Re: Don't waste time on offline newsreaders...

[Michael Alan Dorman <mdorman boxster law miami edu>]

famrom@ran.es (Guillermo S. Romero / unnamed / Familia Romero) writes:
> >Under DOS/Win, offline newsreaders may be a necessary evil, but as
> >we're talking Unix, we've no obligation to restrict ourselves to
> >solutions appropriate for broken OSs.
> The matter is OS independent.
> It depends in network and costs.

I agree that the matter itself is independent of a particular OS, but
a particular solution should not be adopted without considering
options that are more in line with the way things have usually been
done in the Unix world.

> >Specifically, there's both leafnode and another, more powerful,
> >package called NewsCache, that appear as regular NNTP servers, but due
> >to their caching characteristics can work as much more flexible,
> >off-line sites.  In fact NewsCache allows you to do other, related
> >stuff like seamlessly aggregating multiple NNTP servers.
> 
> With Free Agent I download _only_ what I want. I choose which headers and
> article bodies. Nothing more.
> 
> Question: Do that other news server perform in the same way? Or they do need
> more KB?

Yes, they behave in exactly the same way.  You get nothing but what
you're interested in.

> I dunno where do you live, but here (Spain) we pay every min of phone and it
> is not cheap.

I don't pay for local calls here, but as a network administrator I do
have to deal with the related issues of bandwidth and congestion.

I am implementing a NewsCache-based solution for our whole network
because it frees scarce resources.

> Some ppl need a app that connects, downloads only usefull KB or MB and then
> goes offline. Every KB wasted is money wasted.

I agree.  And even if NewsCache and leafnode are not exactly what is
needed, they can be extended or rewritten---my point was that there
are better ways of achieving the same, *important*, end, that are more
suited to the host platform.

> >Really, doing anything other than a straight NNTP reader is probably a
> >waste of effort.  You're duplicating work that's best done elsewhere.
> But maybe a saving money.
> Maybe we are the third world, but even saving transferences is a duty of
> everyone, 1st or 3th world (waste is stupid).

I agree, and wasn't trying to suggest otherwise.

Mike.
-- 
Michael Alan Dorman               |     E-Mail: mdorman@law.miami.edu
Network Administrator             |             Phone: (305) 284-2463
University of Miami School of Law |               Fax: (305) 284-3753