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NEWSie - a UseNet Newsreader November 11, 1996
NEWSie uses the NNTP Internet protocol to read UseNet News articles. It
provides a standard GEM interface complete with menu, windows, and mouse
selection.
It uses STiK as the Internet access manager via SLIP connection. Version
0.64 provides ability to read, save, and print NEWS articles, and full
Posting and Reply capabilities.
Articles can be downloaded and read offline. Offline Posting and
Followup functions are now available.
Newsie supports a full complement of e-mail services, including Send,
Reply, and Forwarding of mail messages. Multiple mailboxes are
supported, with transfer of mail between mailboxes.
NEWSie will be made available free of charge for download from several
ftp sites.
For more information:
John Rojewski
e-mail: rojewski@primenet.com
WWW: http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski/
OVERVIEW
This is an attempt to document the facilities of NEWSie, a UseNet
Newsreader client for the Atari series of computers. NEWSie is a GEM
compliant program with standard GUI features including menus, windows,
dialogs, and mouse and keyboard input. In addition to UseNet, NEWSie
supports e-mail send via smtp and receive via pop3 protocols.
The following major topics are included in this document:
1. MENUS
2. WINDOWS
3. DIALOGS
4. FILES
5. SETUP and USAGE
6. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
7. KNOW PROBLEMS
1. MENUS
File
The File Menu provides methods to control NewsGroup lists, Article
Printing, and Exiting the program.
Edit
The Edit Menu contains all the standard Cut, Copy, and Paste commands.
These are not implemented in the current NEWSie version.
News
The News Menu contains methods to select Next Article, Next Thread,
and Next Group. Additional items provide the ability to Post messages,
and Followup to messages read. Creating new e-mail, forwarding, and
replying via e-mail is also supported. The 'Read for Offline' item will
read all outstanding messages for all newsgroups in the current .GRP
file. (See Offline NewsReading below)
Special
The Special Menu contains some additional items, including the retrieval
of the Full Group list, and any new Newsgroups. The ability to check
your POP3 maildrop exists, via the Check Mail item, and the Get Mail item
will retrieve your mail to your system. The mailbox structure has been
created. An Open In Box item will open and display a list of any
messages received. An Open Mailbox item provides the ability to view
other mailboxs, including an OUTBOX, which contains a copy of all email
which has been sent from NEWSie. A final item (Open URL) allows you to
retreive any Web reference (http-web page, graphic, etc.) from within
NEWSie.
Preferences
The Preferences Menu supplies a variety of areas that the user needs to
change to configure NEWSie to work with his/her Internet Service Provider
(ISP) and also to allow the user to define some defaults for system
operation. Most selections present a Dialog to the user.
2. WINDOWS
Subscribed NewsGroups
The Subscribed NewsGroups window displays the NewsGroups that you have
selected to be kept aware of new articles. A NewsGroup is a category of
messages that (should) relate to some topic.
There are many thousands of NewsGroups, and not all News Servers (ISPs)
offer all NewsGroups. You may manually enter the name of a NewsGroup you
are interested in viewing, or in combination with the Full NewsGroup
and New NewsGroup windows, Subscribe to additional NewsGroups.
If your ISP does not support a particular newsgroup in the Subscribed
Newsgroups list, it will be marked with a '?' in the first column of the
display. You may select such a group, but the only action that may be
performed is to UnSubscribe.
Article Overview
For any given NewsGroup, selecting that NewsGroup via a double-click or
Return Key in the Subscribed NewsGroup window will fetch the Article
Overview list from the News Server. This list is displayed in the
Article Overview window. The overviews are formatted with:
Article number
Subject
Author
Date of submission
Number of lines of message text
Any of the overviews can be selected via mouse click or keyboard up and
down arrow keys. When selected, the article overview is displayed in
color RED (subject to preferences).
A double-click or Return key will fetch the selected Article from the
News Server.
Article Threads are recognized. Threads are a group of related articles,
and are marked with a '+' for the primary article, and '-' for subordinate
articles. Threads formatting is dependent upon the Newsreading Preferences
'Create Threads' and 'Collapse Threads'. If 'Create Threads' is un-selected,
then Thread processing is bypassed and articles are shown in numeric
(ascending) order. If 'Create Threads' alone is selected, both the primary
('+') articles and subordinate ('-') articles will be displayed. If the
'Collapse Threads' option is selected, only the primary ('+') articles
will be displayed.
The left and right arrow keys control the expansion and/or collapse of
individual threads. Selecting a primary article and pressing the right
arrow key will display all subordinate articles for that thread. Clicking
the left arrow on the primary, or any subordinate article, will collapse
the thread back to just the primary article.
Article Text
The Article Text window displays a News Article. The article contains a
header and the message body. The header contains lines such as: Author,
Subject, Date, etc. The body contains the message response entered by
the author. Each article read is available on your local disk as
'NNNNNN.TXT', where NNNNN is the Article number. These files can be
deleted by you as you choose by pressing the Del key within the window.
This provides a method to keep un-wanted messages from accumulating.
If you prefer an external viewer program instead of the builtin window,
you may select a viewer program from the Preferences menu in the Path
Preferences dialog (External Viewer Path). Once this is done, selecting
'Use External Viewer' in the Newsreading Options dialog will cause NEWSie
to call the external program with the article filename.
Offline Newsreading
NEWSie supports offline newsreading with version 0.60. The menu item
'Read for Offline' will read all outstanding articles in all newsgroups
in the current Subscribed Newsgroups window. Warning: until you are
familiar with the operation of this program, the author suggests you
limit the number of newsgroups/articles to some finite number less than
ten newsgroups and a total of 100 articles. A maximum of 400 articles
can be maintained for each newsgroup (if you have the disk space!).
The 'Read for Offline' menu item is used while online (connected to your
mail server) and will build a set of files and directories in the
directory you have named as the 'Offline Path' (see Path Preferences).
The Escape key is active, and will abort this function at any time.
After reading the articles, Quit NEWSie, Disconnect STiK, and start
NEWSie again. This time, you will be able to view the articles saved on
disk in the same way as online articles. The delete key will delete
articles on disk, and also remove the entry in the Overview window when
the window is closed.
Offline Posting of new articles, and Followups to articles read is now
supported. These articles are created as the result of a Post/Followup
followed by a Send when there is no connection to the News Server.
At the next time there is a connection to the News Server, these
articles are transmitted, and deleted from your system.
To view the articles waiting to be Posted, use the 'Open Offline
PostBox' item in the News menu. This will open the PostBox (if it
exists) and allow you to view the articles, and/or delete them before
they are sent via the 'Delete' key.
There are (currently) no preference controls on this function.
New NewsGroups
The New NewsGroups window displays a list of NewsGroups created after a
certain Date and Time. The data and time are entered by the user in a
dialog. This list can be referenced and any of the NewsGroup names
can be selected, and Subscribed to. When the Subscribe is performed, the
NewsGroup name is added to the Subscribed NewsGroup window, and is
immediately available for use. A double-click with the left mouse button,
or selecting Subscribe from the Special menu performs the Suscribe function.
Full NewsGroups
The Full NewsGroups window serves a similar purpose, but contains a
complete list of all NewsGroups available from your News Server. Because
this file can be very large, it may take several minutes to fetch it.
The same selection and subscription ability exists for this window as for
the New NewsGroups window.
MailBox
The Mailbox window displays the contents off various mailboxes. Two
Mailboxes are provided by NEWSie, the InBox and the OutBox. The InBox
contains a list of all emails received via the Get Mail Menu title.
After receiving mail, clicking on the Open In Box will display the
messages with a 'U' (unread) in the first column. Double-clicking on
any message line will open the Mail Text window (see below). Arrow keys
will move up or down in the list, and the return key will also select
the current mail message. The delete key will mark the item for
deletion when the window is closed.
A 'transfer' from any mailbox to any other mailbox (including creating a
new mailbox) by pressing the 't' key. To create a new MailBox, enter
the Mailbox name followed by '.MBX' in the file selector (i.e. NEW.MBX).
(Of course the name can be anything, but NEWSie will only look for MBX
files by default.)
Mail Text
This window displays the content of any of the selected Mailboxes. This
window is shown unless the 'Use External Viewer' option is selected.
The delete key serves the same function as in the MailBox window,
namely, to delete the current mail message when the MailBox window is
closed.
3. DIALOGS
Personal Preferences
The Personal Preferences dialog provides the ability to enter information
about the user. Fields include:
Full Name
Organization name
E-mail address
Server Preferences
The Server Preferences dialog provides the ability of the user to specify
information about the Internet servers that will be used to access the
News and Mail systems. Fields include:
NewsServer name
MailServer name
Connect to NewsServer on startup switch
2 TCP/IP timeout values
News Reading Preferences
The News Reading Preferences dialog provides the user with several
options pertaining to the method by which NEWSie will display News
Articles on the user's screen. Fields include:
Display the article header lines
Maximum number of messages to read
Use External Viewer
Create Threads
Collapse Threads
Most recent 'n' articles
Allow Offline Newsreading
Mail Preferences
The Mail Preferences include several features for storing and
manipulating e-mail. fields include:
Delete Mail from Server after Receipt
Use a saved password
The user's password (saved in the Prefs file)
Send Queued Output at Check_Mail
Delete Queued Output after being sent
Message Preferences
The Message Preferences dialog provides the user with several options
pertaining to the method for responding to Articles read. These include:
Followup to NewsGroup
Reply to the article's author via e-mail
Send copy to yourself via e-mail
Character(s) to indicate a quote
Path Preferences
The Path Preferences dialog allows the user to specify where additional
files, articles, etc. should be stored in the user's computer file system.
These include:
Work Path
Mail Path (for e-mail)
Offline Path (for offline newsreading)
External Editor Program
External Viewer Program
Note: The Titles are also selectable, and they allow the same
functionality as selecting the Path objects they represent.
Log Preferences
The Log Preferences dialog allows the user to specify how much or how
little information is recorded about the actual activity of NEWSie in
retrieving and replying to articles. In general, there is little
information in the Log for casual users, and most users will not need to
change these preferences.
Signature Preferences
The Signature Preferences dialog is provided to allow users to suffix any
reply or posted responses with their selected signature. The filepath
displayed indicates the current signature file, and the first several lines
of text are displayed. Clicking on the filename allows the user to select
a new signature file. As with the Path Preferences dialog above, the
Signature Path title is also selectable, and provides the same
functionality as selecting the filename object.
Font Preferences
The Font Preferences dialog is provided to allow the user to vary the font
displayed in the NewsGroup, Overview, and Article windows. For those users
the have some version of GDOS (including NVDI), they may select any of several
font faces and point sizes. Clicking on the arrow box on the right of the
font name will 'drop down' a font selection list. Arrow buttons in the list
allow for scrolling. Clicking on any font name will select that font for use.
In the event that the chosen font does not exist in a particular configuration,
the default system font will be used instead.
Transfer Status
The Transfer Status dialog is an output only dialog provided to give the
user visual feedback of data transfers as they occur. This is status is
available whenever there is information being received from the servers,
or being sent to the servers. The Transfer Status display may be disabled
by un-selecting the 'Show Status' option in the Newsreading Preferences
dialog.
Full NewsGroup Warning
The Full NewsGroup Warning dialog is provided to warn the user that this
transfer can take a long time and use a lot of disk space.
Full NewsGroup Re-load
The Full NewsGroup Re-load dialog is provided to allow the user to use
the existing Full NewsGroup list or download a new one. Using the
existing file is much faster.
New NewsGroup Selection
The New NewsGroup Selection dialog is provided to allow the user to see
any NewsGroups that have been created since a specified date. This, in
combination with the Full NewsGroup list, will allow the user to access
new NewsGroups as they become available.
Subscribe to NewsGroup
The Subscribe to Newsgroup dialog is presented in several situations:
double-click in the Full Newsgroups window
double-click in the New Newsgroups window
The Subscribe Menu title
Insert key in the Subscribed Newsgroups window
In the first 2 cases, the Newsgroup name will be displayed. Clicking on
the OK button will enter the Newsgroup into the current Subscribed NewsGroup
file (i.e DEFAULT.GRP, or other). The 3rd case (Subscribe Menu) can be used
instead of the double-click, but may also be used at any time to allow the
user to type in the name of a Newsgroup. The 4th case (Insert key) will
also allow the user to type in a Newsgroup name. Note that if the
Newsgroup name is invalid or unsupported by your ISP, the current Subscribed
Newsgroup file/window will not be updated.
UnSubscribe from Newsgroup
The UnSubscribe from Newsgroup dialog is presented in the following
situations:
The UnSubscribe Menu title
Delete key in the Subscribed Newsgroups window
In either case, the currently selected Newsgroup is displayed in the
dialog with question 'UnSubscribe from Newsgroup?'. Pressing the OK
button deletes the Newsgroup from the Subscribed window and file.
STiK Disabled
The STiK Disabled dialog is displayed at startup when the STiK accessory
is not 'enabled'. STiK must be enabled and most likely connected to the
user's Internet Service Provided (ISP) before NEWSie can access new
articles.
4. FILES
Resource
The NEWSIE.RSC file is required for operation. It should be in the same
directory as NEWSIE.PRG. This file contains all of the Menu and Dialog
definitions. There should be no reason for the user to modify this file
in any way. This should make it easier to produce non-English versions
of NEWSie with little or no program changes.
Support Program(s)
With NEWSie 0.54, the UUD.TTP program is provided. It should be placed in
the directory configured as the Work Path. This program provides the
service of decoding any UUEncoded data in retrieved messages. This encoded
data is most generally a binary file (picture or program). The 'Extract
Binaries' menu item in the Special Menu uses this program.
Preferences
The PREFS.INF file is required for proper operation. It should be in the
same directory as NEWSIE.PRG. There is a generic PREFS.INF file in the
distribution. Feel free to use this as the basis for configuring NEWSie
to your preferences. See the individual Preference dialogs for any
specific options available.
Note that NEWSie will automatically update your existing PREF.INF file
to include all of the most recent parameters when you execute a more
current version of NEWSie.
Subscribed NewsGroups
The DEFAULT.GRP file is required for proper operation. There is a
generic DEFAULT.GRP file in the distribution. You may add new NewsGroups
to this, and delete ones you are not interested in subscribing to. You
may have several Subscribed NewsGroup files, and use them interchangeably.
The DEFAULT.GRP will be used by NEWSie at startup. A GRP file can
contain a maximum of 100 newsgroup names.
Full NewsGroups
The FULLGRP.TXT file is an optional file. It is optional because it can
be extremely large, possibly larger than 1 Meg. This file is retrieved
from your selected News Server only if you request it. Once retrieved,
it is used until you request it again. This file will contain a listing
of all the NewsGroups that are available for subscription from your News
Server.
MailBoxes and Mail
A MAIL path is available in the Path Preferences. Within this path
NEWSie will establish MailBoxes and Mail messages. MailBoxes are
expected to have a suffix of .MBX, and Mail messages will be in the form
MAILnnnn.TXT, where nnnn is a unique number from 0000-9999.
A mailbox can contain a maximum of 100 messages.
Log
The LOG file is a temporary file created by NEWSie during its processing.
It is of most interest to the author and to others who want more
information about the workings of NEWSie and other UseNet news reader
programs and the associated commands, protocol, etc. The Log Preferences
dialog will allow you to configure the information put into this file as
you choose.
Offline Articles
If you choose to use the Offline Newsreading features, you should
specify a Offline Path directory (OFFLINE is included in the
distribution file). NEWSie will create a set of directories under the
selected Offline path for each newsgroup that can have offline articles.
The names of these directories are a 'compression' of the newsgroup
name. The articles are placed in the respective directory in the same
format as for online articles ('NNNNNN'.TXT') in separate files.
Offline Posts and Followups
Articles are saved in files named 'POSTNNNN.TXT' in the WorkPath.
An index of these files is called 'POSTS.PBX' (PBX being similar
to MBX, meaning PostBoX). These files are created as the result of a
Post/Followup followed by a Send when there is no connection to the News
Server. At the next time there is a connection to the News Server,
these files are transmitted, and deleted from your WorkPath. If before
you connect to the News Server, you decide to refrain from Posting
something, you should use the 'Open Offline PostBox menu item in the
News menu to review and/or delete the offending file(s) via 'Delete' key.
5. SETUP and USAGE
Several things are necessary to use NEWSie from the distribution ZIP file.
1. Unzip the NEWSIEnn.ZIP file and move to where ever you want it.
2. Enable STiK if it is installed. If you don't have STiK installed, you
will not be able to perform any Online activities with NEWSie.
3. Double-click on NEWSIE.PRG
4. Immediately go to the Preferences Menu and fill in the following:
Personal Preferences
Server Preferences (especially the NewsServer name)
Path Preferences for editor and viewer usage, MAIL and OFFLINE path
Other Preferences as you choose
Save Preferences
5. Quit NEWSie via Quit in File menu
6. If not already connected to the Internet (via STiK dialer), do so.
7. Execute NEWSie again, hopefully getting a connection to your NewsServer.
If you have selected 'Connect at Startup' in the Server Preferences,
this should occur automatically, otherwise, use the 'Manual Connect'
item in the Special Menu.
8. Report problems to: rojewski@primenet.com.
6. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
Enhancements to NEWSie are planned. The current package is continuously
being improved. (Unfortunately there are only so many hours of programming
time in a week...)
Some acknowledged areas of weakness are:
Stability/bombs/lockups
Documentation of features (i.e this document)
Extract Binary data (only UUDecode support)
News Article management
Attachments (and encoding support)
Mail cc: and bcc:
Authentication/Security
See IMPROVE.DOC for a survery of suggested improvements.
7. KNOWN PROBLEMS (0.62)
Atari Works cannot be used as external editor/viewer
Problems with re-opening windows after closing them
Random bombs (w/New Newsgroups/Full Newsgroups while offline)
Lockups with no option but to re-boot
See HISTORY.DOC to see what has changed since the previous version(s).