Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!sarah!leah.albany.edu!derek
From: derek@leah.albany.edu (Cinderella Man)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: MAJOR problems with TheNews -- advice/information sought
Keywords: TheNews 1.0, Mac NNTP program, Usenet News
Message-ID: <1990Dec7.091005.28377@sarah.albany.edu>
Date: 7 Dec 90 09:10:05 GMT
Sender: news@sarah.albany.edu
Organization: State University of New York at Albany
Lines: 71
Originator: derek@leah.albany.edu


I tried to get mail through to the author of the program, but the uunet
bang-path address given in the readme file bounced, so I'm hoping someone
can help here (or that he reads this group).


	I've FTPed the Mac NNTP news reader TheNews 1.0 from one of the ftp
archives, and I'm very impressed with it so far -- it looks fast and easy
to use.  Unfortunately, I can't get it to work!  I've read the manual
provided back-to-front, and I can't see anything wrong at this end, so I'll
lay out the errors, and perhaps someone can figure out the problem.


Hardware specifics:
	I'm running a Mac IIci with 4mb of RAM, an 80mb internal hard drive,
	an Apple 13" high-res monitor, an Apple SCSI CD-ROM player, and a
	Novell EtherPort II ethernet card.

Software specifics:
	I'm using System 6.0.5 (it's given me the least problems), under
	MultiFinder.  I've got AppleShare workstation software loaded,
	along with EtherTalk (2.01 -- AppleTalk phase 2) available from
	the Network cDev.  I'm using MacTCP 1.0.1a2 as an Internet driver.
	I use the BYU version of NCSA Telnet 2.3.1, along with the latest
	version of Brown U.'s TN3270 program, both with no problems.  I've
	also tested Steve Dorner's Eudora program, which seems to work fine.


Now to the situation:

	The program boots fine.  I set the IP address for my local NNTP
server, and select "New" from the File menu.  A dialog box appears,
whipping through all of the available newsgroups on my server.  After this,
a window pops up with the names of the groups I can read.  So far, so good
and normal.  It's at this point when the problems show up.  If I select a
group name and "add"/subscribe to it, it pops up a dialog box which (I
believe) is checking the status of that group on the server.  The number of
messages then listed in the main window is invariably "0 unread  1 available".
If I select the "Read" item from the Groups menu, it will bring up a blank 
screen.  No group ever has any messages available for reading.  (I use this
server for reading/posting news through rrn on another Unix system, and it
works fine.)

	That's not the most aggravating problem, however.  After it's
checked the server the first time (using the "New" command), and listed all
the available groups, if I try to save my newsgroup list (through "Save" or
"Save As...") the Mac freezes completely.  This happens whether I change
nothing, add one group to my subscribed list, or add a bunch.  Total system
freeze.

	I have not been able to get past these problems.  I've repeated them
at least a dozen times.  I've changed my system configuration, removing all
INITs/cDevs (except for the basic Apple set, Network, and MacTCP); I've
booted under MultiFinder, Finder, changed the memory allocation of the
application, turned off the RAM cache, basically everything I can think of,
but the problems remain the same.  I'm pretty convinced it's a conflict
with the IIci itself, but hopefully not (it wasn't one of the machines
mentioned as a test Mac).  

	I hope the information I've provided will be enough to guess at the
source of the problem, even sight unseen; any help is greatly appreciated.


				thanks,

						Derek L.
-- 
+ +  "When nothing else remains, one must scream.  Silence is the ultimate  + +
+       crime against humanity." -- Nadezhda Mandelstam			      +
+ _________________________ [Affix disclaimer here] _________________________ +
+ +  +   +   Each one's life a novel no one else has read -- Peart   +   +  + +