On 2011-02-20, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
"Pete C." writes:
Steve B wrote:
We went with a different ISP after our previous (current, but not yet
disconnected) one had problems with rain, snow, bird crapping on the
antenna, etc.
We get this new modem FedEx, and I hook it up. I try to get Usenet. No go.
I go into accounts and try to get lucky by entering their company name in
place of previous company. No go.
[ ... ]
Just exactly what is Usenet and newsgroups called? Is it a news feed? Is
it RSS? The foreign accented lady said they do not provide newsgroups, but
I knew that. They just might provide the link to one, but I could not make
her understand that. If and when I do get a human earthling on the phone
Monday, what is the proper terminology of that I should be asking for?
"Usenet News" -- and "connection to a news server".
You only need a "newsfeed" if you are setting up a server of
your own -- and those are harder to find these days. (*And* -- they
take massive resources, since perhaps ten years ago, the bandwidth
needed to acccept a full feed would swamp two T1 connections, and
require gigabytes of storage per day.
RSS is totally unrelated. The protocol in question is NNTP (Net
News Transfer Protocol).
As long as you have connection to the internet, you have
multiple sources to choose from -- no matter *who* your ISP is. If they
don't provide a news server -- go outside.
[ ... ]
Most ISPs no longer provide a USENET News server. You'll likely need to
get an account with an independent usenet provider for a small cost.
There are many to choose from, even a free one or two for text only
groups.
I've been using eternal-september.org ever since comcast stopped
carrying it.
And I've been using Newsguy for quite a while, and am quite
happy with them:
http://www.newsguy.com/
Yes, you have to pay for an account. If you don't intend to use the
binaries newsgroups (simple description -- "gigabytes of copyright
violations"), you certainly don't need their $14.95/Month unlimited
express account. something like the "Basic" account (15 GB/Month) is
probably enough. I have an older account, based on $9.95/Month or
$99.95 per year, and I keep accumulating more and more download
bandwidth. (Your unused capacity carries over month to month, and I now
have something like 2.5 TB of unused capacity -- and they keep giving me
bonus download capacity as well. :-)
You can connect to them using either a web browser (via HTTP),
or a newsreader (via NNTP). They offer free for download (for Windows
only) a newsreader called DRN (IIRC) which I have heard good reports
about. Since I run unix systems, I can't use that, but I have a choice
of many good newsreaders. IIRC, I experimented a little with the
web-based access some time ago, and it was a lot better than what Google
offered -- but I still prefer my unix stand-alone newsreading programs.
Oh yes -- they also have their own private set of newsgroups,
some for announcements, and others with customers and staff mixing in in
a chatty way. They are also very good about fixing problems quickly,
including improvements requested to their DRN newsreader.
Enjoy,
DoN.
PS The name eternal-september.org comes from the fact that there
used to be a flood of clueless newbies every september as the
new college class came in and got online for the first time.
About the time that AOL started offering Usenet access, the
flood of newbies has been never-ending, resulting in straining of
the netequitte protocols (e.g the "no top posting" eternal
debate. :-)
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