[TriLUG] Bought my first Laptop--a new Apple Powerbook with OSX--With Linux software in mind I have three questions:

[al johson]

Thanks, I hope I do enjoy it.

     I've used Pan in Linux and I've also used Agent (the full-featured
version as well as Free Agent--which doesn't have as many features as Pan)
and I have to disagree about Pan being better than the full-featured Agent,
at least the version of Pan I was using about a year ago (but since all
Linux programs are in a constant state of evolution what I'm about to say
may not be correct!). If  I'm wrong, just remember that no one ever knows
everything!! Unfortunately, whenever I tackle a complicated subject like
this I dread all the "corrections" that result. Just remember I'm quite
aware that I don't know everything, and I have probably made some mistakes
in what I'm about to say. If I'm wrong, I'll admit it :-))
======================
Agent has so many great features that I can't even begin to list them. It
has the largest number of  PAID USERS of any newsgroup (usenet) browser out
there, and there is a reason for it. The program all by itself is
multi-tasking--even in the Win95 version!! ( for example, you can do several
things at once with it, even download files from different news groups at
the same time; or if you're interested in just text messages, you can
retrieve and save every message on all the different Linux newsgroups with
just a series of key commands!! This creates a huge text file which can be
printed out with each newsgroup named and separated, each message separated
for easy reading,  OR if you're interested in pictures or MP3 files you can
actually manually view the files you've just downloaded at the same time you
are downloading other files---among the many other newsreaders I've tried,
including Pan, it is still the very best, just wish they offered a Linux AND
OSX version). And now the latest versions of  Agent (including Free Agent)
will  decode the newest binary code--"Yenc files" (some guys figured out how
to improve uuencoding and decoding so that the resulting yenc-encoded ASCII
files are about one third smaller and thus upload and download about one
third faster, as I understand it, this was done by utilizing other parts of
the ASCII codes which had not been used--this is a new controversial process
which has the Asians happy (because most of them have slow online
connections) and the Americans mad (because they have to learn new
software). Do you know if Pan has yenc encoding and decoding yet???
==============================
However, I would be happy if there was just a Mac or Linux version of a
MSDOS program called "Quadsucker", which downloads FOUR binary files
simultaneously and if they're pictures it displays them while they're
downloading!! It does this so effortlessly that all you do is give it a list
of newsreaders you want to "mine", start it up and don't touch the computer
until you decide to quit. You can start it up and it will download files
from a very long list of newsgroups until you give it a command to stop.
(Incidentally this is a great way to tie up your telephone line during the
times you do not wish to be disturbed by those @#$$#  telemarketers!!) In
other words it's totally hands off automated. The fact that it does four at
a time (four binaries, mp3's or pictures at a time) also means that it
allows you to download more MP3's or pictures in less time without having to
increase the speed of  your connection. There is another simpler version of
the quad-sucker program called "Binary Vortex" which does the same thing but
only does just one MP3 or JPG file at a time. Its filters work very
differently from those in Agent. It too is totally automated and thus is
also a very good program. When it finishes one newsgroup it just goes to the
next one on your list.

=========================

I agree that Pan is a fairly good imitation of Agent, but the original
simply has many more features---the Agent manual is huge when it is printed
out, for example.  I have yet to learn even half of the many, many features
in Agent. Agent has such complicated filters that I simply haven't been able
to learn them all. All of the other programs also have great filters, many
of which are very complex and take some time to learn. Most have simple
blacklist features whereby you can blacklist an author (or more than one
author) or a word (or series of words)  in the subject, but Quadsucker is
unique in that it also has a "white-list" which you can use to download ONLY
those items which match the white-list of author addresses or subjects. I
haven't seen any other program, including Agent which has this "white-list"
feature. If you're looking for something very specific, a white-list is the
best method I know for plowing through usenet. I apologize to everyone for
being so long-winded here. As you can tell, I really enjoy using just about
all the parts of  Usenet. Although there are lots of newsreaders (or
browsers, if you prefer), unfortunately many of them are simply not up to
date.--73, Al  Johnson.
===============================

----- Original Message -----
From: Robby Dermody <robbyd at avalonent.org>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Bought my first Laptop--a new Apple Powerbook with
OSX--With Linux software in mind I have three questions:


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "al johson" <alfjon at mindspring.com>
> To: <trilug at trilug.org>
> Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 3:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Bought my first Laptop--a new Apple Powerbook with
> OSX--With Linux software in mind I have three questions:
>
>
> > Re: Windows programs--I probably should have said that the few Windoze
> > programs I can't do without (e.g. Usenet programs) will probably work on
> the
> > Macs, if I can't find an OSX substitute for them.
>
> If it's a usenet newsreader, linux has an absolutely stunning GTK app
called
> "pan".
> It blows away anything else I've used (Agent for windows being one). For
> OSX,
> I have no idea...it might compile. :)
>
> > I'm in no means in love
> > with Macs, as I'm using a no-name Win98 PC right now, but since I was
> going
> > to have to spend a bunch anyway, I thought I'd get something that might
> last
> > some time, and I definitely didn't want to get a MS-DOS machine because
I
> > absolutely hate every OS Microsoft has made since Win98.
>
> I can mostly agree with you there. However, I'm using XP right now and I
can
> honestly say this is the first Windows that I enjoy using. 2000 was almost
> there,
> but it still smelled too much like that _horrid_ NT 4.0. The Win9x series
is
> just
> shared-memory hell. From a users-perspective, XP with about half of that
new
> fruity
> XP interface crap turned off has a very nice interface which doesn't get
in
> my way,
> and the theming support is decent now (with the appropiate hacks). I run
> Linux
> under VMWare and after some tweaking with replcing the default X video
> driver,
> my stability for both linux within XP and XP itself has been great.
Finally,
> a
> Microsoft OS that doesn't constantly crash (provided you are running
quality
> hardware, that's one of the big secrets).
>
> > And since I've
> > noticed there were problems installing Linux on a few MSDOS laptops, I
> > thought it might be best to get a laptop which already had a BSD OS!!
That
> > was just my reasoning. I'm not a Mac-evangelist or anything. The
> evangelism
> > I leave to my best friend, Jim. ---73, Alf.
> > ================================================
>
> The Apple laptops definitely look cool, and I used OS X a very small
amount,
> but the fact that you could get to the underlying BSD subsystem means it
> will
> keep you busy and learning for awhile. Linux support on laptops is so
quirky
> because it's still a very proprietary platform, and the fact that running
> down
> equipment cost is a big objective, so you will see a move to move
dedicated
> hardware functionality to software (winmodems, other winDSP applications).
> I have a IBM Thinkpad A21P and besides the modem (a winmodem),
> support for it is excellent under Linux.
>
> Enjoy your laptop!
>
> Robby
>
> _______________________________________________
> TriLUG mailing list
>     http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ:
>     http://www.trilug.org/~lovelace/faq/TriLUG-faq.html