Usenet 1994 October/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicoctober1994disk2.iso/misc/volume30/tin/part11/FAQ

Text File | 1992-05-20 | 15KB | 400 lines

[ NOTE: IGNORE THIS DOCUMENT UNTIL A LATER DATE - IT IS NOT COMPLETE - Iain ]
[ THIS DOCUMENT USES THE NN FAQ AS ITS BASE WITH PERMISSION FROM BILL WOHLER]

Subject: TIN Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with Answers
Summary: This document answers Frequently Asked Questions about TIN,
     a menu-based, point and shoot, USENET news reader.
Keywords: FAQ tin news question answer newsrc digest article nntp
          newsgroup cancel mail signature header netnews usenet kill
Followup-To: poster

Archive-name: tin-faq/part01
Last-modified: 01/05/92

  This is a living list of frequently asked questions on the Usenet
  news reader TIN (Tass & Iain's Newsreader). The point of this is to
  circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old answers.
  Better to build on top than start again.  Please read this document
  before posting to a newsgroup concerning tin.

  This article is posted monthly.  If it has already expired and
  you're not reading this, you can hope that you saved the last bit of
  question 3 so that you can get a copy yourself.

  When someone posts a frequently-asked question, I will point out to
  them that the answer is here to ensure that everybody gets their
  question answered fully and to eliminate unnecessary traffic in this
  newsgroup.  Posted answers that are in the FAQ are just as annoying as
  posted questions that are in the FAQ!

  Your comments, additions and fixes to this list are welcome: please
  send them to Iain Lea ([e-mail]).  Complete,
  accurate and grammatically correct answers are appreciated to reduce
  the time I have to take to test or edit your answers.


From: Preface
Subject: Table of Contents

Legend: + new, - deleted, ! changed

Introductory

 1.  Why should I use tin?
 2.  Where can I get tin?
 3.  What references exist for tin?
 4.  How should I report bugs?
 5.  How can I convert from rn to nn?
 6.  How can I make life simpler when starting nn for the first time?
 7.  Is there an X interface to tin?

Building tin

 10. What machines does tin run on?

Using tin

 20. How do I save files that I can read later with MH, elm, Mail, ...?
 21. How come nn doesn't show the Lines count?
 22. How can I find all articles having to do with a certain topic?
 23. How can I set a different Organization name?
 24. Can all non-selected subjects be automatically placed in my kill file?
 25. Can I automatically kill articles based on the Newsgroups header?
 26. How can I select one article in a thread with auto-select-subject set?
 27. Is there a library of macros and other nn features?
 28. Can one search for patterns in the entire article from the menu?
 29. How can I remove old articles from folders?
 30. What's the best way to save multi-part articles?
 31. When saving in +a/b/c keeps you from saving in +a/b.
 32. Can I use my mailer to send mail?
 33. How can I see the original article with the current subject?
 34. Can I choose newsgroups as I do articles, ie. with a menu?
 35. How can I post prewritten articles with nn?
 36. How do I eliminate double signatures?
 37. How can I make mail replies go to a different machine?
 38. How come more articles get selected than I expect?
 39. Any plans for trn-ish thread following?
 40. Setting new-group-action to "ask before adding" doesn't work.
 41. Why does nn crash when a letter one past the highest letter is selected?
 42. Why do articles without a Lines header appear empty?

From: Preface
Subject: Viewing This Article

  To skip to a particular question numbered xx, use "/^F.*xx" with most
  pagers.  In GNU Emacs type "M-C-s ^F.*xx", (or C-r to search backwards),
  followed by ESC to end the search.

  To skip to new or changed questions, use "/^F.*[!+]" with most pagers and
  "M-C-s ^F.*[!+]" in GNU Emacs.

  This article is in digest format.  Nn may have already broken this
  message into separate articles; if not, then type "G %".  In rn, use
  ^G to skip sections.

  To get an overview of just the questions in GNU Emacs, type "M-2 C-x $".
  Use "C-x $" to display the text again ("M-0 C-l C-x $" ensures that
  the current cursor location remains on the screen).

  Contributer's E-Mail addresses can be found at the bottom of this article.


From: Intro-1
Subject: Why should I use tin?

  tin is a menu based (point and shoot) netnews reader with a complete
  set of features especially suited to the novice user.  Since its first
  release in Aug 1991 it has started to replace rn and other well-known
  news readers at many sites.

  Some of the key features of tin are:

  * Automatic kill & selection of articles based on subject or author.

  *  Based more on Notes and tass than rn type newreaders.
  *  Full screen, easy to use with on-line help at all levels.
  *  Reads news locally (ie. /usr/spool/news) and/or via NNTP/INN.
  *  Threads on Subject: and/or Archive-name: mail headers.
  *  Four different operating levels:
     -  Group selection level
     -  Thread selection level
     -  Article selection level
     -  Article viewer
  *  Same interface to mail, pipe, print & save articles.
  *  Auto unpacking of multi-part shar & uuencoded articles.
  *  Auto kill & selection of articles based on subject or author.
  *  Batch mode to mail/save new news when user is on holiday.
  *  Builtin NNTP mini-inews & clientlib.c
  *  NNTP extensions XUSER & XINDEX allow central index files.


From: Intro-2
Subject: Where can I get tin?

  The current version of tin is 1.1 PL3.

  via anonymous ftp:
    ftp.Germany.EU.net []
      pub/news/tin/tin.tar.Z            ~250k

  via mail:
    Send a note to [e-mail] whose body contains "help"
    on a line by itself get information on getting ftp sources by
    mail.


From: Intro-3 !
Subject: What references exist for tin?

  Usenet:
    news.software.readers
    news.software.notes

  Mailing list:
    none


From: Intro-4
Subject: How should I report bugs?

  Either mail them to  [e-mail]  and be sure
  to include the version number as well as what hardware and operating
  system you are using, or better yet, use the 'B' bug command within tin.


From: Intro-6
Subject: How can I make life simpler when starting tin for the first time?

  tin -c
  sysadmin can set interesting groups in LIBDIR/subscriptions
  Subscribe/unsubscribe from uninteresting groups with sSuU commands at
  group selection level.


From: Intro-7
Subject: Is there an X interface to tin?

  No.


From: Building nn-10
Subject: What machines does tin run on?

  * 386/486 PC & Xenix 2.3.2/SCO SysVR3.2/ISC SysVR3.2/ATT SysVr4.0
    386 PC & Minix 386
    Amdahl & SysVR3
  * Apollo DN4500 & DomainOS 10.3
    Apricot VX/FT & SCO 3.2.2
    Atari STe & Minix 1.5.10.3b
    Convex C220 & Convex Un*x
  * Dec 5000/Vax & Ultrix 4.1/4.2
    DIAB DS90 & D-NIX 5.3
  * DG Aviion 300 & DG-UX 4.30
    Harris HCX & CX/UX
    HP 720/845 & HP-UX 7.0
    IBM RS/6000 & AIX 3.1.5
    ICL DRS6000 & SysVR4.0
    NCR Tower & SysV
    Powerbook 140 & MacMinix
    Sequent S81 & PTX 1.3 / Dynix
    SGI 4D/35 & IRIX 4.0.1
  * SNI MX300/MX500 & Sinix 5.22/5.23/5.24/5.4
  * Sony News & NewsOS 4.1
  * Sun 3/4/IPC/SS1/SS2 & SunOS 4.0.3/4.1/4.1.1
  * Vax 11/785 & BSD 4.3

  * donates that the author has compiled & used tin on that machine.


From: Using nn-22
Subject: How can I find all articles having to do with a certain topic?

  nngrab invokes nn on all articles whose subject or keyword fields
  contain a desired keyword.  This shows one how important it is to
  use descriptive subjects and keywords when posting articles.  For
  more information, read the manual page.


From: Using nn-23
Subject: How can I set a different Organization name?

  This header (along with the Reply-To:) are user-specified in the
  init file.  An init file may include the lines:

  set mail-header Reply-To: [e-mail];Organization: Transact Software
  set news-header Reply-To: [e-mail];Organization: Transact Software

  You can include any headers that you want in the headers, either in
  mail or news postings, and they may be different.  --Steven M. List

  A Reply-To header is useful when your system generates either an
  unwanted or blatantly wrong return address for you.  If this header
  is present, then mailers use it instead of the system generated From
  header.  --Bill Wohler


From: Using nn-28
Subject: Is the Xref: header used to mark crosposted articles read?

  No. On the TODO list.


From: Using nn-28
Subject: Can one search for patterns in the entire article from the menu?

  No.


From: Using nn-29
Subject: How can I remove old articles from folders?

  Just open the folder in the usual way and C(ancel) the articles you
  want to remove from the folder.  When you leave the folder, nn will
  rewrite the folder with the "cancel"ed articles removed.  --Kim Storm


From: Using nn-30
Subject: What's the best way to save multi-part articles?

  This is VERY easy - all you have to do is to save the articles from
  the menu, e.g.

    W(rite) +file.* a b c d... <space>

  where a b c d... are the articles on the menu you want to save.  You
  can also save the selected articles on the menu with * (only on
  current page) or + (on all menu pages).  --Kim Storm


From: Using nn-31
Subject: When saving in +a/b/c keeps you from saving in +a/b.

  This happens when default-save-file is $F.  Try changing
  default-save-file to $F/$N (my favorite) to get, for example,
  +news/software/nn/1022, or $G to put everything in
  +news.software.nn.  Finally, if you really did want the behavior of
  +$F, a compromise would be to use +$F. (Andrew's favorite) instead
  (one can use anything other than '.'). --Bill Wohler & Andrew Swann

  Alternatively, use +$F/$L, to place articles for news.software.nn in
  the file +/news/software/nn/nn.  This has two advantages:
  1) You can later read through the folder "nn" and save some of the
    articles under new folder names having to do with the topic.  For
    example, you might save auto-select topics under +$F/auto-sel,
    that is, +/news/software/nn/auto-sel.
  2) If at a later date, a new newsgroup is added below nn, articles
    can still be saved under that subgroup since +/news/software/nn is
    already a directory, not a folder.  --Harry Herman


From: Using nn-33
Subject: How can I see the original article with the current subject?

  While reading an article, use "G RET RET RET".  --Bill Wohler


From: Using nn-35
Subject: How can I post prewritten articles with nn?

  nnpost will construct the header for the posted article, so it
  requires several arguments to be specified before the article is
  posted, e.g. a newsgroup name and a subject.  If some arguments are
  missing, nnpost will prompt for the missing arguments.

  If your pre-written article includes a full header, then you should
  not use nnpost; instead you should feed the article to "inews -h"
  directly (which is what nnpost does after building the header from
  the arguments).  --Kim Storm


From: Using nn-36
Subject: How do I eliminate double signatures?

  Double signatures occur when both nn and inews append your .signature
  file.

  If you want inews to append your .signature file, use:

    unset append-signature-post

  If you want nn to append your .signature file, you can copy nn's aux
  file (ie. /usr/local/lib/nn/aux) to your .nn directory and set the
  mail-script and news-script variables to ~/.nn/aux.  In your copy of
  the aux script, you can either specify a different place for your
  .signature file (like $HOME/.nn/signature) or you can get fancy: you
  can use specific .signatures for certain groups, or use the output of
  a program.


From: Using nn-37
Subject: How can I make mail replies go to a different machine?

  See "How can I set a different Organization name?"


From: Using nn-39
Subject: Any plans for trn-ish thread following?

  At the moment, no.


From: Using nn-42 +
Subject: Why do articles without a Lines header appear empty?

  I discovered that this problem only shows up if you have
  header-lines set to a string that includes "L".  I suspect having
  the line count patch sets something that makes nn think there is a
  Lines header and then the header-string is telling it to display the
  Lines header but there isn't one and things get messed up.  --Gary
  Morris


From: Appendix
Subject: Glossary

  NNTP        Network News Transport Protocol (see RFC 977)


From: Appendix
Subject: Acknowledgements

I'd like to thank the following people for providing ideas on the
layout of this article:

Joe Wells <[e-mail]>          Richard M. Stallman <[e-mail]>
David Elliott <[e-mail]>     Tom Christiansen <[e-mail]>
Eugene N. Miya <[e-mail]>


We are also grateful to the following individuals that have provided
answers or other information to make this a better document.  The
actual list is undoubtedly larger.

F.F. Jacot Guillarmod <[e-mail]>  Mr. Kim F. Storm <[e-mail]>
Steven M. List <[e-mail]>   Steven Grady <[e-mail]>
Richard M. Mathews <[e-mail]>         Ian Taylor <[e-mail]>
Dave Shaver <[e-mail]>             Paul Eggert <[e-mail]>
Michael Rawdon <[e-mail]>    Joerg Napp <[e-mail]>
Dave Hayes <[e-mail]>         Gary Morris <[e-mail]>
Andrew Swann <[e-mail]>         Alexis Rosen <[e-mail]>
David B. Thomas <[e-mail]>         Jeffery Small <[e-mail]>
Richard Reiner <[e-mail]>         Max Heffler <[e-mail]>
Harry Herman <[e-mail]>         Luc Rooijakkers <[e-mail]>
Paul Bickerstaff <[e-mail]>


From: Appendix
Subject: Warranty

[The following statement epitomizes the ridiculous state of
affairs in America and can be ignored outside of America...]

No Warranty: Because this article is provided free of charge as a
service to news.software.readers readers, we provide absolutely no
warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable state law.  This
article is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Should the information prove defective, you assume the cost of all
necessary servicing, repair or correction.