Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!rex!ukma!husc6!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!mace.cc.purdue.edu!asd
From: asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Review of NN, a Usenet news reader
Message-ID: <2804@mace.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 28 Jul 89 01:16:53 GMT
References: <2794@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <404@laas.laas.fr> <2803@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <327@ncis.tis.llnl.gov>
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Lines: 39

In article <327@ncis.tis.llnl.gov> mcb@ncis.tis.llnl.gov (Michael C. Berch) writes:

>In article <2803@mace.cc.purdue.edu> asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth) writes:

>> But only one .newsrc can only apply to one machine right?  The numbers in it
>> aren't transferable around machines are they?  (Neither are nn's ither) Why
>> would you need to read news on all the different machines?  I've got a dozen
>> plus accounts on different machines, and only read from one.  [...]

>Not true on networks with NNTP servers and clients.  The article
>numbers are consistent across all clients using the same NNTP server,
>and on the server itself if it permits local news reading.  The same
>[...]

>In distributed environments people often read news on more than one
>machine, depending on where they are sitting or what they might be
>[...]

Michael,

Thanks for informing me of this feature of systems.  The systems that I use
are not set up on networks like NNTP, so I really don't know much about that.
I can see the problems you can encounter in that type of situation.  In such
an environment, is it necessary to use different news readers? (the readers are
stored on each client, and may or may not have what you regularly use?)  Or
are the newsreaders run off the server?  If they're run off the server, I'd
see no problem as you wouldn't need to switch news programs.

I can understand that aspect.  Kim's offer on writing something to handle that
still holds as he (seems to me) busy with correcting/enhancing/etc other
features of NN.  Well, hmm, maybe I'll even give a shot at it.  Still seems to
me that NN's approach to handling the rc file (vs. .newsrc) is more efficient.
Maybe it's time for a new standard?  (Yeah, right, I can see the flames now.)
Okay, okay.  You've convinced me of the validity of needing a .newsrc.  Now
anybody gonna help me or Kim or somebody to write something up to use it?  If
you had a program that could convert back and forth between .newsrc and NN's
rc would that be enough?  Or not?

-kareth.