I'm quite aware this is not the right place (read:completely wrong)
for this post, but since I don't visit any other discussion group, I
need to post it here. I think all of you will know how to answer to
this question, so here it is:

I'm using groups.google.com to read these discussions, but I'm kind of
tired of visiting google for that, so I thought of getting a program
for reading news. These are newsgroups, right? Because I'm not that
sure about it, either.
I got this "Newsgroup Commander" program, that is supposed to be used
for news reading. But the problem is (don't laugh, please) that I
don't know how to access this usenet or whatever it is, 'cause I don't
know it's address that I need to type there. I tried, of course,
searching for it on google, but all I could find were some Usenet
advanced techniques, some advices about posting etc. and I really
can't find an address for reading, eg. this comp.unix.programmer... I
tried typing that: comp.unix.programmer as an address, but:
"Connection failed". Then I found this:
http://www.freenix.fr/reseau/top1000/2001/top0101.html; so I
understood that actually usenet is being hosted by numerous servers,
and I can access it over any of those. Am I right? I tried some of
those addresses, but either I couldn't connect again, or when I was
connected and tried to list groups, I got "Authentication" error or
something. I'm regularly registered over groups.google.com. Should I
register to every usenet I use?

Please give me a link to a proper document, redirect me, give me a
valid address or a full explanation, but please help me!

Thank you very much, in advance.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

mdanko@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu (Darko M.) writes:

> I'm quite aware this is not the right place (read:completely wrong)
> for this post, but since I don't visit any other discussion group, I
> need to post it here. I think all of you will know how to answer to
> this question, so here it is:
>
> I'm using groups.google.com to read these discussions, but I'm kind of
> tired of visiting google for that, so I thought of getting a program
> for reading news. These are newsgroups, right? Because I'm not that
> sure about it, either.
> I got this "Newsgroup Commander" program, that is supposed to be used
> for news reading. But the problem is (don't laugh, please) that I
> don't know how to access this usenet or whatever it is, 'cause I don't
> know it's address that I need to type there. I tried, of course,
> searching for it on google, but all I could find were some Usenet
> advanced techniques, some advices about posting etc. and I really
> can't find an address for reading, eg. this comp.unix.programmer... I
> tried typing that: comp.unix.programmer as an address, but:
> "Connection failed". Then I found this:
> http://www.freenix.fr/reseau/top1000/2001/top0101.html; so I
> understood that actually usenet is being hosted by numerous servers,
> and I can access it over any of those. Am I right? I tried some of
> those addresses, but either I couldn't connect again, or when I was
> connected and tried to list groups, I got "Authentication" error or
> something. I'm regularly registered over groups.google.com. Should I
> register to every usenet I use?
>
> Please give me a link to a proper document, redirect me, give me a
> valid address or a full explanation, but please help me!

You'll have to connect to a NNTP server. Usually: news.your.isp.com

If your provider does not provide your news, there are some "free"
NTTP servers you can contact.  Search google for: free nntp servers
or: public nntp servers.

There is only one usenet, but each server may or may not want to
register its users.  If your ISP provides a NNTP server, you usually
can connect to it either without any authentification (you're on its
local network and already provided authetification to connect to it at
the PPP or  PPPoATM level).  Remote  NNTP servers may require
authentification to be able to track you down when you publish illegal
material on the usenet, to manage resources, or to know who to invoice
for their service (and sometimes for all these reasons at once).

--
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

Voting Democrat or Republican is like choosing a cabin in the Titanic.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

In article <ef663480.0410201441.70f47406@posting.google.com>,
mdanko@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu (Darko M.) wrote:

> I'm using groups.google.com to read these discussions, but I'm kind of
> tired of visiting google for that, so I thought of getting a program
> for reading news. These are newsgroups, right? Because I'm not that
> sure about it, either.
[snip]
> don't know how to access this usenet or whatever it is, 'cause I don't
> know it's address that I need to type there.
[snip]

Your internet account should include access to your internet service
provider's news server.  Ask your ISP what the server's address is, or
check their web site.  Their web site may also have instructions for
configuring the most popular newsreaders to use their server.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

mdanko@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu (Darko M.) wrote:
>
>I'm using groups.google.com to read these discussions, but I'm kind of
>tired of visiting google for that, so I thought of getting a program

As others are pointing out, your ISP probably provides access to
a NNTP server and there are free servers (check out
www.individual.net, from Freie Universität Berlin; which is
probably the largest and most popular free server).

Here are two lists of free news servers:

http://directory.google.com/Top/Com.../Feed_Services/
http://www.newsservers.net/free_news_servers

However, be aware that many of the news servers provided by ISPs
or for free are also very limited due to the high cost of
bandwidth and disk storage required to provide a truly full
service NNTP coverage of Usenet .

Hence, there is one other class of server that you should
consider too.  There are several companies which provide
individual accounts for a fee.  Two that are commonly seen are
www.supernews.com and www.newsguy.com.  Both provide excellent
services at a reasonable rate.

The variations between different servers that you are interested
in are diversity of hierarchies (selection of none mainline or
alternet heirarchies to carry), text only vs. binary groups, and
retention time (how long an article is kept on the server).

Also, though you specifically asked about servers...  I might
note that newsreaders come in a vast variety too.  You are
absolutely right that reading news via the google archive is not
the most convenient method.  But do check out various
newsreaders to find the right match for you.

--
FloydL. Davidson           <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd@barrow.com

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Thank you very much!

I felt kind of stupid not knowing things everybody seemed to know, and
yet I was browsing these newsgroups for years now (all the time by
google) never being interested how all of it works.

Thanks!

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]