USING THE SLRN NEWS READER TO READ USENET NEWS

slrn is a news reader that allows you to access USENET newsgroups using a text based environment. To get started with slrn, type the following command:

pegasus% slrn

If this is your first time using a news reader, then you may not have a .newsrc file. This file holds settings and user preferences for slrn. If this file is missing, then you will get an error message similar to the following when you first run slrn:

Unable to open /home/pegasus/compserv/testid/.newsrc.
If you want to create /home/pegasus/compserv/testid/.newsrc, use the command:
slrn -f /home/pegasus/compserv/testid/.newsrc -create

In order to create a .newsrc file, start slrn as follows:

pegasus% slrn -f .newsrc -create

This will create the .newsrc file and start slrn. The first screen that comes up will have the list of groups that you are subscribed to. If this is your first time, you will not be subscribed to any newsgroups that UCF has access to. After starting the first time, slrn checks for the existence of new newsgroups and automatically subscribes to them. You can unsubscribe from these newsgroups once you get to the News Groups Screen; you can also add more newsgroups whenever you want. The screen for first time users will look something like the following:

slrn 0.8.4 ---     Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit.

      743  alt.test
       27  alt.testing.testing
       26  news.announce.newusers
     1542  news.answers
       77  news.groups.questions
    11486  news.newusers.questions
      293  news.software.readers
      128  alt.test.test
       22  alt.test.group
        2  alt.test.testing
       87  alt.test.a
       65  alt.test.yer.posts
       24  alt.test.d
       48  alt.test.only
       22  alt.test.one
        9  alt.test.my.new.group
        7  alt.test.jt
        9  alt.test.test2
       10  alt.test.obi-wan
        6  alt.test.big.al
       10  alt.testing.dammit

-*-News Groups --alt.test                                   -- 1/22 (Top)
SPC:Select  p:Post  c:CatchUp  l:List  q:Quit  ^R:Redraw  (u)s:(Un)Subscribe

The top line of the screen shows the version of slrn and the keys for help and quit. The <?>key will show you the commands and their descriptions. The <q>key will exit you from the program.

Below the top line is a list of newsgroups you are subscribed to, divided into 3 columns. The first column on the left is used to select the newsgroups. By using the cursor keys, you can position the arrow to the newsgroup you wish to read. The number in the second column shows the number of articles in each newsgroup. The third column on the right shows the name of the newsgroup.

The second to last line on the screen shows what group has been selected and what number it is among the groups you are subscribed to. The last line lists commands that you can use on this screen. More commands that you can use are listed later in this section.

ADDING NEW GROUPS

When you first use slrn, you will not be subscribed to any newsgroups. At present, there are over 9,000 news groups available. To see them all, press <SHIFT>-<L>. At the bottom of the screen, you will see 'List Groups(e.g., comp*unix*):'. Type '*.*' and press <ENTER>. All groups will then be listed. The 'u' preceding the groups means that you are not subscribed to those groups. If you follow the above steps and only 5,000 new groups are pulled in, exit slrn by pressing <q>. Then type the following command:

pegasus% slrn -create

Note: If you have used slrn previously, then typing the above command will unsubscribe you from all groups you are currently subscribed to. You will have to resubscribe to them once you are in slrn.

In order to search for a particular group, press the </>key. At the bottom of the screen you will see 'Search:'. Type a group name or a general topic you are interested in and press <ENTER>. You will be taken to the group you typed in or to the nearest group that has the word you typed in it. To subscribe to the news group, press the <s> key. For example, a search on 'food' will display the following:

slrn 0.8.4 ---    Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit.



->U     0  alt.food
  U     0  alt.food.chocolate
  U     0  alt.food.cocacola
  U     0  alt.food.coffee
  U     0  alt.food.dennys
  U     0  alt.food.fast-food
  U     0  alt.food.fat-free
  U     0  alt.food.ice-cream
  U     0  alt.food.low-fat
  U     0  alt.food.mcdonalds
  U     0  alt.food.professionals
  U     0  alt.food.sushi
  U     0  alt.food.taco-bell
  U     0  alt.food.waffle-house
  U     0  alt.food.wine
  U     0  alt.forsale
  U     0  alt.forsale.nutrition
  U     0  alt.fractal-design.painter
  U     0  alt.fraternity.sorority
  U     0  alt.freaks
  U     0  alt.freedom.of.information.act

-*-News Groups --alt.food                                   -- 656/9083  (7%)
SPC:Select  p:Post  c:CatchUp  l:List  q:Quit  ^R:Redraw  (u)s:(Un)Subscribe

There is another way to search for a topic you are interested in. Say you wanted to see what newsgroups were available dealing with food. First, press <SHIFT>-<L>and at the 'List Groups' prompt, enter *.food.*. This will display any group with the word food in the middle (examples are rec.food.baking and alt.food.sushi). Then move the arrow to the groups you want and press <s>to subscribe. When you are done, press <SHIFT>-<L>again and only the groups you are subscribed to will be listed.

Four groups we recommend you subscribe to are:

ucf.pegasus

ucf.talk

ucf.config

ucf.pegasus.news

These groups contain information about Pegasus and about UCF in general. They also serve as a question and answer forum for all UCF computer users.

SUMMARY OF NEWS GROUP SCREEN COMMANDS

Command Description

space Enter the newsgroup you have selected with the arrow. The < enter > key will also work.

p Post a message to the newsgroup you are currently reading.

c Mark all the articles in the newsgroup as read. Useful when a newsgroup is full of articles that you do not want to read.

l Show a listing of articles based on a given search string. You are prompted for a search pattern. Wild card characters may be userd in the search pattern.

L Display all available news groups. You are prompted for a search pattern to show only those groups meeting a specific pattern (e.g. ucf*.* to show only the ucf.groups)

q Exit from the current screen. If you are in the newsgroup screen, you will esit slrn.

^R Redraw the screen. Userful for when garbage appears as a result of a noisy telephone connection.

s Subscripe to the newsgroup pointed to by the arrow.

u Unsubscribe from the newsgroup pointed to by the arrow.

/ Search for a particular newsgroup. You are prompted for a search pattern. slrn will then find the first group with the same text as what was entered and place the arrow on that group.

NAVIGATING SLRN

Once you have selected a newsgroup, a listing of the articles within that group will be displayed. Below is an example of article screen for the ucf.talk newsgroup:

slrn 0.8.4 ---    Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit.

->  -    9:[John Doe    ]    Roommate wanted $212/mo rent.
    -   37:[John Q Stude]    ROOMMATE WANTED!!!
    -    8:[Jane Doe    ]    Question....

News Group: ucf.talk                                        -- 1/3 (Top)
SPC:Select  Ctrl-D:PgDn  Ctrl-U:PgUp  d:Mark-as-Read  n:Next  p:Prev  q:Quit

To read an article, position the arrow in the first column by using the cursor keys and press either <SPACE>or <ENTER>. Once you have selected an article, the screen will split into two parts. The top part (also known as the summary window) shows a list of articles in the newsgroup and the bottom part (also known as the article window) is the text of the article you have selected. A sample screen is shown below:

slrn 0.8.4 ---    Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit.
->  D   37:[John Q Stude]    ROOMMATE WANTED!!!



News Group: ucf.talk                                        -- 1/1 (Top)
From: abc12345@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (John Q Student)



Newsgroups: ucf.talk

Subject: ROOMMATE WANTED!!!

Date: 14 May 1997 21:06:18 GMT

Organization: University of Central Florida

I'm looking for a reasonably sane individual (male, female, other) to share a beautiful 2 BR/2 Bath poolside apartment at River Park beginning June 1. River Park is located just off of Dean Rd. about 5 min. from UCF. 2 Pools, Hot Tubs, Workout Room, Volleyball, Canoeing, Tennis, Private Entrance to Jay Blanchard Park and LOTS more. $330/month plus 1/2 utilities.

I attend UCF and work at a local radio station. I have a lot of fun, but I'm not a party animal. I'm a pretty easygoing guy with an excellent, if somewhat twisted, sense of humor. I'm also very serious

  5023 : ROOMMATE WANTED!!!                                 -- 1/43 (Top)
SPC:Pgdn  B:PgUp  u:Un-Mark-as-Read  f:Followup  n:Next  p:Prev  q:Quit

If the text in the article window is larger than one screen, press the space bar to move to the next page. When you are at the end of the article, you will see 'At end of article, press SPACE for next unread article'. Pressing <SPACE>again will automatically move you to the next article. If you want to return to the beginning of the article, press the <DELETE>key. If you wish to skip to a different article or thread, use the arrow keys to select another article in the index in the summary window. Moving around in the summary window will note affect the article window unless you select a new article/thread or you exit the group you are currently in.

To delete an article you do not wish to read, press the <d> key. When you exit from the group, all articles you read or deleted will be removed. To save an article that was marked as deleted, highlight it and press the <u>key.

To forward an article to another user, display the article and press <SHIFT>-<F>. You will see 'Forward to (^G aborts):' at the bottom of the screen. Either type the email address of the user you want to send the article to, or <CTRL>-<g>to cancel the article forwarding. An example screen follows:

slrn 0.8.4 ---    Press '?' for help, 'q' to quit.
->  D    3:[Pegasus Help]    Testing
    -   36:[Kevin R Wals]    ROOMMATE WANTED!!!
 



News Group: ucf.test                                        -- 1/2 (Top)


From: help@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Pegasus Help)
Newsgroups: ucf.test
Subject: Testing
Date: 12 May 1997 21:45:43 GMT
Organization: University of Central Florida

This is a test article.

100 : Testing
                                             -- 1/9 (Top)



Forward to (^G aborts): abc12345@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

If you are reading an article and wish to read the next new article, press the <n>key. To move to the previous unread article, press the <p>key. If you use <n>to go to the next unread article and you are at the end of the group, you will see 'No following unread articles. Press 'n' for other groups' at the bottom of the screen. If you press <n>again, the next group will be displayed along with the number of unread articles in parenthesis after the group name. If you wish to enter that group, press <ENTER>. If you continue to press <n>, it will scroll down the list of groups you are subscribed to until you reach the end of the list.

To exit slrn, press the <q>key until you see 'Do you really want to quit? ([y]/n)'. Press the <y>key to exit slrn.

POSTING AN ARTICLE

To post a new article to a group from the News Group Screen, move the arrow to the group you want to post to and press <p>. You will be asked if you are sure you want to post; press <y>. You will see 'Newsgroup: (name of chosen newsgroup here)'. Press <ENTER>, or type the name of a different group there. If you are already within a news group, press <SHIFT>-<p>to post an article. You will then be prompted for a subject. Type in the subject for your posting and press <ENTER>. You will then be placed into the pico editor (the same editor that PINE uses). Editing commands are located at the bottom of the screen. Move the cursor below the 'Summary:' field and type in your article. Below is a sample screen:

UW PICO(tm) 2.7     File: /ucf0/pegasus/v/vanilla/.article        Modified

Newsgroups: ucf.talk

Subject: test article
Organization: University of Central Florida
Reply-To:
Followup-To:
Keywords:
Summary:

This is where you would type in your article.




^G Get Help  ^O WriteOut  ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg   ^K Cut Text  ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit      ^J Justify   ^W Where is  ^V Next Pg   ^U UnCut Text^T To Spell

When you are done, press <CTRL>-<x>and then <y>when you are asked if you want to save the modified buffer. Press <ENTER>when the default name for the buffer appears. You will then be asked if you want to post the message; press <y>to post it.

To post a followup to an article you are reading, press the <f>key and then the <y>key when you are asked if you are sure you want to follow up. You, along with a copy of the article, will then be placed into the pico editor where you can type your followup. When you are finished, press <CTRL>-<x>. You will see 'Post the message? Y-es, N-o, E-dit'. Press <y>to post your followup, <n>to cancel, and <e>to go back into pico.

To reply directly to the author of an article you are reading, press <r>. Once in pico, type in your message and press <SHIFT>-<x>when you are done.

Summary of Article Screen Commands

Command Description

space If you in the article selection screen, <space> will display the selected article. If you are reading an article, <space> will scroll down through it. If you are at the end of an article, you will be asked if you want to go to the next unread article.

DEL Move to the top of an article.

d Delete an article you do not want to read. Reading an article will also mark it for deletion.

u Undelete an article you have read or marked for deletion using the <d> key.

f Post a followup or reply to the article you are reading.

n Move to the next unread article.

p Move to the previous unread article.

/ Search for a particular article. You are prompted for a search pattern. slrn will then find the first article with the same text as what was entered and place the arrow on that article.

GETTING HELP

The commands at the bottom of each screen in slrn are context sensitive. That means slrn will display commands appropriate to what you are doing at the present time. Sometimes the command you need will not be displayed on the mini help menu, so more help is available by pressing <SHIFT>, and <?>. This is what the first of the help screens looks like:

Note: The keys are case sensitive!  That is, 's' and 'S' are not the same.

Also some commands take a prefix argument. This means press ESC, then
press a digit followed by desired command key sequence.

Subscribing/Unsubscribing Hints:

1. Press CAPITAL 'L' and enter the name of the groups to display, e.g.,
*.music.* to see all 'music' groups.
2. Move to the group you want to subscribe to and then press 's'.
Repeat this step for each group.
3. Press the Capital-L key again to display only subscribed groups.

Commands that affect the current group:

P Post an article to the current newsgroup
SPACE, RETURN *Select the current newsgroup.
*Note: With a prefix argument, unread articles are selected too.
s Subscribe to the current newsgroup

Press 'q' to quit help, or any other key to continue.

Command	Description
space	Enter the newsgroup you have selected with the arrow. The < enter > key will also work.
p	Post a message to the newsgroup you are currently reading.
c	Mark all the articles in the newsgroup as read. Useful when a newsgroup is full of articles that you do not want to read.
l	Show a listing of articles based on a given search string. You are prompted for a search pattern. Wild card characters may be userd in the search pattern.
L	Display all available news groups. You are prompted for a search pattern to show only those groups meeting a specific pattern (e.g. ucf. to show only the ucf.groups)
q	Exit from the current screen. If you are in the newsgroup screen, you will esit slrn.
^R	Redraw the screen. Userful for when garbage appears as a result of a noisy telephone connection.
s	Subscripe to the newsgroup pointed to by the arrow.
u	Unsubscribe from the newsgroup pointed to by the arrow.
/	Search for a particular newsgroup. You are prompted for a search pattern. slrn will then find the first group with the same text as what was entered and place the arrow on that group.

Command	Description
`space`	If you in the article selection screen, <`space`> will display the selected article. If you are reading an article, <`space`> will scroll down through it. If you are at the end of an article, you will be asked if you want to go to the next unread article.
`DEL`	Move to the top of an article.
`d`	Delete an article you do not want to read. Reading an article will also mark it for deletion.
`u`	Undelete an article you have read or marked for deletion using the <`d`> key.
`f`	Post a followup or reply to the article you are reading.
`n`	Move to the next unread article.
`p`	Move to the previous unread article.
`/`	Search for a particular article. You are prompted for a search pattern. slrn will then find the first article with the same text as what was entered and place the arrow on that article.