USENET is a collection of thousands of discussion groups called "newsgroups." These newsgroups are passed from site to site throughout the globe.

Almost every site on the Internet participates in USENET. There are thousands of newsgroups arranged in 100 hierarchies. Among the collection is the traditional core groups of USENET, an electronic newspaper, numerous regional hierarchies, discussions from abroad (not only in English but in languages such as Japanese, Chinese, German, French, Finnish, etc.) and multitudes of public, private and non-profit organizations.

To read newsgroups, you use a newsreading application. A newsreader keeps track of which newsgroups to read as well as each article within the newsgroup. Once an individual article is read, that article will no longer be displayed and only new articles to that newsgroup will be displayed. There are several newsreaders available including tin, rn, nn and trn. We recommend trn and that is the reader we will discuss here.

At the "%" prompt, type "trn." Since all primushost.com users are subscribed to a few local newsgroups, you will have something to read right off the bat. A screen similar to this will appear:

1. If you answer with a "+" a list of unread articles will be shown.
2. To mark an article to be read type the letter or number appearing in the left column. Hitting the space bar will move you to the next page.
3. "c" will mark all of the articles as read. "y" will confirm the choice.
4. "q" will quit the group and move to the next group with unread messages.
5. The "g" command followed by the name of a newsgroup will allow you to read it and also offer the option of subscribing to the newsgroup.
6. The "u"command will unsubscribe a group.
7. Help is available from within trn with the "h" command.

The entire list of available newsgroups complete with a short description may be downloaded from the directory /usr/lib/news.

If you wish to download this file to your machine at home, just use whatever file transfer protocol you usually use. For example, let's say I use Zmodem. I would set up my machine at home and then type:

% sz /usr/lib/news/newsgroups

Then the file transfer would begin. I can then browse the file at home at my own pace.

If you attempt to subscribe to a newsgroup, and you get a message saying the newsgroup does not exist (or something similar to that), then North Shore Access does not subscribe to this newsgroup. No problem. Just email support@primushost.com with a request for the newsgroup, and we'll get it. There will be a couple of days (max) before articles start appearing. Then subscribe to this newsgroup as explained earlier.

NOTE: When posting to a newsgroup, pay particular attention to the distribution field. The default answer is worldwide and if the article is sent with world distribution, it will go to every other USENET site.

Some common distribution fields are:

1. ne - New England
2. usa - Only to USA sites
3. na - Only to North American sites
4. world- Each and every USENET site throughtout the world

The classic example of inappropriate distribution is an article about the sale of a dinette set posted with the distribution field of "world." People in Australia are not likely buyers of a Massachusetts dinette set.

Back To Unix Support