Subject: MJRB-32 >> NEWS READERS <<
MJRB-32 >> NEWS READERS <<
*************************************************************
OVERVIEW
-- Comments on NEWS READERS
-- AGENT, the file.
-- Set up information.
-- Brief tutorial and review of AGENT menus.
-- EMAIL with AGENT.
-- Let's use AGENT.
-- Comments.
*************************************************************
In a very similar fashion, NewsReaders are like Email
readers. You connect to your server, retrieve newsgroup
articles and when desired you post articles to the newsgroup.
The various features of a News Reader include the ability to
subscribe/unsubscribe to news groups, retrieve news group
headers, retrieve selected articles and read these articles
on-line or off-line.
Although, there are a number of News Readers available to
choose from, I have a very definite preference for AGENT. The
screen display is splendid, the ability to retrieve news
groups headers and articles is very easy, and the ability to
view graphics, are among it s features.
The newest feature of AGENT (the commercial version) is an
email reader. The ability to also retrieve and post email makes
this client my all around favorite client. Much of my internet
work, and perhaps yours as well, will be spending time
retrieving email and news group articles. This client is
excellent, in my opinion, in being able to make this major part
of internet use easy and very enjoyable.
Also, since graphic viewing is a part of a news reader, the
lesson discussing LVIEW will follow the WEB BROWSER lesson.
This tools allows converting binary files that need to be sent
by email into graphic files that a viewer can then display.
*************************************************************
AGENT -- THE ZIP FILE
*************************************************************
There are two files to choose from with regard to AGENT. The
freeware file is actually a beta program called FREE AGENT.
The commercial program is called AGENT. However, the ZIP file
for either is similar except for the version number.
FREE AGENT: The freeware, or beta version is AGENT055.ZIP.
There is also an updated free ware version AGENT100.ZIP. Since,
the commercial version is now out, there is no longer any
technical support for these versions. However, if you want to
evaluate FREE AGENT, then these versions will provide you with
many of the features (excluding email) so that you can then
decide whether or not to purchase the commercial version AGENT.
Also, refer to MJRB-29 REF_08 which is the AGENT ANNOUNCEMENT
release that I included as an attachment to previous lessons.
AGENT: The commercial version now available is AGENT99.ZIP
In my opinion, I would encourage you to obtain AGENT99a.ZIP
now and register this program. Currently, the fee is $30.00.
Later, when the version 1.0 comes out, the fee will be
$40.00. The advantages of the commercial version are well
worth the fee. However, be aware that AGENT99a.ZIP will
require that you have already registered this version. You
will need a registration key to enter in the startup screen.
Without the registration key, you will not be able to run
this program.
The following discussion applies to either AGENT version.
However, until you have registered AGENT99, you will not be
able to activate the configuration screen.
If you don't have a way yet to get to their site, then just
save the attachment until the next lesson when we talk about
WEB BROWSERS. Then, you can order the client on-line and they
will send you an email letter on how you can download the
file and a KEY CODE to use to activate the file.
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AGENT -- SETTING UP
*************************************************************
Once you have obtained AGENTxxx.ZIP, place it in the
directory you choose for this client.
*1. Place the zip file into main directory and unzip it using
the command:
pkunzip AGENTxxx.ZIP
*2. After unzipping the file, read the README.TXT for some
instructions.
*3. Execute or run AGENT.EXE.
*4. You will first see a configuration screen. You need to
enter the following information. My comments are enclosed
in the <> brackets.
--->a) NEWS SERVER: < Enter NEWS or your HOST IP ADDRESS>
--->b) MAIL SERVER: < Enter MAIL or your HOST IP ADDRESS>
--->c) EMAIL ADDR: < Enter your Email Address >
--->d) FULL NAME: < Enter your full name.>
--->e) TIME ZONE: < Enter your time zone here >
--->f) PRESS ENTER to save the configuration file.
*5. A screen will now appear that asks you if you want to go
on-line now or not. If you go on-line you will retrieve
all available news groups. I suggest you don't go on line
yet, but take time to explore the menus from the main
screen.
*************************************************************
AGENT -- THE MENUS
*************************************************************
Rather than take you through each of the menus, which would
take a number of pages of description, I will highlight just
a few of the menus. I encourage you to take some time to
explore all menus. Also, use the on-line HELP to get specific
information about any menu item and operation for AGENT.
The following comments are some hints or tips to assist you
in your exploration of AGENT.
*1. FILE/PREFERENCES
This menu item will bring up your configuration file. Take
some time to explore all the various options open to you.
When you first bring up this window, all options available
will have default settings. You probably won't need to change
any of these settings. Also, I would recommend you use AGENT
for a while to get the hang of the client. Later, when you
feel comfortable with AGENT and what it allows you to do, you
can then modify your preferences to suit you tastes.
*2. FILE/WINDOW LAYOUT
This menu item will bring up a screen for configuring how
your display screen looks. The top part allows you to set the
three different display windows and the bottom part lets you
select the color of the text in the three display windows.
The default setting is probably the best, but select one that
pleases you.
*3. FILE/
Explore the other items in this menu to learn more about AGENT.
*4. EDIT/
Just explore this Menu Item.
*5. ONLINE/GET NEW GROUPS
This menu item will get all new news groups. You will only
need to use this button occasionally for getting any new news
groups.
*6. ONLINE/REFRESH GROUP LIST
This menu item will retrieve/refresh all news groups. This
option takes a fair amount of time as there may be over
13,000 groups available. When you are ready to connect and
run agent for the first time, you will want to use this
option in order to get all groups to which you may want to
subscribe.
*7. POST & NAVIGATE
Just explore these menu items for now. Later, when you become
familiar with AGENT's operations these menu items will allow
certain actions to be performed. Also use HELP to get more
information on these menu items.
*8. GROUP/PROPERTIES .... and DEFAULT PROPERTIES
These menu items will bring up configuration screens for
retrieving headers/articles from subscribed groups. Just
explore the options available now.
My thought is to not yet set the option to automatically
retrieve articles after the selected or subscribed news group
headers are retrieved. You will be on line for a while and you
may not want to read every single article. You will need to
take time to read various articles from every subscribed
newsgroup to determine if you want to automatically retrieve
the articles or want to manually select which articles to
retrieve.
This option really is one of personal preference. You may want
to have some newsgroups have all their articles retrieved,
while other news groups to manually select which articles to
retrieve.
Use AGENT for awhile to get the hang of things before changing
any of the default settings. You can always change things later
as you gain experience and determine your own preferences.
*9. GROUP/
The other menu items are pretty much self explanatory. After
you have retrieved all news groups (See #6. above), you will
want to select ALL GROUPS and spend some time looking at the
various groups. It is from this list that you will SUBSCRIBE
or UNSUBSCRIBE from a news group.
You have a menu option, EDIT/FIND or a FIND button that will
bring up the Find Screen. In this screen you will enter a
word or part of a word and let the Find Option bring you to
that news group. I would play around with this option
frequently as you explore All Groups.
Example: Let's say you want to find a news group that has
'answer' in its title somewhere. In your find screen, enter
the word 'answer' without the quotes and then press find and
find-next to locate newsgroups with the word 'answer' in its
title.
You also have other options for viewing news groups in GROUP/
and I would explore these options as well. For example, you
can view all groups, subscribed groups, or new groups.
*10. OPTIONS/PREFERENCES
This menu item is an important menu item to take time to
explore. This item brings up your basic configuration screen.
It is viewed as a series of folders.
The USER PROFILE and SYSTEM PROFILE folders should be the
information you entered when you first started AGENT. In
these two screens, if you need to edit any of the
information, you would be able to do so.
The other folders determine various options for how AGENT
will function. Certainly take a little time to explore these
options, but I would suggest leaving the default
configuration for now. Again, when familiar with AGENT, you
will be able to configure these folders to suit your personal
preferences.
***************************************************************
EMAIL WITH AGENT
***************************************************************
Check out the menu OPTIONS/INBOUND EMAIL and become familiar
with the possible configurations. You will see another window
with three folders.
SYSTEM PROFILE is where you enter you basic configuration
information for email. You may have to experiment with this
configuration set up but generally the information entered is
your HOST DOMAIN NAME for the POP entry.
CHECKING FOR MAIL gives you different options to check for how
often to retrieve your mail and other possibilities for mail
retrieval.
FILING is a very powerful section where you can set up folders
and filter or sort mail to folders for later reading and
saving. This feature makes this email reader a very fine tool,
both for time saving features in retrieving mail and for
reading particular email and for saving email.
Admittedly, I am biased but I find this email program to be the
best I have used. Thus, I again say I highly recommend this
client.
*************************************************************
LET'S USE AGENT
*************************************************************
Okay, let's fire up agent and read some news.
*1. Connect to your HOST server by running TRUMPET
*2. Get the news groups. This action will take some time
initially but for most purposes will be a one time
or infrequent action.
->a) Use ONLINE/REFRESH GROUPS LIST ..... Activating this
menu will cause AGENT to connect to your server and
retrieve a list of all available newsgroups on your
server. This action may well take a long time so be
patient.
->b) Once the newsgroups list has been retrieved, I would
suggest you go OFF-LINE so that you can go through the
newsgroup list at your leisure and not continue to
accumulated any on-line time. So disconnect from your
server by going into TRUMPET and DIALLER/BYE.
-c>) Now go back to AGENT and GROUP/SHOW ALL GROUPS to
activate the news groups list. For now, just take some
time to scroll through the groups list and note the
various groups. Although there are many, many types of
groups, some of the key groups are:
-- ALT groups for almost every topic from soup to nuts
-- CLARI groups for news groups of any sort
-- COMP groups for computer groups of any sort.
-- REC groups for all kinds of recreation groups
-- SCI groups for various science groups
Subtitles to some of these groups will often help define the
type of group. Some of the subtitles that might be of
interest include:
-- BINARY for graphics
-- QUESTIONS for posting questions on any topic
-- ANSWERS for the answers to questions
-- MODEM for information on modems
-- CONSULTANTS for information on consultant jobs, etc.
-- IRC for information on INTERNET RELAY CHAT
-- PETS
-- HUMOR
-- TRUMPET for information on the Winsock client.
-- WINSOCK for information on Winsock clients.
When your ready, use your EDIT/FIND or FIND buttons to search
out the above or any other subtitles you might like to
explore.
->c) Let's subscribe to some groups. Select a news group and
then use the menu item GROUP/SUBSCRIBE to subscribe to the
selected group.
Some groups to subscribe to include:
-> news.announce.important
-> news.announce.newsgroup
-> news.announce.newuser
->d) Fire up AGENT by connecting to your host. Then use menu
GROUPS/SHOW ONLY SUBSCRIBED GROUPS to display the groups
that you have subscribed to above.
->e) If you have only subscribed to a few groups, then use
menu ONLINE/GET NEW HEADERS IN SUBSCRIBED GROUPS to
retrieve all the headers for all subscribed groups. If
you have subscribed to a lot of groups, this action might
take some time. AGENT will now connect to your server and
retrieve the headers for these groups. Watch the bottom
of your display screen for progress.
->f) If you have subscribed to many groups, just select a
group you wish to retrieve and use ONLINE/GET NEW HEADERS
FOR SELECTED GROUPS. Agent will connect to your server and
retrieve the headers for the selected group.
->g) Once the headers have been retrieved, go to the Articles
Screen and view the headers. To select the option to
retrieve all articles, use the menu EDIT/SELECT ALL to
select all articles and ONLINE/GET ARTICLE BODIES to
retrieve the articles. You can select one or a few
articles but highlighting the articles you want to
retrieve instead of selecting all. Agent will then
retrieve the article bodies. Again watch the bottom of
your display screen to view the retrieval process.
->g) Read the articles. You can start reading retrieved
articles before all articles have been retrieved.
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COMMENTS
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There is a lot more to learn in using AGENT. The above are
the basics or bare bones that will allow you to get going
with your news reader. For all menu items, there are buttons,
so you will need to learn which buttons activate which
action. Once learning the buttons, you will be able to
navigate AGENT very rapidly.
Use the HELP menu item for on-line help for all topics. The
help file is a very good tutorial and guide for using the
multitude of AGENT features. Some features are very powerful,
such as how to filter news, how to read threads, how to post.
I haven't even discussed posting articles to news groups.
However, a word to the wise. Take sufficient time to learn
how to use AGENT. Take lots of time to read articles from
news groups. Get the flavor of the group topic. Become
sensitive to the way to post that is considered the etiquette
of the groups.
The most important articles in the beginning to read are the
FAQ files, or the Frequently Asked Questions files. These
documents provide excellent information about a particular
group and have many helpful hints and tips for posting to the
news group.
Welcome to the world of news groups. This Internet resource
is a wealth of information on anything and everything you
every wanted to know and never even considered.
In time, AGENT will have an EMAIL feature that will allow you
to retrieve your email. This package then will be a very
powerful and comprehensive package. Enjoy.
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NEXT STEPS
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The attachment sent prior to this lesson is the promotional
letter sent by the folks who support AGENT. I have included
this letter for your information. It will describe AGENT99
and will provide information on how to get the beta copy
(free ware) and the commercial copy.
The next lesson will explore WEB BROWSERS followed by a brief
lesson on LVIEW the graphical tool. Until then, happy news
reading.
============================================================
Robert R. Behrens
MJ & RB Computing, Inc.
5 Lakeshore Drive
Bellingham, Ma. 02019
rbehrens@kersur.net
Copyright Robert Behrens 1995. All Rights Reserved.
============================================================
Robert R. Behrens
MJ & RB Computing
5 Lakeshore Drive
Bellingham, Ma. 02019
(508) 883-2652
rbehrens@kersur.net
rbehrens@world.std.com
http://www.kersur.net/~rbehrens
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