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- Subject: alt.usenet.offline-reader FAQ (April 93 UPDATED)
- Newsgroups: news.answers,alt.answers,alt.usenet.offline-reader
- From: Dave.Cheung@ic1.infocom.co.uk (Dave Cheung)
- Date: 20 Apr 93 00:00:01 GMT
-
- Archive-name: offline-news-readers
- Last-modified: 1993/05/01
- Version: 2.00
-
- Monthly FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for alt.usenet.offline-reader
- Monthly FAQ (OFFLINE Product Listing) for alt.usenet.offline-reader
-
- Compiled by Dave Cheung (Dave.Cheung@infocom.co.uk)
-
- Currently, this FAQ can be broken into two parts.
-
- Part 1, deals with frequently asked questions on reading usenet at HOME
- Part 2, deals with products currently available to read usenet at HOME
-
- When an individual "Part" becomes large enough, I will split it into
- a separate FAQ.
-
-
- OVERVIEW
- ~~~~~~~~
- alt.usenet.offline-reader is for the discussion of a "packet format" for
- usenet to facilitate *interactive account users* being able to gather their
- usenet news & rfc822 mail into a packet and download it onto their home machine.
- The format will also allow users to reply to / post using a "reply packet"
-
- It is also the arena for developers of software utilising the "packet format" to
- discuss forthcoming products, advances in "packet" technology, making these
- products available to USENET SITES (Servers) and ENDUSERS (Clients).
-
- offline-reader is *NOT* the same as UUCP or TCP/IP (NNTP), although the server
- or even client programs may eventually incorporate such technology, however
- you'll find references to UUCP/NNTP technology dotted throughout this document
-
-
- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- 1) What is an off-line reader?
- 2) What is the difference to getting a news feed?
- 3) Where do I get the programs for my dos/atari/amiga/mac machine ?
- 4) What is QWK ?
-
-
- 1) What is an off-line reader
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The concept of off-line reading comes from BBS world where a user connects via
- a modem to the bbs, and downloads a file (usually called a packet) containing
- all unread messages since his last connection. Then he uses a program, to
- extract the articles from the packet, read them and reply to them, creating a
- reply packet to be uploaded at his next connection.
-
- This saves time (the bbs lines are less engaged) and money (on phone bills).
-
- There is no exact translation of this concept in the Usenet world : firstly
- because your machine is connected one way or another to the network (uucp,
- tcp-ip ...) and you are already exchanging news automatically. Second because
- many existing off-line readers are not very suited to usenet messages.
-
- However if you connect by modem to a bbs or server to read your Usenet news
- you may want to consider getting an off-line reader.
-
-
- For that you will need:
-
- - the machine to which you connect (let's call it "the server") to provide
- a functionality to create packets of a format that you can read & reply to
-
- - An off-line reader program for your machine and the packet type.
-
- =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
-
- 2) Getting a news feed
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- It is often the case that your server can provide you with an automatic
- transfer method to send you email and news. This is called a "feed" and
- can be received by modem using the "uucp" protocol.
-
- There is no big difference with the "off-line reading" concept except that it
- is a little more automated. if your home machine runs on a multi-tasking
- system you can even set it to call the server regularly. You can also
- start feeding other machines.
-
- The disadvantage is that getting a feed is a little more complicated than
- using an off-line reader, there are usually more programs to install and to
- configure.
-
- At the start, especially if you want few newsgroups, you may want to begin
- with an off-line news reader and then maybe move to a feed when you feel
- more confident.
-
- =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
-
- 3) Where do I get the programs?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- This is sort of a trick question since it depends on which machine you are and
- what kind of programs you are looking for (a feed, an off-line reader etc...)
-
- Basically you have to remember that whatever program you get from your home
- machine you need a program/door/utility on your bbs or server to create
- packets to a format your newsread can read.
-
- For more information, look at the second part of this FAQ which lists some
- of the currently available packages.
-
- =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
-
- 4) What is QWK?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- QWK is the name of a popular packet format in the BBS community. It was
- created firstly to get messages for PC-Board bulletin boards and fidonet "mail
- areas" (the equivalent of usenet newsgroups). It became a de-facto standard
- since more and more qwk readers are available not only on msdos machines but
- on all architectures.
-
- However the QWK format is not really suited to carry usenet news, and some
- other formats are now being discussed, such as SLNP & UQWK.
-
- =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
-
-
-
-
-
-
- OFFLINE USENET PRODUCT LISTING
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Product Name: getnews.c (compiler needed)
- Where can I get it from:
- In which directory:
- Author Email: Philippe Goujard <pgoujard@infocom.co.uk>
- Available info: ***** Binaries will become available soon *****
-
- This program runs on your news machine and get all unread articles in all
- subscribed newsgroups as well as your new mail and creates a packet
- (.zip, .arc, .zoo) that you can download and view with slnr.
-
- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-
- Product Name: postnews.c (compiler needed)
- Where can I get it from:
- In which directory:
- Author Email: Philippe Goujard <pgoujard@infocom.co.uk>
- Available info: ***** Binaries will become available soon *****
-
- Like getnews this program runs on the news machine and posts mail
- and news articles from the reply packet.
-
- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-
- Product Name: SLNP (Packet Format)
- Where can I get it from:
- In which directory:
- Author Email: Philippe Goujard <pgoujard@infocom.co.uk>
- Available info: The format of the packets
-
- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-
- Product Name: slnr.c (compiler needed)
- Where can I get it from:
- In which directory:
- Author Email: Philippe Goujard <pgoujard@infocom.co.uk>
- Available info: ***** Binaries will become available soon *****
-
- The offline news reader which runs on your local machine and lets
- you view and reply to messages. So far there are Unix, Dos and Atari
- versions (WANTED ports to other machines).
-
- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-
- Product Name: UQWK
- Where can I get it from: ftp.gte.com
- In which directory: /pub/uqwk/uqwk1.3.tar.Z
- Author Email: Steve Belczyk <seb3@gte.com>
- Available info: taken from the README file
-
- Copyright 1993, steve belczyk
-
- Uqwk is a program which collects all a user's unread mail or news
- and formats it into something called a "QWK" packet, which is then
- downloaded. Mail and News can then be read offline, saving phone
- charges. QWK readers exist for almost every machine.
-
- Uqwk also accepts reply packets, so replies can be mailed (if your
- mailer understands "mail -s"), or posted (if you have a B-news type
- of inews that understands -n and -t), depending whether the message
- is marked private (email) or public (news).
-
- Uqwk also supports a small offline command language, so the contents
- of the user's .newsrc file can be viewed and manipulated offline.
-
- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
-
-
- DISCLAIMER
- ~~~~~~~~~~
- Whilst every effort has been taken to ensure the information contained herein
- is correct, the author cannot accept ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER for errors,
- ommissions or damage howsoever caused
-
- Dave.Cheung - alt.usenet.offline-reader FAQ (April 93) - Dave.Cheung
-
-
-