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1.1 ! root 1: ! 2: ! 3: ! 4: ! 5: ! 6: ! 7: ! 8: ! 9: ! 10: HHHHoooowwww ttttoooo RRRReeeeaaaadddd tttthhhheeee NNNNeeeettttwwwwoooorrrrkkkk NNNNeeeewwwwssss ! 11: ! 12: ! 13: Mark R. Horton ! 14: ! 15: Bell Telephone Laboratories ! 16: Columbus, Ohio 43213 ! 17: ! 18: ! 19: ! 20: ! 21: ! 22: WWWWhhhhaaaatttt iiiissss tttthhhheeee NNNNeeeettttwwwwoooorrrrkkkk NNNNeeeewwwwssss???? ! 23: ! 24: USENET (Users' Network) is a bulletin board shared ! 25: among many computer systems in the computer science commun- ! 26: ity, around the United States and Canada. USENET is a logi- ! 27: cal network, sitting on top of several physical networks, ! 28: including uuuuuuuuccccpppp, BBBBLLLLIIIICCCCNNNN, BBBBeeeerrrrkkkknnnneeeetttt, and the AAAARRRRPPPPAAAANNNNEEEETTTT. Sites on ! 29: USENET include many universities, private companies and ! 30: research organizations. Most of the members of USENET are ! 31: either university Computer Science departments, or part of ! 32: Bell Telephone Laboratories. Currently, most USENET sites ! 33: run the UNIX* operating system. ! 34: ! 35: The network news, or simply _n_e_t_n_e_w_s, is the set of pro- ! 36: grams that provide access to the news, and transfer it from ! 37: one machine to the next. Netnews was originally written at ! 38: Duke University, and has been modified extensively by the ! 39: University of California at Berkeley. Netnews allows arti- ! 40: cles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution. ! 41: This document contains a list of newsgroups that were active ! 42: at the time it was written, to assist you in determining ! 43: which newsgroups you may want to subscribe to. When creat- ! 44: ing a new article, the level of distribution is controlled ! 45: by specifying the newsgroup. ! 46: ! 47: Any user can post an article, which will be sent out to ! 48: the network to be read by persons interested in that topic. ! 49: A user can specify which topics he or she is interested in ! 50: via a _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n _l_i_s_t. Then, whenever he asks to read ! 51: news, he will be presented with all articles of interest ! 52: that he has not yet read. There are also facilities for ! 53: browsing through old news, posting follow-up articles, and ! 54: sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an ! 55: article. ! 56: ! 57: This paper is a tutorial, aimed at the user who wants ! 58: __________________________ ! 59: *UNIX is a Trademark of Bell Laboratories. ! 60: ! 61: ! 62: ! 63: ! 64: April 8, 1983 ! 65: ! 66: ! 67: ! 68: ! 69: ! 70: - 2 - ! 71: ! 72: ! 73: to read and possibly post news. The system administrator ! 74: who must install the software should see the companion docu- ! 75: ment _U_S_E_N_E_T _V_e_r_s_i_o_n _B _I_n_s_t_a_l_l_a_t_i_o_n. ! 76: ! 77: WWWWhhhhyyyy UUUUSSSSEEEENNNNEEEETTTT???? ! 78: ! 79: USENET is useful in a number of ways. Someone wishing ! 80: to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audi- ! 81: ence. A user can ask ``Does anyone have an _x?'' and will ! 82: usually get several responses within a day or two. Bug ! 83: reports and their fixes can be made quickly available ! 84: without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings. ! 85: Discussions involving many people at different locations can ! 86: take place without having to get everyone together. ! 87: ! 88: Another facility with similar capabilities to _n_e_t_n_e_w_s ! 89: is the _e_l_e_c_t_r_o_n_i_c _m_a_i_l_i_n_g _l_i_s_t. A mailing list is a collec- ! 90: tion of electronic mailing addresses of users who are ! 91: interested in a particular topic. By sending electronic ! 92: mail to the list, all users on the list receive a copy of ! 93: the article. While the mailing list facility is quite use- ! 94: ful, USENET offers a number of advantages not present in ! 95: mailing lists. Getting yourself on a mailing list is not ! 96: always easy. You have to figure out who maintains the list ! 97: and ask them to put you on it. Often these people are out ! 98: of town or busy, and don't put you on the list for several ! 99: days. Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing ! 100: list, hoping that one of the readers will tell you who main- ! 101: tains the list. Once you are on the list, you often find ! 102: yourself in the middle of a discussion. Netnews keeps old ! 103: articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks) ! 104: so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you ! 105: missed. Similarly, referring to an old article is easy, ! 106: without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to ! 107: the list. ! 108: ! 109: Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of ! 110: the system. There is less overhead in having only one copy ! 111: of each message sent to each machine, instead of having ! 112: separate copies sent to each of several users on the same ! 113: machine. This cuts down on computer time to process the ! 114: messages, and on line costs for telephone calls to transfer ! 115: messages from one machine to another (when phone lines are ! 116: used). Another advantage is in the disk space consumed. ! 117: When only one message is sent to each system, only one copy ! 118: of the message is kept on disk. In a mailing list environ- ! 119: ment, each user has a copy in his mailbox. ! 120: ! 121: HHHHoooowwww ddddoooo IIII RRRReeeeaaaadddd NNNNeeeewwwwssss???? ! 122: ! 123: In the USENET jargon, interest topics are called _n_e_w_s_- ! 124: _g_r_o_u_p_s. A newsgroup list appears in a later section, ! 125: current as this paper was written. You have your own _s_u_b_- ! 126: _s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n _l_i_s_t of newsgroups to which you are said to ! 127: ! 128: ! 129: ! 130: April 8, 1983 ! 131: ! 132: ! 133: ! 134: ! 135: ! 136: - 3 - ! 137: ! 138: ! 139: _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e. ! 140: ! 141: To read news, type the command ! 142: ! 143: rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss ! 144: ! 145: Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented, one ! 146: article at a time. As each article is presented, you will ! 147: be shown the _h_e_a_d_e_r (containing the name of the author, the ! 148: subject, and the length of the article) and you will be ! 149: asked if you want more. There are a number of possible ! 150: choices you can make at this point. The three most common ! 151: (y, n, and q) are suggested by the program. (To see a com- ! 152: plete list of possible responses, type ``????'' for help.) You ! 153: can type ``yyyy'' for ``yes'' (or simply hit return) and the ! 154: rest of the message will be displayed. (If the message is ! 155: long, it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen. ! 156: Type space or return to see more of the message. If _r_e_a_d_- ! 157: _n_e_w_s prints a ``:'' at the end of a long message, it's wait- ! 158: ing for you to finish reading the message. Hit return and ! 159: it will go on to the next message.) Another choice you can ! 160: make is ``nnnn'' for ``no''. This means you are not interested ! 161: in the message - it will not be offered to you again. A ! 162: third option is ``qqqq'' for ``quit''. This causes a record to ! 163: be made of which articles you read (or refused) and you will ! 164: exit netnews. When you have read all the news, this happens ! 165: automatically. The quit command is mainly useful if you are ! 166: in a hurry and don't have time to read all the news right ! 167: now. (Many users put a rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss or cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss command in ! 168: their ._p_r_o_f_i_l_e or ._l_o_g_i_n files so that they will see new ! 169: news each time they log in.) ! 170: ! 171: If you are reading news for the first time, you may ! 172: find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news, espe- ! 173: cially if the default subscription is ``all''. Don't let ! 174: this bother you. If you are getting newsgroups which you ! 175: have no interest, you can change your subscription list (see ! 176: below). Also, bear in mind that what you see is probably at ! 177: least two weeks accumulation of news. If you want to just ! 178: get rid of all old news and start anew, type ! 179: ! 180: readnews -p -n all > /dev/null & ! 181: ! 182: which will throw away all old news, recording that you have ! 183: seen it all. (The '&' puts it in the background; chances ! 184: are that there is so much old news on your machine that you ! 185: won't want to wait for it all.) ! 186: ! 187: Once you catch up (or ignore) all the old news, the ! 188: news will come in daily at a more manageable rate. (If the ! 189: daily rate is still too much you may wish to unsubscribe to ! 190: some of the high volume newsgroups.) Finally, note that ! 191: while an article is printing, you can hit DDDDEEEELLLLEEEETTTTEEEE which will ! 192: throw away the rest of the article. ! 193: ! 194: ! 195: ! 196: April 8, 1983 ! 197: ! 198: ! 199: ! 200: ! 201: ! 202: - 4 - ! 203: ! 204: ! 205: Among the other commands you can type after seeing the ! 206: header of an article are: ! 207: ! 208: xxxx Exit readnews. This is different from qqqquuuuiiiitttt ! 209: in that the quit command will update the ! 210: record of which articles you have read, but ! 211: the exit command will pretend you never ! 212: started readnews. ! 213: ! 214: NNNN Go on to the next newsgroup. The remaining ! 215: articles in the current newsgroup are con- ! 216: sidered ``unread'' and will be offered to ! 217: you again the next time you read news. ! 218: ! 219: ssss _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e The article is saved in a disk file with the ! 220: given name. In practice, what usually hap- ! 221: pens is that an article is printed, and then ! 222: _r_e_a_d_n_e_w_s goes on to print the header of the ! 223: next article before you get a chance to type ! 224: anything. So you usually want to write out ! 225: the _p_r_e_v_i_o_u_s message (the last one you have ! 226: read in full); in this case, use the form ! 227: ``ssss---- _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e''. ! 228: ! 229: eeee Erase the memory of having seen this arti- ! 230: cle. It will be offered to you again next ! 231: time, as though you had never seen it. The ! 232: ``eeee----'' case is useful for checking followups ! 233: to see if anyone has already said what you ! 234: wanted to say. ! 235: ! 236: rrrr Reply to the author of the message. You ! 237: will be placed in the editor, with a set of ! 238: headers derived from the message you are ! 239: replying to. Type in your message after the ! 240: blank line. If you wish to edit the header ! 241: list, to add more recipients or send carbon ! 242: copies, for instance, you can edit the ! 243: header lines. Anyone listed on a line ! 244: beginning with ``To: '' or ``Cc: '' will ! 245: receive a copy of your reply. A mmmmaaaaiiiillll com- ! 246: mand will then be started up, addressed to ! 247: the persons listed in the header. You are ! 248: then returned to readnews. The case rrrr---- is ! 249: also useful to reply to the previous mes- ! 250: sage. Another variation on this is rrrrdddd---- ! 251: which puts you in $MAILER (or ``mail'' by ! 252: default) to type in your reply directly. ! 253: ! 254: ffff Post a follow-up message to the same news- ! 255: group. This posts an article on this news- ! 256: group with the same title as the original ! 257: article. Use common sense when posting ! 258: follow-ups; many follow-up articles should ! 259: ! 260: ! 261: ! 262: April 8, 1983 ! 263: ! 264: ! 265: ! 266: ! 267: ! 268: - 5 - ! 269: ! 270: ! 271: have just been replies. You will be placed ! 272: in the editor - enter your message and exit. ! 273: The case ffff---- is also useful to follow up the ! 274: previous message. Another case, ffffdddd----, allows ! 275: you to directly type in the followup, ! 276: without the use of an editor. If you type ! 277: this by accident, hit DEL to abort the ! 278: follow-up. In each case, the editor you are ! 279: placed in will be vvvviiii unless you set EEEEDDDDIIIITTTTOOOORRRR ! 280: (in your environment) to some other editor. ! 281: You should enter the text of the followup ! 282: after the blank line. ! 283: ! 284: ++++ The article is skipped for now. The next ! 285: time you read news, you will be offered this ! 286: article again. ! 287: ! 288: ---- Go back to the previous article. This tog- ! 289: gles, so that two -'s get you the current ! 290: article. ! 291: ! 292: UUUU Unsubscribe from this newsgroup. Your ! 293: .newsrc file will be edited to change the ! 294: ``:'' for that newsgroup to an ``!'', ! 295: preventing you from being shown that news- ! 296: group again. ! 297: ! 298: ? If you type any unrecognized command a sum- ! 299: mary of valid commands will be printed. ! 300: ! 301: CCCChhhhaaaannnnggggiiiinnnngggg yyyyoooouuuurrrr SSSSuuuubbbbssssccccrrrriiiippppttttiiiioooonnnn LLLLiiiisssstttt ! 302: ! 303: If you take no special action you will subscribe to a ! 304: default subscription list. This default varies locally. To ! 305: find out your local default, type ! 306: ! 307: rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss ----ssss ! 308: ! 309: Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in ! 310: ``general'', such as ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll, and nnnneeeetttt....ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll. (At Duke, ! 311: the default is ``general''. As distributed by Berkeley, the ! 312: default is ``general,all.general''. The Columbus default is ! 313: ``general,osg.general''. Another popular default is ! 314: ``all''.) You can change this by creating a file in your ! 315: home directory named ".newsrc" in which contains as its ! 316: first line a line of the form: ! 317: ! 318: options -n newsgroup newsgroup newsgroup ... ! 319: ! 320: If your lines get too long, you can continue them on subse- ! 321: quent lines by beginning those lines with a space. (The ! 322: netnews system will put extra lines in this file to record ! 323: which articles you have read. You should ignore these lines ! 324: unless you want to edit them.) For example, if you are ! 325: ! 326: ! 327: ! 328: April 8, 1983 ! 329: ! 330: ! 331: ! 332: ! 333: ! 334: - 6 - ! 335: ! 336: ! 337: creating a subscription list for the first time, and have ! 338: already read news, you will find some text already in your ! 339: ._n_e_w_s_r_c file, recording which articles you have read. You ! 340: should put your ooooppppttttiiiioooonnnnssss line before the first line of the ! 341: file.) Thus, ! 342: ! 343: options -n general net.general fa.human-nets ! 344: ! 345: will subscribe to those three newsgroups. ! 346: ! 347: A ``!'' can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and ! 348: the word aaaallllllll can be used as a wild card, representing any ! 349: newsgroup. You can also use aaaallllllll as a prefix or suffix to ! 350: match a class of newsgroups. For example, ! 351: ! 352: options -n all !fa.all !net.jokes !all.unix-all ! 353: ! 354: will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for ! 355: arpanet news, jokes, and any UNIX information. The meta- ! 356: character ``.'' is like ``/'' to the shell, and ``all'' is ! 357: like ``*''. ! 358: ! 359: A simpler way to subscribe to news it to subscribe to ! 360: ``all'', and then use the ``U'' readnews command to unsub- ! 361: scribe to newsgroups you don't want to read. This way you ! 362: will see new newsgroups that are created, get a chance to ! 363: evaluate them, and then unsubscribe to those that don't ! 364: interest you. ! 365: ! 366: SSSSuuuubbbbmmmmiiiittttttttiiiinnnngggg AAAArrrrttttiiiicccclllleeeessss ! 367: ! 368: To submit a new news article type ! 369: ! 370: ppppoooossssttttnnnneeeewwwwssss ! 371: ! 372: You will be prompted for the newsgroup, title, and distribu- ! 373: tion on your terminal. Then you will be placed in the edi- ! 374: tor. Enter the text of your article, after the blank line, ! 375: and exit the editor. The article will be posted to the ! 376: newsgroups specified. If you change your mind about the ! 377: headers while you are still in the editor, you can edit them ! 378: as well. Extra headers can also be added before the blank ! 379: line. ! 380: ! 381: The distribution line controls how widely your article ! 382: will be distributed. Often, you'll just hit return, causing ! 383: the article to go as far as the newsgroup name implies, ! 384: e.g., ``usa.general'' would be distributed to all USENET ! 385: sites in the USA. If you do want to change the distribu- ! 386: tion, type in the name of the newsgroup class you want it ! 387: distributed to. Although any newsgroup name can be used ! 388: here, ordinarily you'll just type the name of the newsgroup ! 389: class, e.g. ``usa'', ``net'', ``nj'', etc. (``net'' arti- ! 390: cles go to the entire world, not just the USA.) For example, ! 391: ! 392: ! 393: ! 394: April 8, 1983 ! 395: ! 396: ! 397: ! 398: ! 399: ! 400: - 7 - ! 401: ! 402: ! 403: to post an announcement of a science fiction film festival ! 404: in New Jersey, you wouldn't want to send it out to the whole ! 405: world, or even the whole United States. You could post to ! 406: ``net.sf-lovers'' with a distribution of ``nj''. When you ! 407: post something to the net, and you are prompted for the dis- ! 408: tribution, please think for a minute about who would be ! 409: interested in reading your message. Sending messages to ! 410: people who have no interest in them is one of the most ! 411: annoying problems on the net today. ! 412: ! 413: If your article is related to a previous article, you ! 414: should use the ``f'' (followup) command to readnews, instead ! 415: of posting a new article. This creates an article with ! 416: references to the previous article, so that persons unin- ! 417: terested in the topic can shut it off. Postnews should only ! 418: be used to start a new discussion. ! 419: ! 420: FFFFrrrroooommmm tttthhhheeee AAAARRRRPPPPAAAANNNNEEEETTTT ! 421: ! 422: Certain newsgroups have different conventions for post- ! 423: ing news. Rather than using iiiinnnneeeewwwwssss, ppppoooossssttttnnnneeeewwwwssss, or the ffffoooollll---- ! 424: lllloooowwwwuuuupppp command, the convention is to send mail to a particu- ! 425: lar electronic mailing address. All the ffffaaaa (from the ! 426: ARPANET) newsgroups are in this category. Although it is ! 427: possible to post news directly to the newsgroup, you should ! 428: not do this. The reason is the nature of the distribution. ! 429: ! 430: ffffaaaa newsgroups are electronic mailing lists on the ! 431: ARPANET. A number of people on the ARPANET get the mailings ! 432: directly from the mailing lists. One entry on each mailing ! 433: list is of the form ``ppppoooosssstttt----_n_e_w_s_g_r_o_u_p@@@@BBBBeeeerrrrkkkkeeeelllleeeeyyyy'' which is fed ! 434: into a program that posts the article on newsgroup ! 435: ``ffffaaaa...._n_e_w_s_g_r_o_u_p''. From there it is distributed to the other ! 436: sites on USENET. ! 437: ! 438: If you post an article directly to the newsgroup, you ! 439: will reach all the readers of that newsgroup on USENET, but ! 440: you will miss all the people getting the direct mailing on ! 441: the ARPANET. The correct way to post news to an ffffaaaa news- ! 442: group is to send electronic mail to the address listed in ! 443: the header of an article on this newsgroup (often an ARPANET ! 444: address). To follow up an ffffaaaa article, use the rrrreeeeppppllllyyyy command ! 445: of rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss, not the ffffoooolllllllloooowwww----uuuupppp command. This will insure ! 446: that ARPANET members also see the reply. Replying directly ! 447: to the author is difficult, and requires that you have the ! 448: capability to send ARPANET mail. The return address of the ! 449: author (on the ARPANET) is usually in the first line of the ! 450: article. ! 451: ! 452: BBBBrrrroooowwwwssssiiiinnnngggg tttthhhhrrrroooouuuugggghhhh OOOOlllldddd NNNNeeeewwwwssss ! 453: ! 454: There are a number of command line options to the rrrreeeeaaaadddd---- ! 455: nnnneeeewwwwssss command to help you find an old article you want to see ! 456: again. The ----nnnn _n_e_w_s_g_r_o_u_p_s option restricts your search to ! 457: ! 458: ! 459: ! 460: April 8, 1983 ! 461: ! 462: ! 463: ! 464: ! 465: ! 466: - 8 - ! 467: ! 468: ! 469: certain newsgroups. The ----xxxx option arranges to ignore the ! 470: record of articles read, which is kept in your ._n_e_w_s_r_c file. ! 471: This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you ! 472: subscribe to be displayed, even those which you have already ! 473: seen. It also causes rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss to not update the ._n_e_w_s_r_c ! 474: file. The ----aaaa _d_a_t_e option asks for news received since the ! 475: given _d_a_t_e. Note that even with the ----aaaa option, only arti- ! 476: cles you have not already seen will be printed, unless you ! 477: combine it with the ----xxxx option. (Articles are kept on file ! 478: until they expire, typically after two weeks.) The ----tttt _k_e_y_- ! 479: _w_o_r_d_s option restricts the query to articles mentioning one ! 480: of the _k_e_y_w_o_r_d_s in the title of the article. Thus, the com- ! 481: mand ! 482: ! 483: rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss ----nnnn net.unix-wizards ----xxxx ----aaaa last thursday ----tttt setuid ! 484: ! 485: asks for all articles in newsgroup net.unix-wizards since ! 486: last thursday about the setuid feature. (Be careful with ! 487: the -t option. The above example will not find articles ! 488: about ``suid'', nor about ``Setuid'', nor will it find arti- ! 489: cles with no title or whose author did not use the word ! 490: ``setuid'' in the title.) ! 491: ! 492: Other useful options include the ----llll option (which lists ! 493: only the headers of articles - a useful form for browsing ! 494: through lots of messages). The ----pppp option prints the mes- ! 495: sages without asking for any input; this is similar to some ! 496: older nnnneeeewwwwssss programs on many UNIX systems and is useful for ! 497: directing output to a printer. The ----rrrr option produces arti- ! 498: cles in reverse order, from newest to oldest. ! 499: ! 500: UUUUsssseeeerrrr IIIInnnntttteeeerrrrffffaaaacccceeeessss ! 501: ! 502: The _u_s_e_r _i_n_t_e_r_f_a_c_e of a program is the face it presents ! 503: to the user, that is, what it prints and what it allows you ! 504: to type. Readnews has options allowing you to use different ! 505: user interfaces. The interface described above is called ! 506: the ``msgs'' interface because it mimics the style of the ! 507: Berkeley mmmmssssggggssss program. (This program, in turn, mimics a ! 508: program at MIT of the same name.) The key element of the ! 509: msgs interface is that after printing the header, you are ! 510: asked if you want the rest of the message. ! 511: ! 512: Another interface is available with the ----cccc option. In ! 513: this case, the entire message is printed, header and body, ! 514: and you are prompted at the end of the message. The command ! 515: options are the same as the msgs interface, but it is usu- ! 516: ally not necessary to use the ``----'' suffix on the reply, ! 517: save, or followup commands. This interface is called the ! 518: ``/bin/mail'' (pronounced _b_i_n_n _m_a_i_l) interface, because it ! 519: mimics the UNIX program of that name. ! 520: ! 521: A third interface is the _M_a_i_l (pronounced _c_a_p _m_a_i_l) ! 522: interface, available with the ----MMMM option. This invokes the ! 523: ! 524: ! 525: ! 526: April 8, 1983 ! 527: ! 528: ! 529: ! 530: ! 531: ! 532: - 9 - ! 533: ! 534: ! 535: MMMMaaaaiiiillll program directly, and allows you to read news with the ! 536: same commands as you read mail. (This interface may not ! 537: work on your system - it requires a special version of Mail ! 538: with a ----TTTT option.) ! 539: ! 540: A fourth interface, if you have it, is the MH news pro- ! 541: gram from Rand. That program can be used directly to read ! 542: network news. ! 543: ! 544: A fifth possibility is to use your favorite mail system ! 545: as an interface. There are a number of different mail read- ! 546: ing programs, including /bin/mail, Mail, msg, and MH. Any ! 547: mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox ! 548: can be used to read news. For example, to use Mail without ! 549: the ----MMMM option, type ! 550: ! 551: rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss ----cccc "Mail -f %" ! 552: ! 553: The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of rrrreeeeaaaadddd---- ! 554: nnnneeeewwwwssss.... The -f option to Mail names the alternative mailbox. ! 555: Readnews will put the news in a temporary file, and give the ! 556: name of this file to the mailer in place of the ``%''. ! 557: There is an important difference when using this kind of ! 558: interface. The mailers do not give any indication of which ! 559: articles you read and which ones you skipped. Readnews will ! 560: assume you read _a_l_l the articles, even if you didn't, and ! 561: mark them all read. By contrast, the ----MMMM option uses the ----TTTT ! 562: option to Mail, asking Mail to tell readnews which articles ! 563: you read. ! 564: ! 565: GGGGeeeettttttttiiiinnnngggg NNNNeeeewwwwssss wwwwhhhheeeennnn yyyyoooouuuu LLLLoooogggg IIIInnnn ! 566: ! 567: Most users like to be told when they first log in if ! 568: there is any news. This way they are reminded of news, but ! 569: are not interrupted by it during the day. If you log in ! 570: once in the morning, you can think of getting the news as ! 571: reading the morning newspaper. It is common to put a cccchhhheeeecccckkkk---- ! 572: nnnneeeewwwwssss or rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss command in your ._p_r_o_f_i_l_e or ._l_o_g_i_n file of ! 573: commands that happen when you log in. ! 574: ! 575: Since there might not be any news, and since the rrrreeeeaaaadddd---- ! 576: nnnneeeewwwwssss command goes to a considerable amount of work to find ! 577: all unread news (assuming you are going to read it), there ! 578: is another command, called cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss, which tells you if ! 579: there is any news. The cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss command is smaller and ! 580: faster than rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss, and was designed especially for a ! 581: login file. There are also options to be silent if there is ! 582: (or is not) news, and to start up rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss automatically if ! 583: there is news. ! 584: ! 585: The options to cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss are: ! 586: ! 587: ! 588: ! 589: ! 590: ! 591: ! 592: April 8, 1983 ! 593: ! 594: ! 595: ! 596: ! 597: ! 598: - 10 - ! 599: ! 600: ! 601: ----yyyy Print ``There is news'' if there is any ! 602: unread news. ! 603: ! 604: ----vvvv If ----yyyy is also given, instead of printing ! 605: ``There is news'', print ``News: _n_e_w_s_g_r_o_u_p ! 606: ...'' giving the name of the first newsgroup ! 607: containing unread news. If ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll is the ! 608: first newsgroup presented, this can be used ! 609: to tell users whether the unread news is ! 610: important. ! 611: ! 612: ----nnnn Print ``No news'' if there is no unread ! 613: news. ! 614: ! 615: ----eeee If there is any unread news, start up rrrreeeeaaaadddd---- ! 616: nnnneeeewwwwssss.... Any additional arguments after the ----eeee ! 617: will be passed to readnews. ! 618: ! 619: Thus, ``cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss ----yyyynnnn'' tells you whether there is any ! 620: unread news. ``cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss ----eeee ----MMMM'' starts up rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss with ! 621: the Mail interface if there is news, and otherwise does ! 622: nothing. ``cccchhhheeeecccckkkknnnneeeewwwwssss ----yyyy'' tells you if there is news, and ! 623: is silent if there is no news. ! 624: ! 625: CCCCrrrreeeeaaaattttiiiinnnngggg NNNNeeeewwww NNNNeeeewwwwssssggggrrrroooouuuuppppssss ! 626: ! 627: New newsgroups are created by the users. To create a ! 628: newsgroup, first post an article an appropriate ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll ! 629: newsgroup suggesting the new newsgroup, (for example, for a ! 630: new nnnneeeetttt or ffffaaaa newsgroup, post to nnnneeeetttt....ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll, for a new ! 631: local newsgroup, post to ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll) with another copy to ! 632: nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss....ggggrrrroooouuuupppp, for example: ! 633: ! 634: postnews ! 635: Subject: suggested new newsgroup on literature ! 636: Newsgroups: net.general,net.news.group ! 637: ! 638: Other users will follow-up to net.news.group, giving opin- ! 639: ions about whether the suggested newsgroup makes sense, ! 640: should have a different name, etc. ! 641: ! 642: When agreement is reached and it is established that ! 643: there is interest in the topic, ask your local netnews ! 644: administrator to create the newsgroup. (It can actually be ! 645: created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net, ! 646: within the scope of the newsgroup.) Once the newsgroup is ! 647: created and the first article has been posted, the newsgroup ! 648: is available for all interested persons to post to. ! 649: ! 650: LLLLiiiisssstttt ooooffff NNNNeeeewwwwssssggggrrrroooouuuuppppssss ! 651: ! 652: This section lists the newsgroups that are currently ! 653: active. It is intended to help you decide what you want to ! 654: subscribe to. Note that the list is constantly changing. ! 655: ! 656: ! 657: ! 658: April 8, 1983 ! 659: ! 660: ! 661: ! 662: ! 663: ! 664: - 11 - ! 665: ! 666: ! 667: New newsgroups are created at the rate of about five per ! 668: month, and old newsgroups often fall into disuse. Note also ! 669: that this list is specially tailored for the Berkeley sites. ! 670: It is recommended that other installations edit the list of ! 671: local newsgroups to fit their installation before distribut- ! 672: ing this document to their users. If this is not possible, ! 673: a local appendix can be created. ! 674: ! 675: LLLLooooccccaaaallll ! 676: ! 677: Local groups are kept on the current machine only. ! 678: Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix, that ! 679: is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names. ! 680: ! 681: general News to be read by everyone on the local ! 682: machine. For example: The system will be ! 683: down Monday morning for PM. Or, a new ver- ! 684: sion of program x has been installed. This ! 685: newsgroup is usually mandatory - you are ! 686: required to subscribe to this newsgroup. ! 687: (The list of mandatory newsgroups varies ! 688: locally.) This requirement assures that ! 689: important announcements reach all users. ! 690: (Formerly mmmmssssggggssss.) ! 691: ! 692: uuuuccccbbbb ! 693: ! 694: Ucb groups are sent to all USENET machines at Berkeley. ! 695: ! 696: ucb.general Read by everyone on all ucb machines. ! 697: (Formerly aaaallllllllmmmmssssggggssss.) For example: ASUC elec- ! 698: tions are Tuesday: everyone be sure to vote! ! 699: ! 700: ucb.eats Contributions to the U. C. Berkeley Eats ! 701: guide to local restaurants. ! 702: ! 703: ucb.cs Topics of interest to the Computer Science ! 704: Division, such as new class offerings. ! 705: (Formerly ccccssssmmmmssssggggssss.) ! 706: ! 707: ucb.talks Announcements of seminars, talks, and spe- ! 708: cial classes to be held on campus. ! 709: ! 710: ucb.su-talks Announcements of seminars to be held at ! 711: Stanford. (This could be from the group ! 712: su.talks at Stanford, for example.) ! 713: ! 714: ucb.bboard An electronic bulletin board. For example: ! 715: ``Apartment for rent'', ``where can I get my ! 716: car fixed'', ``does anyone know of someone ! 717: who rents terminals to students''. ! 718: ! 719: ! 720: ! 721: ! 722: ! 723: ! 724: April 8, 1983 ! 725: ! 726: ! 727: ! 728: ! 729: ! 730: - 12 - ! 731: ! 732: ! 733: ucb.jobs Job offerings in the area. ! 734: ! 735: ucb.prelims Discussion of EECS preliminary exams for the ! 736: Ph.D. ! 737: ! 738: ffffaaaa ! 739: ! 740: FA groups are "from the arpanet" and are mostly copies ! 741: of mailing lists or ``digests'' distributed on that network. ! 742: (A digest is a collection of mail put together by an editor ! 743: and sent out every so often. It is much like a newsletter.) ! 744: A special convention applies to submissions to FA news- ! 745: groups. As previously described, you should not post ! 746: directly to the newsgroup, since this will be seen by people ! 747: on USENET but not by the people on the arpanet who get the ! 748: list directly mailed to them. Instead, send mail to the ! 749: return address on any article, by using the reply command to ! 750: rrrreeeeaaaaddddnnnneeeewwwwssss. For example, to post to ffffaaaa....hhhhuuuummmmaaaannnn----nnnneeeettttssss, the reply ! 751: command might mail to cccchhhhiiiiccccoooo!!!!uuuuccccbbbbvvvvaaaaxxxx!!!!CCCC77770000::::hhhhuuuummmmaaaannnn----nnnneeeettttssss (if chico ! 752: is the proper route to get to ucbvax - this route varies ! 753: depending on your system). FA groups and their correspond- ! 754: ing mailing lists can reach a very large user community, ! 755: including USENET sites on UUCP, Berknet, BLN, and the ! 756: ARPANET, as well as sites on the ARPANET which are not on ! 757: USENET, who get the news via direct electronic mailing. ! 758: ! 759: fa.arms-d People worried about nukes. ! 760: ! 761: fa.arpa-bboard Announcements that are posted to all arpanet ! 762: bboards are also fed into this newsgroup. ! 763: ! 764: fa.digest-p People who deal with digests. Mostly the ! 765: people who moderate them. ! 766: ! 767: fa.editor-p Interest group in computer editors, both ! 768: text and program. ! 769: ! 770: fa.energy Topics relating to alternate energy produc- ! 771: tion, conservation, etc. ! 772: ! 773: fa.human-nets A daily moderated digest with discussions of ! 774: computer-aided human-to-human communica- ! 775: tions. Probably the most widely read ! 776: ARPANET publication. ! 777: ! 778: fa.info-cpm CP/M and other operating systems for micro ! 779: computers. ! 780: ! 781: fa.info-micro Micro processor discussions. ! 782: ! 783: fa.info-terms Opinions/queries about what's a good/bad ! 784: computer terminal. ! 785: ! 786: ! 787: ! 788: ! 789: ! 790: April 8, 1983 ! 791: ! 792: ! 793: ! 794: ! 795: ! 796: - 13 - ! 797: ! 798: ! 799: fa.info-vax VAX interest group. Seems to be mostly VMS ! 800: issues, but some hardware discussions too. ! 801: ! 802: fa.poli-sci Political Science discussions digest. ! 803: ! 804: fa.sf-lovers Science Fiction book/movie reviews, etc. ! 805: ! 806: fa.space Digest containing comments on the space pro- ! 807: gram and outer space in general. ! 808: ! 809: fa.tcp-ip Digest relating to the TCP and IP network ! 810: protocols. ! 811: ! 812: fa.telecom Technical topics relating to telecommunica- ! 813: tions, especially the telephone system. A ! 814: digest recently spun off from fa.human-nets. ! 815: ! 816: fa.teletext Teletext discusses all aspects of ``eso- ! 817: teric'' data systems. This includes ! 818: teletext, viewdata, closed-captioning, and ! 819: digicasting. ! 820: ! 821: fa.unix-cpm CPM/UNIX discussions. ! 822: ! 823: fa.works Interest group on personal workstations ! 824: (e.g. Apollo, Perq, Xerox Star, etc). ! 825: ! 826: nnnneeeetttt ! 827: ! 828: Net groups are intended to be available to all people ! 829: on the entire network who read netnews. This does not mean ! 830: they go to every machine, since some machines restrict the ! 831: volume of news that comes in. It is assumed that users of ! 832: such restricted machines can read news on another machine on ! 833: which they have a login. Net groups reach all of USENET ! 834: (including USENET sites on the ARPANET) but do not reach any ! 835: sites that are not on USENET. That is, USENET is defined as ! 836: all sites that nnnneeeetttt....ggggeeeennnneeeerrrraaaallll reaches. ! 837: ! 838: This list is already out of date. An up to date list ! 839: is posted to newsgroup net.news periodically. See the docu- ! 840: mentation file ``doc/nglist'' for a more recent list. ! 841: ! 842: net.general Articles to be read by everyone on the whole ! 843: net. ! 844: ! 845: net.applic Functional programming (applicative) ! 846: languages. ! 847: ! 848: net.auto Notes of interest to owners of particular ! 849: cars. Main subgroup is nnnneeeetttt....aaaauuuuttttoooo....vvvvwwww for own- ! 850: ers of Volkswagon Rabbits. ! 851: ! 852: ! 853: ! 854: ! 855: ! 856: April 8, 1983 ! 857: ! 858: ! 859: ! 860: ! 861: ! 862: - 14 - ! 863: ! 864: ! 865: net.aviation Private pilots. ! 866: ! 867: net.bugs Bug reports and fixes. Subscribing to ! 868: nnnneeeetttt....bbbbuuuuggggssss gets all bug reports, but bugs are ! 869: normally posted to one of nnnneeeetttt....bbbbuuuuggggssss....2222bbbbssssdddd, ! 870: nnnneeeetttt....bbbbuuuuggggssss....4444bbbbssssdddd, nnnneeeetttt....bbbbuuuuggggssss....vvvv7777, or nnnneeeetttt....bbbbuuuuggggssss....uuuussssgggg, ! 871: (for the 2nd and 4th Berkeley Software Dis- ! 872: tribution, Version 7, or UNIX system III & ! 873: V,) as appropriate. ! 874: ! 875: net.chess Interest group for computer chess. This ! 876: newsgroup is gatewayed into an ARPANET mail- ! 877: ing list but appears as a normal newsgroup ! 878: to USENET, so it is called nnnneeeetttt....cccchhhheeeessssssss instead ! 879: of ffffaaaa....cccchhhheeeessssssss. ! 880: ! 881: net.columbia Newswire items and comments on the Space ! 882: Shuttle, and on the space program in gen- ! 883: eral. ! 884: ! 885: net.cooks Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipies. ! 886: ! 887: net.cycle Motorcycle interest group. ! 888: ! 889: net.eunice Topics of interest to sites running SRI's ! 890: Eunice system, which simulates UNIX on VMS. ! 891: ! 892: net.games Discussion of computer games (of the ! 893: /usr/games/variety). Subgroups include ! 894: nnnneeeetttt....ggggaaaammmmeeeessss....rrrroooogggguuuueeee, nnnneeeetttt....ggggaaaammmmeeeessss....ffffrrrrpppp (for fantasy ! 895: role playing games,) and nnnneeeetttt....ggggaaaammmmeeeessss....ttttrrrriiiivvvviiiiaaaa. ! 896: ! 897: net.ham-radio Topics of interest to amateur radio opera- ! 898: tors. ! 899: ! 900: net.jokes The latest good joke you've heard. Jokes ! 901: are expected to be kept clean and unoffen- ! 902: sive. Offensive jokes can be posted ! 903: ``encrypted'', by rotating each letter 13 ! 904: places in the alphabet, and mentioning the ! 905: reason for encryption in the subject. This ! 906: prevents people from accidently decrypting ! 907: something that will offend them. (The tr ! 908: program or /usr/lib/news/caesar can be used ! 909: to rotate a joke.) ! 910: ! 911: net.lan Local area network interest group. ! 912: ! 913: net.lsi Large Scale Integrated Circuit discussions. ! 914: ! 915: net.misc Miscellaneous discussions that start in ! 916: net.general but are not permanent enough for ! 917: their own newsgroup. ! 918: ! 919: ! 920: ! 921: ! 922: April 8, 1983 ! 923: ! 924: ! 925: ! 926: ! 927: ! 928: - 15 - ! 929: ! 930: ! 931: net.movies Movie reviews by members of USENET. ! 932: ! 933: net.music Computer generated music. ! 934: ! 935: net.news Discussion of netnews itself. Subgroups ! 936: discuss or post various aspects of netnews, ! 937: including nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss....bbbb for the B version of ! 938: netnews, nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss....ggggrrrroooouuuupppp for discussions ! 939: about proposed new newsgroups, nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss....mmmmaaaapppp ! 940: to post maps of USENET or ! 941: additions/corrections to previously posted ! 942: maps, nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss....nnnneeeewwwwssssiiiitttteeee to announce a new ! 943: site. nnnneeeetttt....nnnneeeewwwwssss itself is used for discus- ! 944: sions relating to USENET policies and the ! 945: like, rather than any specific software. ! 946: ! 947: net.oa Office Automation/Word Processing interest ! 948: group. ! 949: ! 950: net.periphs Queries and discussions about particular ! 951: peripherals. (``Does anyone have a driver ! 952: for a framus-11?'') ! 953: ! 954: net.rec Recreational games. This differs from ! 955: nnnneeeetttt....ssssppppoooorrrrtttt in that nnnneeeetttt....rrrreeeecccc discusses games ! 956: where one generally participates, but ! 957: nnnneeeetttt....ssssppppoooorrrrtttt is for spectator sports. ! 958: nnnneeeetttt....ggggaaaammmmeeeessss is for computer type games. Sub- ! 959: groups of nnnneeeetttt....rrrreeeecccc include nnnneeeetttt....rrrreeeecccc....bbbbrrrriiiiddddggggeeee for ! 960: contract bridge discussions, nnnneeeetttt....rrrreeeecccc....ssssccccuuuubbbbaaaa ! 961: for scuba divers, and nnnneeeetttt....rrrreeeecccc....sssskkkkiiii for ! 962: skiers. ! 963: ! 964: net.records Discussions of phonograph records, albums, ! 965: record stores, etc. ! 966: ! 967: net.rumor For posting of rumors. ! 968: ! 969: net.sources Large bulky items are distributed here. ! 970: People don't usually want to read this news- ! 971: group, rather it is used for software dis- ! 972: tribution. ! 973: ! 974: net.space Undigested, immediate distribution version ! 975: of fa.space. ! 976: ! 977: net.sport Spectator sports. Subgroups include ! 978: nnnneeeetttt....ssssppppoooorrrrtttt....bbbbaaaasssseeeebbbbaaaallllllll, nnnneeeetttt....ssssppppoooorrrrtttt....ffffoooooooottttbbbbaaaallllllll, and ! 979: nnnneeeetttt....ssssppppoooorrrrtttt....hhhhoooocccckkkkeeeeyyyy. ! 980: ! 981: net.taxes Tax advice and queries. ! 982: ! 983: ! 984: ! 985: ! 986: ! 987: ! 988: April 8, 1983 ! 989: ! 990: ! 991: ! 992: ! 993: ! 994: - 16 - ! 995: ! 996: ! 997: net.test Test messages are posted here. Generally ! 998: this is not interesting to ordinary readers. ! 999: If you must post something here, please ! 1000: explain why in the message, and please use ! 1001: the smallest distribution newsgroup (e.g. ! 1002: test or ucb.test) possible. ! 1003: ! 1004: net.travel Requests, suggestions, and opinions about ! 1005: traveling. ! 1006: ! 1007: net.ucds Circuit drawing system. ! 1008: ! 1009: net.unix-wizardsARPANET mailing list for UNIX Wizards. Any- ! 1010: thing and everything relating to UNIX is ! 1011: discussed here. This list is gatewayed to ! 1012: the ARPANET mailing list but appears like a ! 1013: regular nnnneeeetttt newsgroup to USENET. ! 1014: ! 1015: net.wines Information and recommendations about wines ! 1016: and alcoholic beverages. ! 1017: ! 1018: ! 1019: ! 1020: ! 1021: ! 1022: ! 1023: ! 1024: ! 1025: ! 1026: ! 1027: ! 1028: ! 1029: ! 1030: ! 1031: ! 1032: ! 1033: ! 1034: ! 1035: ! 1036: ! 1037: ! 1038: ! 1039: ! 1040: ! 1041: ! 1042: ! 1043: ! 1044: ! 1045: ! 1046: ! 1047: ! 1048: ! 1049: ! 1050: ! 1051: ! 1052: ! 1053: ! 1054: April 8, 1983 ! 1055: ! 1056:
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