I remember some years ago when one could configue an email program like Outlook or Outlook express for newsgroups. you needed to put in some numbers for an NNTP server or someting like that.
Any idea if that's still possible ? I can't see paying one of those websites for it, because the people who make Usenet happen don't get that money do they ? Plus, these days I am on a low budget....
Who is your internet provider, and do they have NNTP servers?
google "free NNTP servers"
I access USENET using Tbird and one of the "free" NNTP servers (AIOE in my case). No reason you shouldn't be able to do the same!
If you have a "shell" account on a local server, you can probably go *that* route as well -- trn(1), etc. -- though I find the Tbird approach easier for casual browsing.
Check out eternal-september.org. You can get a free Usenet account and use it with a free newsreader, e.g. Thunderbird.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
On a sunny day (Fri, 03 Jan 2014 20:18:25 GMT) it happened snipped-for-privacy@puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in :
In about 1998 I wrote a Free Agent clone called 'Secret Agent', later renamed 'NewsFlex'
Been using it ever since.
nntp.aioe.org works. several other ones you have to register and work too.
freenews.netfront.net
It is free and works with my MesNews app on my Win XP and Win 7 PCs.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---
eternal-September also carries the binary a.b.s.e group. But not all posts propagate to it.
Cheers
Many ISPs provide free NNTP service, you may contact them for more information. If they don't offer it, or you find it lacking, you can find another. I paid a small one-time fee for 50gb (plenty of bandwidth for text-based) from . The site appears to be down at the moment. There are few such sites.
yes.
giganews.com, newsfront.com, individual.net and the others are making usenet happen, but to a lesser extents so are the free servers like aioe.net.
ICANN gets a cut of the domain registration fees. AIUI IETF is not paid, and there is no controlling body for usenet.
AIOE is fine. I don't think I even had to register. I've been trying a few news readers and have settled on knode.
The problem I had with Tbunderbird is it didn't always wrap the other persons post and then AIOE would reject the post for exceeding their line width limit.
Knode at least warns you when you exceed the line width, as in the case of the link above. But AIOE doesn't seem to mind long links, just text.
That's the combination I use. It works well for me.
There are too many flakes, trolls and otherwise undesirables that post using aioe.org. I've created a filter so that I see nothing coming from it, no matter who the poster is.
Not sure what you mean by "the people who make Usenet happen." There is no overarching Usenet server - it's a distributed network. Usenet consists entirely of the collection of NNTP servers, which cost money to provide.
Sylvia.
Historically, USENET was just "spare MIPS" running on servers maintained at universities, etc.
Yes, it consumes disk space and network bandwidth. But, ORDERS OF MAGNITUDES less than HTTP! (assuming you omit the
*.binaries.* groups)Who in their right mind would want anything other than Google Groups? It works just fine, now if only the people with antiquated inferior news readers could get with the program...
On Sat, 04 Jan 2014 13:27:35 +1100, Sylvia Else Gave us:
Which used to be just another part of being a respectable service provider, and was just part of their CODB.
Nowadays, the govt and other pussified factions have conspired to end Usenet, so we see more and more nodes evaporating, especially among larger ISPs. Blame the retarded phone companies for horning in on the access, and then dumping the services we once enjoyed. The ops and maint is pennies compared to what the bastards drag in.
I don't believe registration is required. AFAICT, you can change your "address" at will (though your IP is tagged to your posts)
Yup. AIOE also limits number of groups to which you can post a particular message. Reasonable -- esp in light of folks who want to plaster their messages across every group they know of! (regardless of content/charter)
I will either insert newlines in these offending posts -- or, clip them at some insanely short line length (if you can't take the time to format your post, you shouldn't complain when someone "abbreviates" it!)
I much enjoy being able to work offline without being tethered to the news server as I fetch, read, reply to each message.
Sun got it wrong; the network is NOT the computer!
Due to google's broken line wrap I line wrap, I agree with what I saw.
it works, just.
OK, so you don't mind us talking about you then. ;-)
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required