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Welcome to RexxNews, a NNTP newsreader client for OS/2 2.x
-----------------------------------------------------------
RexxNews was written by Albert Crosby <acrosby@uafhp.uark.edu>.
RexxNews is a simple tool for reading UseNet news for OS/2 2.x.
Unlike most Unix newsreaders, RexxNews is completely command driven. However,
if you are familiar with RN or NN on Unix, you should find your way around
fairly readily.
When the --MORE-- prompt is displayed on the bottom of the screen, you can
press any of the following keys:
<Enter> display the next screen
<T> return to the top of the list or article
<U> back up one screen in the list or article
<Q> stop displaying the current list or article
Any other key will advance one screen.
INTRODUCTION TO REXXNEWS:
=========================
RexxNews is a simple NNTP client for reading Usenet news from an NNTP server.
This guide is not really intended (at this time) as a guide to Usenet News,
but as an introduction to the RexxNews news reader.
All of the RexxNews commands are case insensitive. Frequently, the shortest
part of a command that will be accepted will be printed in upper case, such as
Article or Quit.
Finding the Groups You Want to Read
-----------------------------------
RexxNews has a command that makes finding the group you want easier:
the SEARCH command. If you've never read news before, you may want to
start by typing SEARCH GROUPS FOR <subject> where subject is one word that
interests you, like "comp" or "os2". After a few moments, a list of all
newsgroups whose name contains <subject> will be displayed.
Moving to a Group You Want to Read
----------------------------------
To 'enter' a group, issue the command GROUP <group-name> (or just G for GROUP).
When you enter a group, a list of subjects for unread articles in the group
will be displayed. (RexxNews can be configured to not display this list.)
You can display the first article in a group with the 'DISPLAY' command (or
just D for DISPLAY).
When you move to a group for the second time, RexxNews will automatically
place the current article pointer at the first unread article.
Displaying an Article You Want to Read
--------------------------------------
RexxNews lists and displays articles using their article number at the site.
After the list of articles in a group is displayed, the 'article pointer'
points to the first article. You can display the current article with the
'Display' command. DISPLAY followed by an article number will display that
article and move the article pointer.
You can move forward and backwards through the articles with the NEXT and LAST
commands. These commands move the article pointer and display the next (or
previous) article.
Newsrc files
------------
If you read news on a Unix system using the same NNTP server that you will use
with RexxNews, you can copy your .newsrc file from your Unix machine to the
PC. By default, RexxNews expects to find the newsrc file in the directory
pointed to by the %etc% variable and named 'newsrc'. (It is possible to change
the location RexxNews looks for the newsrc file.)
Leaving RexxNews
----------------
The Quit command will exit RexxNews and return you to the OS/2 prompt. It will
also update your newsrc file.
If you wish to leave RexxNews without updating your newsrc file, use the
EXIT command.
Learning more about RexxNews
----------------------------
The best (for now, only) place to look for help with RexxNews is in the HELP
files. Inside RexxNews, the help files are displayed with the HELP command.
HELP TOPICS will display a list of the available help files.
At the OS/2 prompt, the help files are all named <topic>.rxn, as in INTRO.RXN
for the file you are currently viewing.
Making RexxNews Comfortable for the RN users among us...
========================================================
Some of this will obviously wait until the next version. But there's already
one feature that is easy to take advantage of -- whenever an article is
displayed on the screen, you can press 'N' to move to the 'Next' article and
'L' to move to the 'Last' article.
Currently, RexxNews reads articles exclusively in the order they were received
by the NNTP host.
The default RexxNews options should be reasonably comfortable for persons
accustomed to Unix news readers.