Thoth is a Usenet newsreader application for Macintosh. Its features include automatic viewing of downloaded images, binary posting, flexible article filtering (kill files) and sorting, reference-based threading, and comprehensive multiple character set support for reading and posting in non-English language and non-Latin alphabet newsgroups. It can be used both as an online and offline newsreader. Multiple news servers can be used simultaneously.
Thoth is shareware. If you wish to redistribute the program, you must obtain the prior written permission of Brian Clark, and you must distribute the complete Thoth archive containing the application and all other files.
If Thoth has not been registered then some program features may only work a limited number of times before they disabled. Saved group lists will not remember which posts have been read once the trial period has ended. Only a limited number of queued transfers per session will be allowed if Thoth has not been registered. The kept article features that permits saving interesting articles and offline newsreading are disabled once the trial period has ended. Binary posting is also disabled once the trial period has ended and only one post per session is allowed prior to that. Alerts reminding you that Thoth is shareware will be shown when starting, quitting, or switching servers until the program has been registered via Kagi and you have received and entered your registration key. You can register Thoth online via a secure server:
<https://order.kagi.com/?BA>
Thoth requires at least 4.5 Mb of free RAM, and either CarbonLib 1.0.4 and System 8.5 or later or Mac OS X (10.0 final). Mac OS 9.1 shipped with CarbonLib 1.1.1 which has a number of bugs including one that causes slow typing. Mac OS 9.1 users should upgrade to CarbonLib 1.2 or later.
Thoth was written by Brian Clark:
<mailto:baclark@kagi.com>
The home site for Thoth is:
<http://www.thothsw.com>
Starting Up
When you start the program for the first time it creates a “Thoth Preferences” folder in the current Preferences folder. This is where Thoth will store its preferences and various settings that are used across multiple news servers. If you wish to have the program preferences stored elsewhere, after quitting the program you may move the folder to another location, and place an alias to the moved folder in the Preferences folder. The alias file must have the name “Thoth Preferences.”
Inside the Thoth Preferences” folder is the “Thoth Prefs” file. This file contains all the settings that are edited in the program's “Preferences” dialog, plus your filters and newsgroup settings. The folder also contains the “Thoth Servers” folders which holds items for the “Open Server” command, the “Thoth Stationery” folder for personalities, and the “Thoth Signatures” folder for random signature support. The “Thoth Servers” and “Thoth Stationery” are automatically managed by Thoth. Placing text files in the “Thoth Signatures” will permit them to be used as random signatures.
Thoth will create a set of default preferences when it first starts up. Before the program can be used you must perform some additional steps to fill in needed information about yourself and the news and mail servers you wish to use.
1) After starting the program for the first time, use the “Preferences” command. This displays the multi-pane “Preferences” dialog. It is particularly important to enter your name and email address in the “Message Options” pane of the dialog, and to specify a mail server in the “Mail Servers” pane.
2) Close the “Preferences” dialog. Now choose “New News Server” from the File menu. You'll be shown a dialog that has 3 panes. Enter the name of your news server and other settings in the first pane, and any needed authentication settings in the second pane. Click OK to close the dialog. Next you're presented with a new folder dialog, asking you where you want to create and save the new folder that will have the news server settings file. Create the new folder where you wish. Finally you'll then see the “Open Server” alert asking you if you want to open the new server. Say yes. The program should then proceed to get the full newsgroup list from the news server.
3) Once the program has completed getting the full newsgroup list and is idle, you can create your subscribed newsgroup lists. Use the “News Server Settings” command in the Edit menu to display the “News Server Settings” dialog again. Go to the “Group Lists” pane of the dialog. Click on the “Add New” button to create a new group list window. The window will be displayed after you close the “News Server Settings” dialog. Enter a name for the new window, click OK to close the dialog, then click OK again to close the “News Server Settings” dialog. The new, empty group list window will now be shown.
4) Use the “Show Full Group List” command from the Windows menu to display the list of all newsgroups on your news server. Choose which newsgroups you wish to subscribe to, and drag them to the new group list window. Use the Save command to save your group list. You can now begin to read news using Thoth.
Converting from Yet Another NewsWatcher or Other NewsWatcher versions
Thoth does NOT read YA-NewsWatcher or other NewsWatcher files. Please don't try using old files by renaming them or changing their creator or type codes. You'll have to recreate some preferences and settings from scratch. Your existing filters can be transferred from YA-NewsWatcher using one of the two enclosed converter apps. The other converter app will allow you to transfer your subscribed newsgroups from a NewsWatcher version to Thoth. If you wish to move your old filters and newsgroup settings and subscribed group lists to Thoth, you should do this BEFORE you run Thoth and create any new settings for it.
Note that you usually start Thoth in 1 or 2 ways: by double-clicking the file icon or the icon of a news file. Unlike NewsWatcher you do NOT choose an initial news server or switch news servers by opening a prefs file. The Thoth prefs file should never be used for this. Unlike NewsWatcher it just has general preferences settings and does NOT contain any news server specific settings. Normally only one prefs file is used no matter how many news servers you use.
Here are the steps to follow to bring over some settings from a NewsWatcher version to Thoth.
1) If you were using YA-NewsWatcher version 3 or later, skip to step 2. Otherwise you'll need to make a copy of your old NewsWatcher preferences and settings and user group files. That's because older versions of YA-NewsWatcher used a different creator type for its files (/NNTP' instead of 'YANW') and the “filter->pref” and “user->news” converter programs won't recognize your old files. After making copies of the old YA-NewsWatcher files, drag them onto the “NNTP->YANW” converter program icon. That ill give them the coirrect file creator so that the files will be recognized by the “filter->pref” and “user->news” converter programs.
2) Double click the Thoth file icon. Since you haven't run the program before, you have not set some necessary preferences like your name and which mail servers you use. So once the program is finished starting up you should use the “Preferences” command. I suggest that you go through all the preference panels and make the required changes EXCEPT for the Filter Options panel. You'll do that later.
3) Close the “Preferences” dialog. Now choose “New News Server” from the File menu. You'll be shown a dialog that has 3 panes. Enter the name of your news server and other settings in the first pane, and any needed authentication settings in the second pane. Click OK to close the dialog. Next you're presented with a new folder dialog, asking you where you want to create and save the new folder that will have the news server settings file. Create the new folder where you wish. Finally you'll then see the “Open Server” alert asking you if you want to open the new server. Say yes. The program should then proceed to get the full newsgroup list from the news server.
4) Once the program has completed getting the full newsgroup list and is idle, quit the program.
5) If you were not using YA-NewsWatcher, you cannot transfer your filters or newsgroup settings, and you should skip to step 6. Otherwise you can now transfer over certain YA-NewsWatcher settings, such as your filters and filter labels (but not any other filter settings), and your newsgroup settings.
6) In the Finder locate your old YA-NewsWatcher prefs file and also the “YA-NewsWatcher Filters” file. Double click the “filter->pref” program and choose Convert from the File menu. It will first ask you set select the old prefs file, and then ask for the filters file. It then asks for your new Thoth prefs file. Navigate to the prefs folder, locate the Thoth Preferences folder inside it, and then inside this folder you'll find the Thoth Preferences file. The program will then transfer your filters and filter labels and newsgroup settings. Choose quit.
7) Now locate your old NewsWatcher subscribed group files. You may have one or more. Double click on the “user->news” program and choose Convert from the File menu. It asks you to locate a newsgroup file. Choose the first of your NewsWatcher subscribed group files. It then asks for the Thoth news file. Find it inside the new folder you created as part of the “New News Server” command in Thoth. If you have additional subscribed group files, repeat the process with each: choose Convert from the File menu, select the old NewsWatcher file, select the new Thoth news file. Quit when you're done with all the user group files.
8) Finally restart Thoth by double clicking the new news file. Go into the “Filter Options” pane of the “Preferences” dialog and make any needed prefs changes there. Use the New Personality command to create your personality files, including one named Default, and save them using the “Save As” command. If you brought over any newsgroup settings from YA-NewsWatcher you should edit them in Thoth to ensure that the “Message Options” portion of each has the personality you want for that setting.
Carbon and OS X Bugs
Unfortunately both CarbonLib for OS 8 and 9 and OS X tend to be buggy and do not fully and correctly implement all the features that they should. As much as possible Thoth tries to work around these bugs. But some bugs may cause improper behavior.
OS X has all kinds of compatibility problems and quirks and bugs. This may explain why some features don't work properly in Thoth. Other problems may arise if you have OS X installed on a UFS (Unix File System) volume or have your news or other files saved there, owing to apparent bugs in OS X's support for UFS volumes and standard Mac file operations. It's probably best to keep the “Thoth Preferences” and the Thoth news files on an Extended HFS volume. If you have a UFS OS X system disk, you can use the procedure explained in the “Files and Folders” section of the user guide to move the “Thoth Preferences” folder to a different (Extended HFS format) disk.
There's at least one non-Apple modification to the standard Aqua appearance (modifying the Extras.rscr file) that causes all kinds of havoc and misbehavior such as items in windows and dialogs being drawn incorrectly or not at all and controls not working as they should. Beware of all such modifications, as they can create bugs that make it impossible to configure and use Thoth and other programs.
Thoth was developed and tested using the “public beta” version of OS X. Due to all the changes being made to OS X it is very likely that the current versions of Thoth will not run correctly with later versions of OS X and that a revised version of Thoth will be required to run under OS X 1.0 final.
Other Compatibility Issues
When running under OS 8 and 9 the usual extension conflicts can cause problems in Thoth. Some of these conflicts may only occur in Carbon applications like Thoth. Others may only occur in programs that take advantage of features that were added in OS 8.5 and later.
One example is Kaleidoscope . Versions prior to 2.1.2 include numerous bugs that affect Thoth. These cause flickering in the status window and a severe overall slowdown of the system, problems scrolling through long group lists or article windows, and general cosmetic problems.
Some file dialog enhancing extensions like ACTION Files or Default Folder can be configured to disable Navigation Services file dialogs in programs. If this feature is enabled for Thoth, the program will refuse to start with an alert stating that Navigation Services is not installed. The solution is to configure the extension to not disable Navigation Services in Thoth.
The “flash icon in menu bar” option in Remote Access can cause crashes in many programs. It should be disabled. FinderPop 1.9.2 makes it impossible to select the About item in the Apple menu when using CarbonLib 1.1 and later and FinderPop's hierarchical Apple menu feature is enabled. Using OSA Menu 1.2.2 and CarbonLib 1.1 and later causes program slowdowns and menu flickering. Other extensions that do similar things may also cause problems.
More Information
More information on using Thoth and its various features can be found in the User Guide. Please read it carefully and fully to help to make your newsreading with Thoth as pleasurable and easy as possible. The User Guide and other informative documents can be read from within Thoth by going to the Help menu and selecting the item you wish to read.
