Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: I wanna be a leaf too
Keywords: UUCP info please; bear with me; I'm new at this
Message-ID: <55774@sun.uucp>
Date: 8 Jun 88 18:13:54 GMT
References: <1542@edison.GE.COM>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 64

In article <1542@edison.GE.COM> mfs@edison.GE.COM writes:
>Hey, bop@edison is out of town; how about youse UUCP experts sending me some
>mail on becoming a News and Mail node.  I've got an Amiga 500 too.

The next question you ask yourself, "Do I have 30 - 60 megabytes of disk
space to spare for news?" You say, "Oh I just want to get comp.sys.amiga
and a couple of other groups." Then the answer is "Oh you only need 20
to 40 megabytes of hard disk *with nothing else on it*" This is not to
discourage anyone, just to let them understand that you *must* have a
hard disk to receive news, period. 

>Specifics:  What software do I need (besides UUCP) and where do I get it ?
	You will need compress (16 bits, which implys > 2Meg of RAM) and
	either tar or tarsplit to break the news up into it's individual
	parts. Both of these are available on Fish Disks. Then you will 
	need something that does what inews does (eg put the articles in
	the appropriate directories, queue articles you post to be sent
	out, etc) This you will have to write yourself or whack on whats
	on the uupc disk. Then you will need a 'front end' either an rn
	clone (or rn if you want to port it) and some sort of mail clone.

>            How do I use the software once I get it ?
	Beyond the scope of a net news message. Join news.admin and ask 
	their whats involved.

>            What do I need to tell the guy giving me a feed ?
	Your phone number, your system name, and a password he can use
	to login with. You will also want to tell him how often to call
	you up. If it is a toll call he will ask you to call him instead
	and give you similar information.

>            What is actually happening; theory behind this stuff.
	The front end, rn, is giving your articles to inews to post on
	your system and to collect for out bound distribution. When you
	and your feed connect the next time, rnews will tar and compress
	those outgoing messages and send them to the feed, the feed will
	send over a bunch of tar'd and compressed articles. (These both
	use the UUCP protocols) then rnews will untar and unbatch the
	articles and give them to inews to put into the appropriate
	directories.

>            How do I let the outside world know where I am (Mail-wise) ?
	your mail path would become ...!feed!yoursystem in Usenet lingo.
	You would also send a mail message to Eric Fair at berkeley to
	put your system into the Usenet map and assure you that your
	system name doesn't collide with another machine name. 

>If it seems I don't know anything about this; you're right!  Please,
>some kind soul enlighten me.

If it seems like this is not a straight forward thing to implement; you're
right! The only system that you will be able to send and receive news on 
will be a 2.5-3M system with 20 - 120Meg of disk space. The news is running
at about 30Meg a week these days so you can calculate about how much disk
space you need using the formula (30Meg * weeks_left_online) + 10Meg.

>Thanks,
>Martin

Your welcome.

--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.