Otherware/Otherware_1_SB_Development.iso/amiga/comms/network/grn1asrc.lha/nntp.txt

Internet Message Format | 1992-02-25 | 6KB

From zorch!ames!mbml.psych.uiuc.edu!loren Thu, 13 Feb 92 04:12:58 PST
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From: Loren J. Rittle <zorch!ames!mbml.psych.uiuc.edu!loren>
To: zorch!amiga0![e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: no mail access in over a week

To: [e-mail] (Mike Schwartz)
Subject: NNTP support in GRn

>Well, I posted my GRn newsreader, and within 4 days, I had over
>50 people using it - wow, I think I found a niche that needed
>scratching :)  So I got about 200 mail messages in those 4 days,
>and I replied to each and every one.  I got about 3 bugs and 35
>enhancement requests.  Fixed all the bugs and half the enhancements.
>I figure this weekend I will be busy adding threads and kill files -
>that should make people real happy.

Wow!  I wish a had been checking alt.sources.amiga!  I will obtain
GRn from an ftp site (I saw it listed on one after receiving your
mail).  If source is included, I will make a stab at adding the NNTP
support myself if you don't mind.  I'll send back diffs, etc.

>I think nntp support might be cool to add!  Do you do nntp over a modem
>to your Amiga, or is it something from Unix to Unix only?  If it works
>to Amiga, then I bet you and I could get nntp support done in short order.
>(GRn took me all of 4 days total to write).

UUCP stands for Unix to Unix CoPy.  Does this mean that UUCP can
only be used under Unix? :-)  TCP/IP was all but born under BSD
Unix.  Does this mean that only BSD UNIX boxen are entitled to use
TCP/IP and be on the Internet?  NNTP is but a protocol --- any two machines
that understand the protocol can use NNTP.  Maybe I wasn't quite clear
before, but NNTP is nothing but a protocol that runs on a two-way (error-free)
serial link.  The nice thing about NNTP is that I don't need to keep
all the UseNet articles on my local machine.  Here at UIUC, all campus
machines are served by NNTP.  The serial link that NNTP usually runs over
is a TCP stream over IP [BTW, if you don't know about TCP/IP, I'm willing to
provide more information or pointers to information if you are interested.
I believe computer networking to be the next major area of revolution.
I honestly hope that the US government wakes up and smells the proverbable
coffee and starts to think about a US `data' highway, ala the US federal
highway system.], but *any* fairly error-free two-way serial link should
do.  Right now Mike, you could call [phone] (8 databits, 1 stopbit,
no parity, 2400 bps, MNP optional.  Other numbers support telebits, full
V.[34]2(bis), etc.) from your Amiga.  At the prompt type `telnet ux1 nntp'.
At this point, you have a two-way (if you have an MNP or V.[34]2(bis)
modem and you called the correct number, it is even error-free :-)
stream between your Amiga and an NNTP server.  Neat huh?  Now all that
is needed is the support in GRn.  At this point you could issue a few
NNTP commands by hand: 'help<cr>' shows a list of commands accepted by the
server, 'group comp.sys.amiga.programmer<cr>' moves you to the c.s.a.programmer
group and 'article 12564<cr>' (if you call before article 12564 expires... :-)
would return the requested article.  'last<cr>' 'head<cr>' 'body<cr>'
would list the article before 12564, in this case 12563.  Again, neat huh?
I'll even pay for your call if you try it and are not impressed.  Final
point, I'll bet any university that uses NNTP and has a terminal server
could be used as I describe above.  One just needs to know which local
machine is used as the NNTP server and which phone number to call.  As
this power could be abused, I don't mention the above to many people.

>I am going to start on GMail next, probably tonite.  As highly as I think
>of Matt Dillon, I am sick of using his user interface software :)

In a short pharse:  This is great to hear.  Matt Dillon doesn't know
know interface software! :-)

>That's all for now, I just figured I'd try to reply to your mail to
>ensure we have a connect going again.  If you ever want to see GRn,
>let me know and I will mail you a copy.  And the bugs/enhancements you
>ask for will get done first!

Yup, just continue to use this address for a while.  Let's do the NNTP
support!  I'll try to get the GRn package tonight.

>P.S.  I had the opportunity to use turbo c on the PC recently.  Now THAT
>is a product desparately needed on the Amiga.  It buries Manx and SAS,
>and has a great user interface.  And it is fast and ansi compliant.

Humm...  I've used LightSpeed C on the Mac and Turbo C on the PC
(this was a while ago).  I guess I just don't like a GUI on my compiler.
Don't get me wrong, I like a good GUI as much as the next guy...  but
on a compiler?  Also, I hate the bundled editor appoarch, it is so
(what's the word :-) archaic.

Maybe I should take a peek at the 10 disk Borland C++ package we just
received.  I assume this has the same features as the older Turbo C?
Why does Turbo C bury Manx and SAS?

Loren