At your VERY FIRST time, (and only the first time) reading news, when you see the screen with the following choices:
1. "tin" Network News reader
2. Choose newsgroups by interest area
R. Reset your newsgroups to a default setting. V. View a listing of the default newsgroups.
hit 'R' to subscribe to a default list of about 15 newsgroups. If it says 'overwrite ........... ?', hit 'y' and press 'enter'. Now select '"Tin" Network news reader.
When you see the list of newsgroups, hit the 'enter' or 'return' key to read the highlighted group.
Hit 'enter' again on a highlighted article to read it. If the lower part of the screen says 'more', hit the space bar to read more. If the lower part of the screen says 'next response', hit the space bar to read the next response.
If the bottom of the screen says 'no responses', 'n' will take you to the next unread article; OR 'q' will take you back to the article selection level, hitting 'q' the second time will take you back to the group selection level.
The 'q' will always return you up one level, while 'Q' will take you completely out of Tin, to the SVPAL news menu.
Note: If you have previously read Usenet news and have already set up your groups, the 'R' option to reset your newsgroups will WIPE OUT YOUR EXISTING GROUPS and give you the default list of groups. Use 'V' to see which newsgroups you will get if you are considering resetting.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Within Tin, capital letters and lower- case letters ALMOST ALWAYS mean two different things. If the letters you strike do not seem to be doing what you think they should be doing, check to see if your 'caps lock' key is turned 'on'.
Try a response to your test by getting into your test article, (unless you already are reading it) and hitting 'f', The subject from the original article is retained since this is a response. Note the computer shows that so-and-so (you) wrote this article and shows the text of your original article. This makes it easier for someone else to see what's going on.
Hit 'enter' to leave a blank line after the header (the top part of the message), or you'll get an error message. Now type your response. Then exit by hitting ^x (which means hold down control and press x, then release both). When you are asked 'save modified buffer', type 'y'. (If you say 'n', the message won't be written.) When it says 'Filename to write: home/id-name/.article ?' just hit 'enter'. Then when it says e)dit q)uit or p)ost, hit 'p'. You will then be taken back to the original message.
The response has been posted, but you can't read it until you exit back to the main list of groups with 'q' and then 'q' again. You should then see some lines about updating the news file, then the group counter should be incremented by one. Now you can go back and see your response.
2. Read only the articles that interest you; type q to quit the group;
type c to mark all in that group as read; press 3. You can save an article without displaying it. On the article list
screen, put the cursor on a title and type s to save.
4. To make downloading easier, save many articles to one file; you will
be asked if you want to append articles to that file.
5. Use your program's copy and paste abilities to gather bits and pieces;
a Windows' Clipboard extender is very useful here.
6. On any screen, typing a capital Q quits news quickly.
Note: The svpal.announce newsgroup is reserved for official SVPAL announcements.
It is a 'moderated' group, which means you can't post directly to this
group. New posts are actually mailed to the moderator(s), SVPAL customer
support.
In addition, there are other categories, such as: alt. Alternative (could
be anything) groups. biz. Business-type articles. k12. Kindergarten through
high school, popular with teachers.
alt.food alt.food.vegies alt.food.vegies.roots alt.food.vegies.roots.carrots
alt.food.vegies.roots.carrots.huge alt.food.vegies.roots.carrots.tiny alt.food.vegies.roots.radishes
alt.food.vegies.roots.spuds
And if you unsubscribed to: alt.food.vegies.roots.*
Then you'd be unsubscribed to the carrots, radishes and spuds sub-groups,
but you'd still be subscribed to the first three groups.
Note: When you unsubscribe, a 'u' appears at the beginning of the line
for the group in the group level menu. The change will actually take place
when you exit from Tin, and your index file is updated. The next time you
enter Tin, the unsubscribed groups will be gone.
If your search is too general, for instance 'comp', the screen will
scroll through all of the comp.* groups for several screensful. Some comm
programs have a scrollback buffer, which allows you to 'page backward'
to see the previous screens. Some comm programs have a capture buffer which
sends the screen display to a file or to your own printer. These may help
you to find what you're looking for.
If you want the screen to stop scrolling and quit, hit ^C. It takes
a while to stop. 'Enter' and/or 'q' will get you back to a menu.
Some results are unexpected. If you're looking for bay area (ba.) groups,
you'll 'hit' on every group with 'ba' in the group name or in the explanation
for the group.
Sometimes it's difficult or impossible to figure out what the search
function thinks it has found, probably since the explanation of what the
group is about is truncated on some screens.
The same effect can occur at the article selection level. If you KNOW
there were 192 articles yesterday, and there are only 14 today, hit the
'r' to display all the articles.
You can confirm that your .newsrc file has been corrupted by displaying
your home directory. If the .newsrc file size is zero, the file is empty.
1) Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in
/pub/usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part1 /pub/usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part2
/pub/usenet/news.answers/social-newsgroups/part1 /pub/usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part1
/pub/usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part2 /pub/usenet/news.answers/moderator-list/part1
These files are available by email from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Send
email with nothing in the Subject line and the message:
send usenet/news.answers/social-newsgroups/part1 send usenet/news.answers/social-newsgroups/part2
and so on.
These Lists of Active Newsgroups by David Lawrence are available in
compressed form from garbo.uwasa.fi in /pc/doc-net/newsgrps.zip.
To type a Ctrl-^ hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and press the '6'
key at the top of the keyboard. Then release the three keys.
To move blocks of text, you use Mark (Ctrl-^), Cut (Ctrl-k) and then
Paste (Crtl-u).
(Ctrl-k, used without Mark, deletes the line the cursor is on.)
To test these commands, put your cursor in the middle of a line. Press
and hold down the 'control' key and the 'shift' key, and press the number
'6' key. Then release all three keys. You have just "set" a mark. Now press
a right or left arrow key 8 or 9 times. You have just included 8 or 9 characters
in the 'marked text'. Now hit Ctrl-k (sometimes written as ^k). You have
just cut the text you marked. Now, move your cursor down to a new, empty
line, then press Ctrl-u. You have just 'pasted' the text that you cut.
Try Ctrl-u again. You just pasted it again, since the marked text will
stay in your 'paste' buffer until you replace it with something else. You
can also set a mark at the beginning of a line and then arrow down to include
2 full lines of text in the marked text. Then hit Ctrl-k to cut those 2
lines. You can paste the 2 lines anywhere in the message that you like
by moving your cursor to the desired location.
Note: The Tin manual is very generic and contains commands and procedures
usable only from a shell prompt, which is unavailable to SVPAL users.
---Will I be asked about subscribing to new groups forever?
When I get into a new Tin session, I'm asked over and over again whether
I want to subscribe to a new group. I keep hitting 'n'. How can I squelch
this? Hit 'q' for quit.
What are the major menus or levels within Tin?
When you first enter Tin, you will be in the group selection level. The
next level down is the article selection level. The next level down, if
you hit 'l', is the thread selection level; there must be at least one
followup to an article to see this level. If you don't hit 'l', this level
is skipped. The next level down is the article reading level.
What do the numbers in front of the groups mean?
At the group selection menu: The numbers in front of the groups indicate
the number of articles/responses you have not read in that group. If there
are no numbers, there are no unread articles, or no articles to read. Note:
The numbers that are shown BEFORE you have read the group for the very
first time probably are not accurate. After you read through the group,
and go back up to the group selection level, the index will be updated,
and the numbers should be correct from that time on.
What do the numbers in front of the articles mean?
At the article selection level or menu: The numbers in the line for the
article, if any, indicate the number of articles/threads you have not yet
read. As you read through the articles and threads, the numbers are decremented,
but you won't see that until you go back up to the group selection menu
or level, and the computer has updated your index.
What does '15T 36A' mean in Tin?
At the article selection level or menu: Note that near the top of the screen
it will show the group name and something like '15T 36A'. This means there
are 15 threads and a total of 36 articles or posts in that news group.
What are the SVPAL Usenet groups?
On SVPAL, there are about nine groups, each with the prefix 'svpal.' Many
SVPAL users ask questions and get answers in these groups. It is an excellent
place to get information, since many users have the same problems, and
the SVPAL groups provide a semi-permanent reference area for solutions
to those problems. The name of the group indicates the topic which is discussed
(hopefully). For instance, svpal.mail is about mail. Internet subjects
are discussed on svpal.internet. Discussion about news issues and news
topics occurs on svpal.news. Miscellaneous subjects which don't fit into
other categories are discussed on svpal.general. The 'chat' group is svpal.talk.
What are some other local or regional newsgroups?
There are south (San Francisco) bay groups, sbay.* . There are bay area
groups, ba.* . There are California groups, ca.* . There are many regional
groups denoted by the first part of the name, e.g., nj. for New Jersey,
sea. for Seattle. Note: Because of the way news feeds are handled, be wary
of posting to out-of-area groups, such as chi.*, sea.*, nj.*. Your posts
probably won't be picked up, and new news probably won't be received.
What are the major classifications of newsgroups?
The traditional 'big seven' categories are: comp. Computer related groups.
misc. Everything else. news. Discussions about Usenet. rec. Hobby and recreational
groups. sci. Things scientific. soc. Social and cultural topics. talk.
Discussion, generally on controversial issues.
What do the newsgroup names mean?
Groups are named after the discussion topic. As the subject becomes more
specific, the name becomes more specific, for example in this hypothetical
list of newsgroups: alt.sports would be general discussion on sports. alt.sports.football
would be football related. alt.sports.football.niners would be about a
specific team. alt.sports.football.niners.montana would be about you know
who.
What does ' * ' mean?
In Unix, the operating system language for SVPAL, the asterisk character
' * ' is known as a 'wild card' and can mean 'any quantity of any character'.
Thus you'll find that the ' * ' is used to indicate 'anything'. The text
'svpal.*' in this context means ANY or ALL of the svpal newsgroups.
What does 'unsubscribe pattern' mean?
It means unsubscribing using the '*' character as a wild card. This would
mean 'match the characters in front of the ( * ), plus, select EVERYTHING
starting from the ( * ). For instance, if you were already subscribed to
the following:
What does 'subscribe' mean?
Like a magazine, if you subscribe, you will get and be able to read the
news for that particular group. If you are not subscribed, you can't get
it or read it. You may subscribe to an additional available group, or you
may unsubscribe to a group at any time.
How can I subscribe to all the newsgroups?
You must be kidding, since there are presently about 8,000 groups on SVPAL.
If you just looked at all the titles care- fully, it would take you hours.
If you're fairly new, the best way to start is with the default 15 or so
groups you get when you select the 'Reset your newsgroups' selection. This
is a manageable place to start.
Is there a way to search for specific newsgroups?
Yes. Check out the 'Choose news by interest area' function which is on
the screen just before you get into Tin. The 'search' feature on Choose
news finds words, such as 'dog' and parts of words, such as 'movi'. It
also finds text such as 'comp.protocols.kermit'.
How can I subscribe to: alt.sports.hockey.nhl.sj-sharks?
Use 'Choose Newsgroups by Interest area' described above.
What does 'yanking' mean in Tin?
This is an alternate way to subscribe to, and search for newsgroups. You
can select additional groups by (y)anking in all of the groups, subscribe
to those you want, then (y)ank out all of the non-subscribed-to groups,
which brings back your original groups, plus those you just subscribed
to.
How can I use yank to select a specific group?
At the group selection level: Just y)ank all the groups in, then g)o to,
and you'll be prompted for the name of the group. Type in the EXACT name
of the group, you will be asked where to position it in your group list.
Type the position number, and the group will be added. The non-subscribed
groups will be automatically yanked out, and your new list of groups will
be displayed.
Can I do a search on 'yanked' groups?
Yes. At the group selection level or menu: When you y)ank all the groups
in, ALL of the groups will temporarily be available for searching. A '/'
character starts a forward search, and a '?' character does a backward
search. THE LIST OF GROUPS MAY NOT BE COMPLETELY ALPHABETIZED, so search
some more, if you get a 'hit' which isn't exactly what you want. If you
find what you want, hit 's' to subscribe, then y)ank out all the non-subscribed
groups. You should then be back at your list of subscribed-to groups.
How can I reorder, or renumber my subscribed-to groups?
At the group selection level or menu: Put your cursor on the group you
want to move. Hit 'm' for move. You will be asked which number you want
that line to be on. Type 1 or 2 or whatever. You can reorder all your groups
this way.
Can SVPAL get the (fill in the blank) newsreader?
There are numerous newsreaders used by the various internet access providers,
but SVPAL does not provide a choice of news readers. Some commercial providers
have more than one newsreader. At least one provider gives you a choice
of three.
Can I read my news offline?
At this time SVPAL does not offer offline news readers. Some users can
set up scripts with their comm programs to go into news and pull all of
the unread news into a file which can be read offline. You can peruse the
alt.news.* groups if you want to know more about this.
I'm going on vacation. What about my newsgroups?
If you are talking about Usenet news, the news will still flow to the groups,
and you can read all the new postings when you get back. Some newsgroups
delete old postings with a time-out or 'expire' function, however. If you're
talking about listserve groups where the news is *mailed* to you, you could
have some bodacious files when you get back, depending on how long you're
gone. You might forward them to another service, or read them remotely
with Telnet, or just unsubscribe to the lists if you will be gone for an
extended period. SVPAL just doesn't have the disk storage to handle large
quantities of files. If you get large amounts of mail or need large amounts
of storage, perhaps you should look into one of the commercial services
which generally provide fairly hefty storage for individual users, maybe
five megabytes without additional storage charges.
What is the .newsrc file that's in my home directory?
This file contains an index of all the newsgroups which you are currently
subscribed to, and an index of the articles you've read in those groups.
Can I save news articles in Tin?
Yes. At the article selection level, hit 's'. You will be asked whether
you want to save the article or entire thread. After you select, you are
asked 'Process ?' with several choices. Hit 'n' for none. (You need shell
access (unavailable on SVPAL) to utilize processing.) Information on processing
or post-processing of saved articles is in the Tin manual.
Where can I find the news articles I saved?
Look in your News directory.
How can I download the news articles I saved?
You must exit from Tin, and then go to a file transfer menu. Extensive
information on downloading is in the 'Files' FAQ. Shortcut: When downloading,
and your current directory is the home directory, you can also specify
the filename as: ~/News/Can I get the interest group from SRI.COM on SVPAL?
No. Most organizational groups don't distribute their internal interest
group news.
Where does the SVPAL news come from?
Amdahl provides SVPAL's newsfeed.
Can I do a private reply to an article poster?
Yes, the 'm' option for 'mail' replies privately to the poster by e-mail.
Do articles time-out in Tin?
Yes, articles can expire and be deleted when they get too old. The local
system administrator decides how long articles will be posted. Every Usenet
news site, such as SVPAL, sets its own rules such as: what groups are carried,
when articles time-out, etc.
Do SVPAL newsgroup articles time-out?
New answer. The articles in the svpal.* groups expire or time-out after
90 days.
Why can't I print in Tin with the 'o' option?
Remember, you're sort of piggybacking on SVPAL's system, and in Tin, the
'o' would mean: print to SVPAL's printer.
Why is it that sometimes half or all my newsgroups disappear?
They probably just SEEM to disappear. You may have hit the 'r', which causes
only the unread groups to be shown at the main list of groups. Hit 'r'
again, and all the groups will come back.
What if my newsgroups really DO disappear?
Oops. It can happen. It did happen. Over and over again in July '94, when
SVPAL was having horrific disk space problems. It's very frustrating and
time-consuming to have to rebuild your groups from scratch. Here is a VERY
HELPFUL HINT. Make a hard-copy listing of all your groups. If/when your
.newsrc file gets corrupted, and your groups have evaporated into cyber
neverland, you can fairly easily restore them by doing the 'R' reset groups
technique to get back your svpal groups, and use the Choose News feature
to resubscribe to your other groups back by referring to your hard copy.
What does toggle mean?
A toggle is like a pushbutton switch that you hit to turn something on.
When you hit it again, it turns it off. Back and forth, forth and back.
For instance, the 'H' toggles the mini-help menu on and off at the bottom
of your screen in Tin. NEAT TIP: When you toggle the mini-help menu 'off',
your screen displays several more lines at one time.
How can I create a Usenet Newsgroup?
Unless you want to invest more than six months of time and energy, forget
it. Newsgroup creation is a time-consuming, formal process. For more information
check the group 'news.answers'. Look for the article 'How to Create a New
Usenet Newsgroup' by David C Lawrence.
Are there Usenet newsgroups which talk about Usenet?
Yes, check out news.answers, news.announce.newgroups and the alt.news.*
groups.
Is there a file that lists all newsgroups
There is no complete list of newsgroups. Try the following:
Why are the lines too long in some articles?
Because the writer made them too long. The typical screen is set up to
show a maximum of 80 characters, and some people fill it. However, when
you reply to a message, additional characters are added at the front of
each line to show that the lines are reprinted from the original message,
which makes the line longer. A good rule is to hit the return key at about
65-70 characters, starting a new line. It's easier to read, and shorter
lines allow for insertion of characters at the front of the line for replies/followups.
Should I set my font smaller to see longer lines?
Some comm programs allow that, but then you'll mess up everybody else with
80 column screens. Don't do it.
Can the editor automatically word-wrap at say, 70 characters?
Nope. However, you may have a word-wrap feature on your comm program's
editor which you may use to type your articles, then copy, then paste into
tin.
How many lines can my sig file have?
If your sig file is longer than 4 lines, Tin will give an error message
when you try to post.
In Tin and Pine why doesn't 'Delete' work properly?
In the Pine mail program, and in the Tin newsreader, the 'delete' key erases
the character to the left of the cursor. That's just a function of the
Pico editor used in both programs. There's nothing wrong with your keyboard.
If you want to erase at the cursor in those programs use ^D.
How do I "mark, cut and paste" while composing articles
in Tin?
To delete blocks of text, you use Mark (Ctrl-^), and Cut (Ctrl-k).
WHY AREN'T POSTS WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS?
BECAUSE ARTICLES OR LETTERS WRITTEN ALL IN CAPS ARE MUCH HARDER TO READ,
AND ON THE INTERNET, WHEN YOU USE CAPITAL LETTERS, YOU ARE CONSIDERED TO
BE SHOUTING. Give your readers a break.
Can I advertise on the Usenet news?
It's not advised, in fact, it's actively discouraged. You may get blasted,
or 'flamed' by irate readers who object. There are groups, however, set
up just for advertising. Some local ones are sbay.for.sale and ba.for.sale.
Note: THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Don't advertise 'Free kitty to good
home' on, say, a statewide group. Don't garbage up groups all over the
state. Do it on a local group.
Is there a Tin manual or instructions I can read?
You can read the Tin manual one screen at a time. From the main news menu,
type 'help'. When you are asked "Help with which choice:", press '1'. This
will make you crazy, since the manual is somewhat confusing when read one
screen at a time, and it is more than 25 typewritten pages long!
Is there more Tin help on SVPAL?
You can use 'h' to get help within Tin, and don't forget that there are
up to four successive screensful.
Can I get a book on Tin?
Check through the Internet books, some will have more Tin help than others.
Some won't have any. 'The Internet Complete Reference' by Hahn and Stout,
has been praised by one of our members for the organization of the Tin
help chart, as follows: Commands That Are Always Available Commands to
Use While Selecting a Newsgroup Commands to Use While Selecting a Thread
to Read Commands to Use While Reading an Article since different letters
have different functions in different screens. The m or M for instance,
means: 1. 'move position within the list' while selecting a group. 2. 'mail
thread' while selecting a thread. 3. 'mail article' while reading an article
Note: Some commands are omitted in the Hahn & Stout charts.
Where can I find FAQ for many, many newsgroups?
Check the group 'news.answers' periodically. There is an extensive list
of FAQs for various newsgroups.