FNEWS 1.5, FNEWS is a fast news reader, for VAX/VMS and UNIX. This is the first full release of FNEWS, it has had many enhancements since the BETA release, including: * User definable keys. * Faster screen handling (for slow speed lines) * Lots of new commands. * Interface improvements to make it easier to use. * All known :-) bugs fixed. It is basically a mixture of NEWSRDR and ANU-NEWS, giving a nice (but different) full-screen interface and fast response to all 1800 groups without heavily loading your local machine. It works by caching the news indexes from a UNIX news system (CNEWS or INN), and then dynamically loading the items when the user wants to read them. Indexes are only cached for groups which are actually read, so the load and disk usage can be very small. Use at your own risk (etc ...). Source is available, and it is all completely Public Domain, Use and modify as you want. Please let me know if you find bugs or if you like/dislike features, etc. Chrisp@grace.cri.nz ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the VMS version. You will find the UNIX version on: $ ftp zephyr.grace.cri.nz (131.203.1.5) FTP> user anonymous FTP> cd pub/fnews/unix FTP> get INSTALL FNEWS is probably unique in being a VMS news reader ported to UNIX (like selling fridges to...), but have you tried using those UNIX news readers?, (flame jacket on, yes I know a few of them are almost decent :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- (VMS VERSION continued) You will need: 1) A VAX. 2) IP software (cmutek, multinet, tcpware, wollongong) (Others could be linked in) 3) A unix news-server which you have permission to access. (it doesn't need to be on a local ethernet) Installation instructions for FNEWS 1.5 --------------------------------------- $ ftp zephyr.grace.cri.nz (131.203.1.5) FTP> user anonymous FTP> cd pub/fnews/vms FTP> ls -rw-r--r-- 1 1005 0 3597 Oct 20 14:30 extract.com -rw-r--r-- 1 1005 0 410039 Oct 20 14:30 fnews.bck_z -rw-r--r-- 1 1005 0 300736 Oct 20 14:31 fnews_src.bck_z -rw-r--r-- 1 1005 0 14848 Oct 20 14:30 zcompress.exe FTP> get extract.com FTP> binary FTP> get zcompress.exe FTP> get fnews.bck_z FTP> get fnews_src.bck_z <---- ONLY IF YOU REALLY WANT IT, You don't need the source to run fnews. FTP> quit $ @extract (beware of ^D's in these postscript files) $ print /que=postscript_printer title.ps,userman.ps,admin.ps (text versions are also there if you don't have postscript) $ @install SEE admin.ps (.txt) for full installation instructions. Installation ------------ First ftp the installation files (EXTRACT.COM , FNEWS.BCK_Z and ZCOMPRESS.EXE) from grace.cri.nz (131.203.8.2). Don't use your own compress program, zcompress has been specially modified to uncompress savesets and correctly set the block size. Then @extract.com, this will ask you where you want FNEWS and which IP software you use. If your IP software is not in the supported list then just pick one of them and see the section on linking other IP software. The first time you install FNEWS you should run INSTALL.COM to create FNEWS_LOCAL.COM which contains all the machine specific information (e.g. hostname, newsserver name, etc...). Management Decisions -------------------- Disk quota If you can't disable disk quota checking on your 'news' disk :-) then when users dynamically load a new group, they will get a disk quota exceeded error, to avoid this you can use the procedure @submit_grant.com This will submit a job to create a resource FNEWSDISK, and grant it to all users on your system, it also turns of security auditing to prevent you opcom going looney as each uaf record is modified. (If you want to turn it back on, you have to do that yourself) You should also modify the procedure you use to register new users so that they will be given this resource. (look in the .com files to see how to do this) Linking other IP software To do this just modify L.COM to link to your own ip socket library. Then enter: @l myipsoftware And mail your l.com to me so I can add your ip software to the supported list (chrisp@grace.cri.nz).