One of the problems with Linux today is the lack of a decent newsreader, where Windows has several. Under Windows, two of the most popular newsreaders are Xnews and Dialog.
Xnews, created by Luu Tran, is a free newsreader for Windows, available from the website http://xnews.newsguy.com. Here is a list of Xnews' features listed on the website:
100% GNKSA 2.0 (Good Net Keeping Seal of Approval) compliant.
Plonk file (aka bozo bin).
Quick filter (type in a regex and only articles whose subject/author match it will be shown).
Score file for advanced filtering.
Support for multiple servers/identities.
Subscribed groups can be organized into categories.
Remappable keyboard.
Binaries handling (mime, base64, uuencode, what have you).
Optional header and article caching; plus: folders for permanent archival.
more...
Unfortunately, Luu Tran has decided neither to make his newsreader open-source nor to release a Linux version. However, there is a way to get Xnews to work under Linux, although it takes a bit of work.
Dialog is a newsreader by 40tude. It is available at http://www.40tude.com/dialog/. According to the website, "it supports multiple servers and identities, has filtering/scoring support, integrated email functionality and binary support including support for multiparts." The newsreader is "shareware for commercial users and freeware for private users." It works excellently under Linux.
This HOWTO assumes that:
The InfoZIP utilities are installed on the Linux machine. These are available at InfoZIP's web site. The unzip program is required if the reader wants to install the software without copying from an existing installation. This is a standard part of most Linux distributions, but may not be automatically installed.
The Wine "emulator" is installed properly on the Linux machine. To download Wine, visit http://www.winehq.com. The version used at the time of this writing was 20030813.
The reader of this document has access to a Windows machine. Certain files are needed from the Windows operating system. Access to Windows 98SE is preferred. This HOWTO covers Windows 98SE and Windows XP.
Xnews stable version 5.04.25 is used (the beta version was not tested at the time of this writing). The website for Xnews is http://xnews.newsguy.com/
Dialog version 2.0 Beta 28 is used. The website for Dialog is http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
This document, Windows Newsreaders under Linux HOWTO, is copyrighted (C) 2003 by Daniel Quintiliani. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.
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No liability for the contents of this document can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and information at your own risk. There may be errors and inaccuracies that could be damaging to your system, although any damage is highly unlikely. Proceed with caution; the author(s) do not take any responsibility.
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