I find I spend quite a bit of time reading netnews and would like to do it
offline. Unfortunately, as I'm new, I'm not sure how it's done. So this is a
request for guidance in this matter. My specific situation is as follows:

  1) I use Zterm on a Mac Quadra to connect to Grex.
  2) I regularly read a fairly well-defined set of newsgroups, but like to
     browse at times. In other words, usually I'd be happy to call in and
     get my regular groups and hang up, but occasionally poke around while
     connected. I imagine that I'd like one .newsrc file (or its equivalent)
     to do regular downloads, and another to allow broad newsgroup access.
  3) I'm not committed to Zterm, but it works and I haven't seen other tools
     for connecting and/or reading netnews. I've heard of NewsWatcher, Eudora,
     etc., but am unclear how they pertain to a dialup connection like the
     one I have with Grex.
  4) Though this may be blasphemy, I am also not committed to reading netnews
     on Grex. As this town seems to be bristling with BBS's and network
     service providers, I'd be interested in doing the above at the highest
     possible speed and lowest possible cost. This would allow me to use
     services like Grex to actually communicate, rather than passively read
     and tie up a line.

Well, there you have it. If I can streamline my newsreading, I'll be out of
the way more often and more inclined to use Grex for, dare I say it, personal
contact.

Your suggestions are appreciated

15 responses total.

You might just want to talk to meg, and see if you can get a newsfeed
for the groups that you want from her..  I know there are some
uucp clones for the mac, and that would probally be your best choice there.

The most straightforward way to do this would be to get a UUCP
implementation for your Mac, along with Usenet news software and
a newsreader.  Grex can then feed you the news over UUCP.
Advantages: Relatively straightforward and simple, more or less.
Requires few (er, no) changes to the software on Grex's end.  (I don't
know if you see that as an advantage or not.  As the person who
maintains the Grex news software, *I* consider it an advantage.)
Allows automated scheduling of the news downloads, so you don't have
to be physically present while the news is coming over.
Disadvantages: UUCP and news software can be very complex to set up,
especially for the uninitiated; I don't know if the Mac software is
easier in this respect.  Requires you to get lots of software for your
end.  Takes up space on your machine for the article files.  Requires
Grex staff intervention to change the list of groups you're subscribed
to.

Things like NewsWatcher and Eudora, if I'm not mistaken, operate over
a TCP/IP connection instead of a dialup terminal-style connection.
It's possible to do TCP/IP over a dialup connection, but Grex doesn't
have the necessary software to implement SLIP or PPP on its end.
(At least, not on the Sun.)  The SLIP and PPP drivers for SunOS
require SunOS 4.x, while we're using SunOS 3.2, so we can't use them.

One possibility, if people are really interested in getting an IP
connection to Grex, is to use the PCroute machine.  We have an
additional serial port on it that isn't being used for anything,
and PCroute can theoretically handle up to four interfaces.
If someone wanted to propose that we add another modem and phone line
for IP-level access to Grex, I'm sure the members would consider it.
At the moment, though, I don't think I'd support it, because
that line would have to be IP-only; it couldn't be used for normal
terminal sessions.  The number of people who would benefit from an
IP-level connection to Grex is much fewer than the number of people who
would benefit from an additional terminal session line.

Okay, this is what I think you're telling me:

I can install Mac UUCP software on my Mac and arrange for automatic news
downloads. This raises the following questions:

  1) What software exists for the Mac to do this?
  2) Are there any special modem requirements for doing this?
  3) Can this be done based on a dialup initiated from my end? (I'm not real
     keen on being an absent recipient of lots of files on my business phone
     and machine.)
  4) It would make sense to remove these groups from my .newsrc file, right?
     That is, I'm hoping my regular .newsrc is not the source of the list of
     regular newsgroups for this activity.
  5) And, finally, is this a relatively painless activity for most sysops, or
     are you being especially generous and/or technically adept? I ask this
     with the idea that I might try to do this at 9600 baud, which Grex can't
     offer me (and maybe someone else might).

This is an intriguing possibility by the way, so I appreciate the responses.

1) Dunno.  I don't have any real experience with Macs.
2) No.  Any ordinary dialup modem will work fine.
3) The dialup would have to be initiatied by you, in fact, since Grex
doesn't have any dialout modems.
4) Right.  The list of groups lives in /news/lib/sys, and instead of
keeping track of which articles in the group you've "read", the 
news system simply queues the articles for you as they come in.
5) It's more or less painless, though it depends how knowledgable
about the news software the admin is.  I'm not sure how much you'd
win by doing it at 9600bps instead of 2400bps, actually -- your
feed is likely to be low-volume enough that, with compression,
you probably wouldn't much notice the difference between 10 minutes
per day at 2400bps versus 3 minutes per day at 9600bps.  And since
you can do it while you're not there (i.e., automatically schedule
the dialouts), you wouldn't have to sit there and watch the transfer.

1) I've got some info on a place you can ftp a mac uucp thing.
5) You can just setup your computer to call during the middle of the night,
then you don't have to worry.. if you have a dedicated modem line, you should
be able to have the computer dial out every hour to check for new news,
to keep the data flow  in small sessions, instead of large bursts.

I remember seeing umudos logged in for 20+ hours before transferring
news.  I like the new setup, except for the fact that the pc box doesn't
show up on a who command, but is in the last log.  <strange>  I'll see
what I can do for you.

You oculd use Newswatcher or Nuntius and Eudora with Msen's dial up IP
service - send mail to info@mail.msen.com for the scoop.

Eudora has a very nice "CTB mode" which lets you run an off line
mail reader with no need for SLIP or PPP - Marc, if you bring up
a POP server, you can get that working here on grex.

Since I just saw Nuntius on the MacTechnics BBS a couple of days ago, this last
suggestion looks interesting. Both Eudora and Newswatcher are available via
ftpmail, I figure, so I'll try to get my hands on them as soon as my present
consulting load lightens up a bit (I've been too busy to try out all this new
info I've been learning on Grex).

Since I'm not yet sure what packages offer UUCP to the Mac, I'll keep looking
around before I request that anyone here set up something special for me.

I'll send for that Msen info and post my observations and/or solutions here
for anyone who might find it useful. Until then I'll keep a phone line warm
for you all...

     I think there might be mor interest in off-line reading of news and
pico-stuff than just Mark Adams.  I know I'd love to see something like that
for myself.  If such is possible with comparatively little effort here on
Grex, I for one would A. support, and be contribute financilly to it.
     Note that I do not use one of those silly rotten fruit computers.  I
use a true dinosaur of an ibm-compatible laptop.
     <smile>
     Chris

Well, if you read any major amount of news, off-line reading can save
on-line time, which might be something to consider if Grex continues to
attract new users.

     Re 9: I read a fair amount, and it's slower for me since I use a voice
synthesizer.  It would indeed free up a line when I read net news if I could
read it off line, not to mention meaning that I could get all the news for a
given day without having to worry about it expiring before I can get to it.

There's a .../sys file where you can alias news to get mailed to a site.  once
you do that, you can just get a copy of uucp for a mac, and that's it.

Could a Grex staffer look into setting up some sort of "off-line reader kit"
so when users request this, they'll have instructions about how to do?

How about a knowledgeable Grex user?

I'll voluenteer to setup a kit for the IBM community.  Just let me know
if you want me to create it.  I'll do so.  If not, I will not.

I just entered an item concerning local news/mail in item 50 of the Coop
conference.  Check it out.

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