
246: .ed
247: which will throw away all old news,
248: recording that you have seen it all.
249: Or,
250: you can use the
251: .qp K
252: command to mark all articles in the current newsgroup as read.
253: .pg
254: Once you catch up with (or ignore) all the old news,
255: the news will come in daily at a more manageable rate.
256: (If the daily rate is still too much
257: you may wish to unsubscribe to some of the higher volume, less useful newsgroups.)
258: Finally,
259: note that while an article is printing,
260: you can hit
261: your interrupt character
262: (usually
263: .qc CONTROL-C
264: or
265: .qc DELETE ),
266: which will throw away the rest of the article.
267: .pg
268: Among the other commands you can type after seeing the header
269: of an article are:
270: .Qp x 13
271: Exit
272: .i readnews .
273: This is different from
274: .qp q
275: in that the
276: .qp q
277: command
278: will update the record of which articles you have read,
279: but
280: .qp x
281: will pretend you never started
282: .i readnews .
283: .Qp N 13
284: Go on to the next newsgroup.
285: The remaining articles in the current newsgroup are considered
286: .i unread ,
287: and will be offered to you again the next time you read news.
288: .Qp "s \f2file\fP" 13
289: The article is saved in a disk file with the given name.
290: In practice,
291: what usually happens is that an article is printed,
292: and then
293: .i readnews
294: goes on to print the header of the next article
295: before you get a chance to type anything.
296: So you usually want to write out the
297: .i previous
298: message
299: (the last one you have read in full);
300: in this case,
301: use the form
302: .qp s\-
303: .i filename .
304: .Qp e 13
305: Erase the memory of having seen this article.
306: It will be offered to you again next time,
307: as though you had never seen it.
308: The variation
309: .qp e\-
310: (erase memory of the previously read article instead of
311: the current article) is useful for checking follow-ups to see
312: if anyone has already said what you wanted to say.
313: .Qp r 13
314: Reply to the author of the message.
315: You will be placed in the editor,
316: with a set of headers derived from the message you are replying to.
317: Type in your message after the blank line.
318: If you wish to edit the header list
319: to add more recipients or send carbon copies,
320: for instance,
321: you can edit the header lines.
322: Anyone listed on a line beginning with
323: .hf To
324: or
325: .hf Cc
326: will receive a copy of your reply.
327: Note that the path used to receive a piece of news may not be the fastest
328: way to reply by mail. If speed is important and you know a faster way,
329: edit it in place of what the reply command supplied.
330: A mail command will then be started up,
331: addressed to the persons listed in the header.
332: You are then returned to
333: .i readnews .
334: The case
335: .qp r\-
336: is also useful to reply to the previous message.
337: Another variation on this is
338: .qp rd\-
339: which puts you in
340: .b $MAILER
341: (or
342: .i mail (1)
343: by default)
344: to type in your reply directly.
345: .Qp f 13
346: Post a follow-up message to the same newsgroup.
347: This posts an article on this newsgroup
348: with the same title as the original article.
349: Use common sense when posting follow-ups. (Read Matt Bishop's paper
350: \*(lqHow to use USENET Effectively\*(rq for extended discussion of when
351: and when not to post -- many follow-up articles should have just been replies.)
352: You will be placed in the editor. Enter your message and exit.
353: The case
354: .qp f\-
355: is also useful to follow up the previous message.
356: In each case,
357: the editor you are placed in will be
358: .i vi (1)
359: unless you set
360: .b EDITOR
361: (in your environment) to some other editor.
362: You should enter the text of the follow-up after the blank line.
363: .Qp + 13
364: The article is skipped for now.
365: The next time you read news,
366: you will be offered this article again.
367: .Qp \- 13
368: Go back to the previous article.
369: This toggles,
370: so that two
371: .qp \- 's
372: get you the current article.
373: .Qp b 13
374: Back up one article in the current group.
375: This is not necessarily the previous article.
376: .Qp U 13
377: Unsubscribe from this newsgroup.
378: Your
379: .i \&.newsrc (5)
380: file will be edited to change the
381: .qp :
382: for that newsgroup to an
383: .qp !
384: preventing you from being shown that newsgroup again.
385: .Qp ? 13
386: If you type any unrecognized command,
387: a summary of valid commands will be printed.
388: .hu
389: Changing your Subscription List
390: .pg
391: If you take no special action you will subscribe to a default subscription list.
392: This default varies locally.
393: To find out your local default,
394: type
395: .sd c
396: readnews \-s
397: .ed
398: Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in \*(lqgeneral\*(rq
399: or \*(lqannounce\*(rq,
400: such as
401: .ng general ,
402: and
403: .ng news.announce .
404: (As distributed,
405: the default is
406: .ng general\f1,\fPall.announce .
407: Another popular default is
408: .ng all .)
409: You can change this by creating a file in your home directory named
410: .i .newsrc
411: which contains as its first line a line of the form:
412: .sd c
413: options \-n newsgroup,newsgroup,newsgroup ...
414: .ed
415: If your lines get too long,
416: you can continue them on subsequent lines
417: by beginning those lines with a space.
418: (The netnews system will put extra lines in this file
419: to record which articles you have read.
420: You should ignore these lines unless you want to edit them.)
421: For example,
422: if you are creating a subscription list for the first time,
423: and have already read news,
424: you will find some text already in your
425: .i .newsrc
426: file,
427: recording which articles you have read.
428: You should put your
429: .b options
430: line before the first line of the file.)
431: Thus,
432: .sd c
433: options \-n general,news.announce,comp.human-nets
434: .ed
435: will subscribe to those three newsgroups.
436: .pg
437: An
438: .qp !
439: can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and the word
440: .ng all
441: can be used as a wild card,
442: representing any newsgroup.
443: You can also use
444: .ng all
445: as a prefix or suffix to match a class of newsgroups.
446: For example,
447: .sd c
448: options \-n all,!talk,!rec.humor,!all.unix
449: .ed
450: will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for \*(lqtalk\*(rq group,
451: jokes,
452: and any
453: .ux
454: information.
455: The metacharacter
456: .qp .
457: is like
458: .qp /
459: to the shell,
460: and
461: .ng all
462: is like
463: .qp * .
464: .pg
465: A simpler way to subscribe to news is to subscribe to
466: .ng all ,
467: and then use the
468: .qp U
469: .i readnews
470: command to unsubscribe to newsgroups you don't want to read.
471: This way you will see new newsgroups that are created,
472: get a chance to evaluate them,
473: and then unsubscribe to those that don't interest you.
474: .pg
475: The order of the newsgroups in your
476: .i .newsrc
477: (after the options line)
478: is the order in which newsgroups will be shown.
479: If you want something other than the default,
480: move the lines around until you are satisfied with the order.
481: Be careful to keep the options line as the first line in the file.
482: .hu
483: Submitting Articles
484: .pg
485: To submit a new news article type
486: .sd c
487: postnews
488: .ed
489: First,
490: it will ask you if this is a follow-up to an article.
491: Answer
492: .b yes
493: or
494: .b no .
495: If
496: .b yes ,
497: you really should have done an
498: .qp f
499: from
500: .i readnews ,
501: but it will try and figure out which article you are following up to.
502: It will ask for the newsgroup in which you read the article
503: and the article number.
504: If you can't remember,
505: go back to
506: .i readnews
507: and find out.
508: It is important that discussions are kept together.
509: It is very frustrating for someone to read a follow-up that says:
510: \&\*(lqI agree.
511: It's very dangerous to leave that program as distributed.\*(rq
512: and not have any idea what the poster was referring to.
513: .pg
514: If you answer
515: .b no ,
516: .i postnews (1)
517: will ask you for the subject of the new article.
518: This should be as informative as possible.
519: For example,
520: .cf "'67 Porsche for sale in New Jersey"
521: is much better than
522: .cf "Car for sale"
523: or even
524: .cf "For sale" .
525: It will then ask which newsgroups you want the article posted in.
526: If you are unsure,
527: type
528: .qp ?
529: instead of a specific newsgroup
530: and it will show you the list of currently available groups.
531: Then,
532: you will be asked how far your article should be distributed.
533: It is important to keep this as small as possible
534: to accomplish the purpose of your article.
535: Remember that many newsgroups are read in Europe,
536: Australia,
537: and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada.
538: It does no good
539: (to use the previous example)
540: to post a
541: .cf "Car for sale in New Jersey"
542: article with a distribution of
543: .ng world .
544: There is almost no chance that a person in Sweden or Korea
545: would be interested in buying your car (even if it is a Porsche).
546: It is a waste of money and computer resources
547: to transmit the article that far.
548: For this specific case,
549: the appropriate distribution would be
550: .ng nj
551: or only in New Jersey.
552: If there were no local distribution available,
553: at least it should be confined to
554: .ng usa .
555: If you are unsure of the distributions available at your site,
556: type
557: .qp ?
558: instead of a distribution
559: and you will receive a list of distributions valid for your site.
560: If the distribution is
561: .ng world ,
562: your article will be read (perhaps with disgust)
563: by thousands of people around the world.
564: .pg
565: Then you will be placed in the editor.
566: Enter the text of your article,
567: after the blank line,
568: and exit the editor.
569: The article will be posted to the newsgroups specified.
570: If you change your mind about the headers while you are still in the editor,
571: you can edit them as well.
572: Extra headers can also be added before the blank line.
573: .hu
574: Browsing through Old News
575: .pg
576: There are a number of command line options to the
577: .i readnews
578: command to help you find an old article you want to see again.
579: The
580: .op \-n
581: .i newsgroups
582: option restricts your search to certain newsgroups.
583: The
584: .op \-x
585: option arranges to ignore the record of articles read,
586: which is kept in your
587: .i \&.newsrc
588: file.
589: This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you
590: subscribe to be displayed,
591: even those which you have already seen.
592: It also causes
593: .i readnews
594: to not update the
595: .i \&.newsrc
596: file.
597: The
598: .op \-a
599: .i date
600: option asks for news received after the given
601: .i date .
602: Note that even with the
603: .op \-a
604: option, only articles you have not already seen will be printed,
605: unless you combine it with the
606: .op \-x
607: option.
608: (Articles are kept on file until they expire,
609: typically after two weeks.)
610: The
611: .op \-t
612: .i keywords
613: option restricts the query to articles mentioning one of the
614: .i keywords
615: in the title of the article.
616: Thus,
617: the command
618: .sd c
619: readnews \-n comp.unix \-x \-a last thursday \-t setuid
620: .ed
621: asks for all articles in newsgroup
622: .ng comp.unix
623: since last Thursday about the setuid feature.
624: (Be careful with the
625: .op \-t
626: option.
627: The above example will not find articles about
628: .cf suid ,
629: nor will it find articles with no title or
630: whose author did not use the word
631: .cf setuid
632: in the title.)
633: .pg
634: Other useful options include the
635: .op \-l
636: option (which lists only the headers of articles \-
637: a useful form for browsing through lots of messages.)
638: The
639: .op \-p
640: option prints the messages without asking for any input;
641: this is similar to some older news programs on many
642: .ux
643: systems and is useful for directing output to a printer.
644: The
645: .op \-r
646: option produces articles in reverse order,
647: from newest to oldest.
648: .hu
649: User Interfaces
650: .pg
651: The
652: .i "user interface"
653: of a program is the view it presents to the user,
654: that is,
655: what it prints and what it allows you to type.
656: .i Readnews
657: has options allowing you to use different user interfaces.
658: The interface described above is called the \*(lqmsgs\*(rq interface
659: because it mimics the style of the Berkeley
660: .i msgs (1)
661: program.
662: (This program,
663: in turn,
664: mimics a program at MIT of the same name.)
665: The key element of the msgs interface is that after printing the header,
666: you are asked if you want the rest of the message.
667: .pg
668: Another interface is available with the
669: .op \-c
670: option.
671: In this case,
672: the entire message is printed,
673: header and body,
674: and you are prompted at the end of the message.
675: The command options are the same as the msgs interface,
676: but it is usually not necessary to use the
677: .qp \-
678: suffix on the
679: .qp r ,
680: .qp s ,
681: or
682: .qp f
683: commands.
684: This interface is called the \*(lq/bin/mail\*(rq
685: (pronounced \*(lqbin mail\*(lq)
686: interface,
687: because it mimics the
688: .ux
689: program of that name.
690: .pg
691: A third interface is the
692: .i Mail (1)
693: (pronounced \*(lqcap mail\*(rq) interface,
694: available with the
695: .op \-M
696: option.
697: This invokes the
698: .i Mail
699: program directly,
700: and allows you to read news with the same commands as you read mail.
701: (This interface may not work on your system \-
702: it requires a special version of
703: .i Mail
704: with a
705: .qp \-T
706: option.)
707: .pg
708: A fourth interface, is the MH news/mail program from Rand.
709: That program can be used directly to read network news.
710: .pg
711: A fifth interface,
712: .i vnews ,
713: which works well on display terminals, is described in the Appendix.
714: .pg
715: A sixth possibility is the
716: .i notesfile
717: system, described in a separate paper. It is also display-oriented.
718: .pg
719: A seventh interface is
720: .i rn .
721: It is quite powerful and reminiscent of the EMACS text editor.
722: .pg
723: An eighth possibility is to use your favorite mail system as an interface.
724: There are a number of different mail reading programs, including
725: .i /bin/mail (1),
726: .i Mail ,
727: .i msg (1),
728: and MH.
729: Any mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox
730: can be used to read news.
731: For example,
732: to use
733: .i Mail
734: without the
735: .qp \-M
736: option,
737: type
738: .sd c
739: readnews \-c "Mail \-f %"
740: .ed
741: The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of
742: .i readnews.
743: The
744: .qp \-f
745: option to
746: .i Mail
747: names the alternative mailbox.
748: .i Readnews
749: will put the news in a temporary file,
750: and give the name of this file to the mailer in place of the
751: .qp % .
752: There is an important difference when using this kind of interface.
753: The mailers do not give any indication of which articles you read
754: and which ones you skipped.
755: .i Readnews
756: will assume you read
757: .i all
758: the articles,
759: even if you didn't,
760: and mark them all read.
761: By contrast,
762: the
763: .op \-M
764: option uses the
765: .op \-T
766: option to
767: .i Mail ,
768: asking
769: .i Mail
770: to tell
771: .i readnews
772: which articles you read.
773: .hu
774: Getting News when you Log In
775: .pg
776: Most users like to be told when they first log in if there is any news.
777: This way they are reminded of news,
778: but are not interrupted by it during the day.
779: If you log in once in the morning,
780: you can think of getting the news as reading the morning newspaper.
781: It is common to put a
782: .i checknews
783: or
784: .i readnews
785: command in your
786: .i .profile
787: or
788: .i .login
789: file of commands that are executed when you log in.
790: .pg
791: Since there might not be any news,
792: and since the
793: .i readnews
794: command goes to a considerable amount of work to find all unread news
795: (assuming you are going to read it),
796: there is another command,
797: called
798: .i checknews ,
799: which tells you if there is any news.
800: The
801: .i checknews
802: command is smaller and faster than
803: .i readnews ,
804: and was designed especially for a login file.
805: There are also options to be silent if there is (or is not) news,
806: and to start up
807: .i readnews
808: automatically if there is news.
809: .pg
810: The options to
811: .i checknews
812: are:
813: .Op \-y 10
814: Print \*(lqThere is news\*(rq if there is any unread news.
815: .Op \-v 10
816: If
817: .op \-y
818: is also given,
819: instead of printing \*(lqThere is news\*(rq,
820: prints \*(lqNews: \fInewsgroup\fP ...\*(rq
821: giving the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
822: If
823: .ng general
824: is the first newsgroup presented,
825: this can be used to tell users whether the unread news is important.
826: .Op \-n 10
827: Print \*(lqNo news\*(rq if there is no unread news.
828: .Op \-e 10
829: If there is any unread news,
830: start up
831: .i readnews.
832: Any additional arguments after the
833: .op \-e
834: will be passed to readnews.
835: .pg
836: Thus,
837: .sd c
838: checknews \-yn
839: .ed
840: tells you whether there is any unread news.
841: .sd c
842: checknews \-e \-M
843: .ed
844: starts up
845: .i readnews
846: with the
847: .i Mail
848: interface if there is news,
849: and otherwise does nothing.
850: .sd c
851: checknews \-y
852: .ed
853: tells you if there is news,
854: and is silent if there is no news.
855: .hu
856: Creating New Newsgroups
857: .pg
858: New newsgroups are proposed by the users and created by site administrators.
859: To create a newsgroup,
860: first make sure this is the right thing to do.
861: Normally a suggestion is first posted to
862: .ng news.groups\f1,\fPwhatever.relatedgroup
863: for a world wide newsgroup
864: .ng whatever.relatedgroup "" (
865: should be the group which you are proposing to subdivide.)
866: For example,
867: to propose creating
868: .ng rec.arts.tv.soaps ,
869: post the original article to
870: .ng rec.arts.tv\f1,\fPnews.groups ).
871: Followups are made to
872: .ng news.groups
873: .i only .
874: (You can force this by putting the line:
875: .sd c
876: Followup-To: news.groups
877: .ed
878: in the headers of your original posting).
879: If it is established that there is general interest in such a group,
880: and a name is agreed on,
881: then ask your local netnews administrator to create the newsgroup.
882: (It can actually be created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net,
883: within the scope of the newsgroup.)
884: Once the newsgroup is created and the first article has been posted,
885: the newsgroup is available for all interested persons to post to.
886: .hu
887: List of Newsgroups
888: .pg
889: This section lists the newsgroups that are currently active.
890: It is intended to help you decide what you want to subscribe to.
891: Note that the list is constantly changing.
892: Note also that this list only describes those groups available
893: on a network-wide basis. Since not all installations choose to receive all
894: newsgroups, it is recommended that each installation edit the list of local
895: newsgroups to be correct before distributing this document to their users.
896: If this is not possible,
897: a local appendix can be created.
898: .hu 2
899: Local
900: .pg
901: Local groups are kept on the current machine only.
902: Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix,
903: that is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names.
904: .lp general 10
905: News to be read by everyone on the local machine.
906: For example:
907: \&\*(lqThe system will be down Monday morning for PM.\*(rq
908: Or,
909: \&\*(lqA new version of program
910: .i x
911: has been installed.\*(rq
912: This newsgroup is usually mandatory \-
913: you are required to subscribe to this newsgroup.
914: (The list of mandatory newsgroups varies locally.)
915: This requirement assures that important announcements reach all users.
916: (Formerly
917: .i msgs .)
918: .hu 2
919: Network Wide
920: .pg
921: These are the groups as of the last editing of this manual.
922: The list is undoubtably already out of date.
923: A current list can be obtained by typing
924: .qp ?
925: to the \*(lqNewsgroups? \*(rq prompt in postnews.
926: .nf
927: .ta \w'comp.protocols.appletalk 'u
928: comp.ai Artificial intelligence discussions.
929: comp.ai.digest Arpanet Artificial Intelligence Digest. (Moderated)
930: comp.arch Computer architecture.
931: comp.bugs.2bsd Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
932: comp.bugs.4bsd Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
933: comp.bugs.misc General bug reports and fixes.
934: comp.bugs.sys5 Reports of AT&T System 5 (and System 3) related bugs.
935: comp.cog-eng Cognitive engineering.
936: comp.compilers Compiler construction, etc. (Moderated)
937: comp.databases Database and data management issues and theory.
938: comp.dcom.lans Local area network hardware and software.
939: comp.dcom.modems Data communications hardware and software.
940: comp.dcom.telecom Telecommunications digest. (Moderated)
941: comp.doc Public-domain documentation. (Moderated)
942: comp.doc.techreports Announcements and lists of technical reports.(Moderated)
943: comp.edu Computer science education.
944: comp.emacs EMACS editors of different flavors.
945: comp.graphics Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing,
946: comp.graphics.digest Arpanet Digest on Computer Graphics. (Moderated)
947: comp.lang.ada The computer language Ada*.
948: comp.lang.apl The computer language APL.
949: comp.lang.c The computer language C.
950: comp.lang.c++ The object-oriented computer language C++.
951: comp.lang.forth The computer language Forth.
952: comp.lang.fortran The computer language FORTRAN.
953: comp.lang.lisp The computer language LISP.
954: comp.lang.misc Other computer languages.
955: comp.lang.modula2 The computer language Modula-2.
956: comp.lang.pascal The computer language Pascal.
957: comp.lang.prolog The computer language PROLOG.
958: comp.lang.smalltalk The computer language Smalltalk 80.
959: comp.laser-printers Laser printers, hardware and software. (Moderated)
960: comp.lsi Large scale integrated circuits.
961: comp.mail.headers Arpanet header-people mailnig list.
962: comp.mail.maps Various maps, including UUCP maps. (Moderated)
963: comp.mail.uucp Proposed uucp mail/network standards.
964: comp.newprod Announcements of new products (Moderated)
965: comp.org.decus DEC* Users' Society newsgroup.
966: comp.org.usenix USENIX Association events and announcements.
967: comp.os.cpm The CP/M operating system.
968: comp.os.eunice The SRI Eunice system.
969: comp.os.os9 The os9 operating system. (Moderated)
970: comp.os.vms DEC's VMS Operating System (Moderated)
971: comp.periphs Peripheral devices.
972: comp.protocols File Transfer Protocol discussions. (Moderated)
973: comp.protocols.appletalk Applebus hardware & software. (Moderated)
974: comp.protocols.kermit Information about the Kermit package. (Moderated)
975: comp.protocols.tcp-ip TCP and IP network protocols. (Moderated)
976: comp.sources.amiga Public Domain Software for the Amiga. (Moderated)
977: comp.sources.bugs Bugs and fixes for comp.sources postings (Moderated)
978: comp.sources.d Any discussion on comp.sources postings.
979: comp.sources.games Postings of recreational software (Moderated)
980: comp.sources.mac Public Domain Software for the Macintosh (Moderated)
981: comp.sources.unix Public Domain Software for Unix systems (Moderated)
982: comp.sources.wanted Requests for software, termcap entries, etc.
983: comp.std.c C language standards (Moderated)
984: comp.std.internat International standards
985: comp.std.mumps The X11.1 committee on Mumps (Moderated)
986: comp.std.unix The P1003 committee on UNIX (Moderated)
987: comp.sys.amiga Commodore Amiga computers -- info, uses, no programs.
988: comp.sys.apollo Apollo computer systems. (Moderated)
989: comp.sys.apple Apple computers.
990: comp.sys.atari.8bit 8 bit Atari computers.
991: comp.sys.atari.st 16 bit Atari computers.
992: comp.sys.att AT&T computers.
993: comp.sys.cbm Commodore computers.
994: comp.sys.dec DEC computers.
995: comp.sys.hp Hewlett/Packard computers
996: comp.sys.ibm.pc IBM personal computers.
997: comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest Arpanet Digest on the IBM PC family. (Moderated)
998: comp.sys.intel Intel computers.
999: comp.sys.m6809 Motorola 6809's.
1000: comp.sys.m68k Motorola 68000, 68010, 68020 based computers
1001: comp.sys.m68k.digest Arpanet Digest on 68000-based systems. (Moderated)
1002: comp.sys.mac The Apple Macintosh & Lisa
1003: comp.sys.mac.digest Arpanet Digest on Apple Macintosh computers (Moderated)
1004: comp.sys.masscomp Masscomp computers. (Moderated)
1005: comp.sys.misc Other types of computers.
1006: comp.sys.nsc National Semiconductor Computers and chips.
1007: comp.sys.pyramid Pyramid 90x computers. (Moderated)
1008: comp.sys.ridge Ridge 32 computers and ROS. (Moderated)
1009: comp.sys.sequent Sequent systems, (esp. Balance 8000). (Moderated)
1010: comp.sys.sun Sun "workstation" computers (Moderated)
1011: comp.sys.tandy Tandy/Radio Shack computers
1012: comp.sys.ti Texas Instruments computers.
1013: comp.sys.workstations Various workstation-type computers. (Moderated)
1014: comp.terminals All sorts of terminals.
1015: comp.text Text processing.
1016: comp.unix UNIX* features and bugs. (Moderated)
1017: comp.unix.questions General questions on UNIX.
1018: comp.unix.wizards Expert discussions, bug reports, and fixes for UNIX.
1019: misc.consumers Consumer interests, product reviews, etc.
1020: misc.consumers.house Owning and maintaining a house.
1021: misc.invest Investments and the handling of money.
1022: misc.jobs Job announcements, requests, etc.
1023: misc.kids Children, their behavior and activities.
1024: misc.legal Legalities and the ethics of law.
1025: misc.misc Various discussions too short-lived for other groups.
1026: misc.psi ESP,PSI, etc (Moderated)
1027: misc.taxes Tax laws and advice.
1028: misc.test Testing of network software. Very boring.
1029: misc.wanted Requests for things that are needed.
1030: news.admin Comments directed to news administrators.
1031: news.announce General announcements of interest to all. (Moderated)
1032: news.announce.conferences Upcoming conferences (Moderated)
1033: news.announce.newusers Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
1034: news.config Postings of system down times and interruptions.
1035: news.groups Discussions and lists of newsgroups
1036: news.lists News-related statistics and lists (Moderated)
1037: news.misc Discussions of USENET itself.
1038: news.newsites Postings of new site announcements.
1039: news.software.b B news software.
1040: news.software.notes Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.
1041: news.stargate Satellite transmission of news.
1042: news.sysadmin Comments directed to system administrators.
1043: rec.arts.books Books of all genres, shapes, and sizes.
1044: rec.arts.comics The funnies, old and new.
1045: rec.arts.drwho Dr. Who.
1046: rec.arts.misc Other arts related topics.
1047: rec.arts.movies Reviews and discussions of movies.
1048: rec.arts.poems Poetry.
1049: rec.arts.sf-lovers Science fiction lovers' newsgroup.
1050: rec.arts.startrek Star Trek, the TV show and the movies.
1051: rec.arts.tv The boob tube, its history, and past and current shows.
1052: rec.arts.tv.soaps Postings about TV soap operas.
1053: rec.audio High fidelity audio.
1054: rec.autos Automobiles, automotive products and laws.
1055: rec.autos.tech Technical aspects of automobiles, et. al.
1056: rec.aviation Aviation rules, means, and methods.
1057: rec.bicycles Bicycles, related products and laws.
1058: rec.birds Hobbyists interested in bird watching.
1059: rec.boats Hobbyists interested in boating.
1060: rec.food.cooking Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipes.
1061: rec.food.drink Wines and spirits.
1062: rec.food.recipes A "distributed cookbook" of recipes. (Moderated)
1063: rec.food.veg Vegetarians.
1064: rec.games.board Board games.
1065: rec.games.bridge Hobbyists interested in bridge.
1066: rec.games.chess Chess & computer chess.
1067: rec.games.empire The computer game Empire.
1068: rec.games.frp Fantasy Role Playing games.
1069: rec.games.go Go.
1070: rec.games.hack The computer game Hack.
1071: rec.games.misc Other games and computer games.
1072: rec.games.pbm Play by Mail games.
1073: rec.games.rogue The computer game Rogue.
1074: rec.games.trivia Trivia.
1075: rec.games.video Video games.
1076: rec.gardens Gardening, methods and results.
1077: rec.guns Firearms (Moderated)
1078: rec.ham-radio Amateur Radio practices, contests, events, rules, etc.
1079: rec.ham-radio.packet Packet radio setups.
1080: rec.humor Jokes and the like. May be somewhat offensive.
1081: rec.humor.d The content of net.jokes articles
1082: rec.mag Magazine summaries, tables of contents, etc.
1083: rec.mag.otherrealms A science fiction and fantasy "magazine". (Moderated)
1084: rec.misc Other Recreational/participant sports.
1085: rec.motorcycles Motorcycles and related products and laws.
1086: rec.music Reviews and discussion of things musical (Moderated)
1087: rec.music.classical Classical music.
1088: rec.music.folk Folks discussing folk music of various sorts
1089: rec.music.gaffa Kate Bush lovers. (Moderated)
1090: rec.music.gdead A group for (Grateful) Dead-heads
1091: rec.music.misc Other music related topics.
1092: rec.music.synth Synthesizers and computer music
1093: rec.nude Hobbyists interested in naturist/nudist activities.
1094: rec.pets Pets, pet care, and household animals in general.
1095: rec.photo Hobbyists interested in photography.
1096: rec.puzzles Puzzles, problems, and quizzes.
1097: rec.railroad Real and model train fans' newsgroup.
1098: rec.scuba Hobbyists interested in SCUBA diving.
1099: rec.skiing Hobbyists interested in skiing.
1100: rec.sport.baseball Professional baseball.
1101: rec.sport.basketball Professional basketball.
1102: rec.sport.football Professional football.
1103: rec.sport.hockey Professional hockey.
1104: rec.sport.misc Other spectator sports.
1105: rec.travel Traveling all over the world.
1106: rec.video Video and video components.
1107: rec.woodworking Hobbyists interested in woodworking.
1108: sci.astro Astronomy discussions and information.
1109: sci.bio Biology and related sciences.
1110: sci.crypt Different methods of data en/decryption.
1111: sci.electronics Electronic design developments, ideas, and components.
1112: sci.lang Natural languages.
1113: sci.math Mathematical discussions and puzzles.
1114: sci.math.stat Statistics discussion.
1115: sci.math.symbolic Symbolic algebra discussion.
1116: sci.med Medicine and its related products and regulations.
1117: sci.misc General purpose scientific discussions.
1118: sci.physics Physical laws, properties, etc.
1119: sci.research Research and computer research.
1120: sci.space Space, space programs, space related research, etc.
1121: sci.space.shuttle The space shuttle and the STS program.
1122: soc.college College, college activities, campus life, etc.
1123: soc.comp Computers and Society (Moderated)
1124: soc.culture.african Africa & things African
1125: soc.culture.celtic Celtics culture.
1126: soc.culture.greek Greeks culture.
1127: soc.culture.indian India & things Indian
1128: soc.culture.jewish Information and discussion about Judaism.
1129: soc.human-nets Computer aided communications digest. (Moderated)
1130: soc.misc Other Social topics
1131: soc.motss Issues pertaining to homosexuality.
1132: soc.net-people Announcements, requests, etc. about people on the net.
1133: soc.risks Risks to the public from computers (Moderated)
1134: soc.roots Genealogical matters.
1135: soc.singles Newsgroup for single people, their activities, etc.
1136: soc.women Women's rights, discrimination, etc.
1137: talk.abortion Abortion.
1138: talk.origins Evolution versus creationism (sometimes hot!).
1139: talk.philosophy Philosophical discussions (Moderated)
1140: talk.philosophy.misc Philosophical discussions.
1141: talk.philosophy.tech Philosphy and technology (Moderated)
1142: talk.politics Political problems, systems, solutions. (Moderated)
1143: talk.politics.arms-d Arms discussion digest. (Moderated)
1144: talk.politics.misc Political discussions. Could get hot.
1145: talk.politics.theory Theory of politics and political systems.
1146: talk.religion.christian The form and nature of Christianity (Moderated)
1147: talk.religion.misc Religious, ethical, and moral implications of actions.
1148: talk.rumors For the posting of rumors.
1149: .fi
1150: .bp
1151: .hu
1152: Appendix \- How to use vnews
1153: .hu 2
1154: Overview
1155: .pg
1156: .i Vnews
1157: is a program for reading USENET news.
1158: It is based on
1159: .i readnews
1160: but has a CRT-oriented (full screen) user interface.
1161: The command line options are identical.
1162: The list of available commands is quite similar,
1163: although since
1164: .i vnews
1165: is a
1166: .i visual
1167: interface,
1168: most
1169: .i vnews
1170: commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
1171: .pg
1172: .i Vnews
1173: uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display the current article.
1174: The next to the last line is the secondary prompt line,
1175: and is used to input string arguments to commands.
1176: The last line contains several fields.
1177: The first field is the prompt field.
1178: If
1179: .i vnews
1180: is at the end of an article,
1181: the prompt is
1182: .cf next? ;
1183: otherwise the prompt is
1184: .cf more? .
1185: The second field is the newsgroup field,
1186: which displays the current newsgroup,
1187: the number of the current article,
1188: and the number of the last article in the newsgroup.
1189: The third field contains the current time,
1190: and the last field contains the word
1191: .cf mail
1192: if you have mail.
1193: When you receive new mail,
1194: the bell on the terminal is rung and the word
1195: .cf MAIL
1196: appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
1197: .hu 2
1198: Commands
1199: .pg
1200: Most of the
1201: .i readnews
1202: commands have
1203: .i vnews
1204: counterparts and vice versa.
1205: Some differences are:
1206: .si
1207: .lp \(bu 5
1208: It lacks a \*(lqdigest\*(rq command (to deal specially with collections
1209: of articles bundled together).
1210: This would be nice to have,
1211: but it does not seem to be a major deficiency
1212: since you can move around in the digest with
1213: .i vnews
1214: commands.
1215: .lp \(bu 5
1216: To get to the previous group,
1217: use the
1218: .qp N
1219: command with a
1220: .qp \-
1221: argument.
1222: .lp \(bu 5
1223: .i Vnews
1224: has commands for moving around in the article which
1225: .i readnews
1226: does not have since they aren't applicable.
1227: .lp \(bu 5
1228: It has a \*(lqparent\*(rq command which will go to the article
1229: that the current article is a follow-up to,
1230: and a \*(lqwrite\*(rq
1231: command that writes out the body of an article without the header.
1232: .lp \(bu 5
1233: You can refer to the current article from the shell or
1234: while writing a follow-up as
1235: .b $A .
1236: .lp \(bu 5
1237: The \*(lqdecrypt\*(rq command (for decoding possibly offensive
1238: material) always does
1239: .i rot13
1240: which seems to be the default standard but the
1241: .i readnews
1242: version of it occasionally gets confused.
1243: .ei
1244: .hu 2
1245: Commands that differ from
1246: .bi readnews
1247: .pg
1248: Each
1249: .i vnews
1250: command may be preceded by a
1251: .i count .
1252: Some commands use the count; others ignore it.
1253: If
1254: .i count
1255: is omitted,
1256: it defaults to one.
1257: Some commands prompt for an argument
1258: on the second line from the bottom of the screen.
1259: Standard
1260: .ux
1261: erase and kill processing is done on this argument.
1262: The argument is terminated by a return.
1263: An interrupt
1264: .qc DELETE "" (
1265: or
1266: .qc BREAK )
1267: gets you out of any partially entered command.
1268: .Qc CR
1269: A carriage return prints more of the current article,
1270: or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article.
1271: A
1272: .qc SPACE
1273: is equivalent to
1274: .qc CR .
1275: .Qc CONTROL-B
1276: Go backwards
1277: .i count
1278: pages.
1279: .Qc CONTROL-F
1280: Go forward
1281: .i count
1282: pages.
1283: .Qc CONTROL-D
1284: Go forwards half a page.
1285: .Qc CONTROL-U
1286: Go backwards half a page.
1287: .Qc CONTROL-N
1288: Go forwards
1289: .i count
1290: lines.
1291: .Qc CONTROL-Z
1292: Go backwards
1293: .i count
1294: lines.
1295: .Qc CONTROL-L
1296: Redraw the screen.
1297: .qc CONTROL-L
1298: may be typed at any time.
1299: .Qp b
1300: Back up one article in the current group.
1301: .Qp l
1302: Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
1303: .Qp n
1304: Move on to the next item in a digest.
1305: .qp \*(lq\&.\*(rq
1306: is equivalent to
1307: .qp n .
1308: This is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
1309: .Qp p
1310: Show the parent article
1311: (the article that the current article is a follow-up to).
1312: This doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.
1313: To switch between the current and parent articles,
1314: use the
1315: .qp \-
1316: command.
1317: Unfortunately,
1318: if you use several
1319: .qp p
1320: commands
1321: to trace the discussion back further,
1322: there is no command to return to the original level.
1323: .Qp ug
1324: Unsubscribe to the current group.
1325: This is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
1326: and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes
1327: .i e\f1.\fPg ., (
1328: unsubscribe to discussion).
1329: .Qp v
1330: Print the current version of the news software.
1331: .Qp D
1332: Decrypts a joke.
1333: It only handles
1334: .pa rot13
1335: jokes.
1336: The
1337: .qp D
1338: command is a toggle;
1339: typing another
1340: .qp D
1341: re-encrypts the joke.
This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.