OT: Accessing Usenet

On 20 Jul 2006 18:57:44 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

So anyway, I'm tired of having to access the newsgroups through Google
(I miss dejanews) so I went to set up my newsgroup browser. In order
to do this, I need to know the name of the newsgroup server (NNTP
server name).

There are subscription servers that carry all the binary groups or
you might choose to purchase just the text groups.

There are vanishingly few free news servers having posting and
reading privileges. Use "free news servers" as a search expression.

Some servers require a minimal fee~$10 per year.

Your host is Southwest Missouri State University. I'm surprised if
they don't have a news-server. Have you tried nntp://news.smsu.edu ?
If they maintian one somebody better know.

A commercial ISP may have their own news server or farm it out. It
_should_ be included as part of their service.
--
zk

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 20 Jul 2006 18:57:44 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

This has nothing to do with bicycles other than the fact that it
involves access to rec.bicycles.*

I retired as a software engineer 8 years ago. So I'm 8 years obsolete
in the computer world. Or I should be.

I'm working on my MS in a totally different field at a midwest state
college which shall remain nameless.

Except in Springfield. (To me, it's hard to think of that area as
"midwest", given its population's apparently near complete embracement
of the Southern mind set.)

You think? With all the Californians and other coasters flooding in there,
it sure doesn't feel very southern to me. I'm not sure what to call it
because Midwestern doesn't fit either. It seems more Midwestern than
Southern though...

brink

"Sojourner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has nothing to do with bicycles other than the fact that it
involves access to rec.bicycles.*

I retired as a software engineer 8 years ago. So I'm 8 years obsolete
in the computer world. Or I should be.

I'm working on my MS in a totally different field at a midwest state
college which shall remain nameless.

Several times I've had problems getting useful information out of the
so-called "technical staff" at the so-called "computer center" on
campus. Even though I'm 8 years obsolete I still apparently know more
than they do about networking and hardware, and since I consider myself
a networking IDIOT, I'm afraid to even think how the system here ever
manages to run.

So anyway, I'm tired of having to access the newsgroups through Google
(I miss dejanews) so I went to set up my newsgroup browser. In order
to do this, I need to know the name of the newsgroup server (NNTP
server name).

The guy on staff here not only didn't know what an NNTP server was, he
didn't even know what a newsgroup was. Had never heard of Usenet.
Wanted to know who uses it.

THE WHOLE WORLD, for god's sake!

Ay, yi yi! I can't believe it. Didn't know what Usenet was. Had
never heard of a newsgroup. And he's a network engineer at a state
college.

Welcome to reality. I run a NNTP server, myself. If you wish, you can go
to http://i70west.com/newsgroups.html to gain access.

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 20 Jul 2006 18:57:44 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
It could be worse. You could be at Ole Miss, where they're reportedly
still using the RFC1149 implementation of TCP/IP for their satellite
campus connectivity.

Ok, I'm game: what's up with picking on Ole Miss? You don't like pigeons
either, I suppose.

Cheers!
Duketster

Dukester said:

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 20 Jul 2006 18:57:44 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
It could be worse. You could be at Ole Miss, where they're reportedly
still using the RFC1149 implementation of TCP/IP for their satellite
campus connectivity.

Ok, I'm game: what's up with picking on Ole Miss? You don't like pigeons
either, I suppose.

As for pigeons, around here, they're getting to be numerous enough
that I expect the street people to start eating squab any day now, if
they aren't doing so already. As for Ole Miss, well, I won't say that
every graduate of my experience from that institution left with some
holes in their education, but in a couple of cases, the solidity of
the person's grasp of the subject matter bore more of a resemblance to
an aerogel than a rock. (One of them may not count as heavily,
though; reportedly, he was recruited on an athletic scholarship. To
his credit, he was supplementing his Ole Miss-education by taking a
second degree course as an adult student at a local university here.
Even he knew that his first trip through had been more in service of
bread and circuses than academics.)
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Zoot Katz said:

On 20 Jul 2006 18:57:44 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Your host is Southwest Missouri State University. I'm surprised if
they don't have a news-server. Have you tried nntp://news.smsu.edu ?
If they maintian one somebody better know.

Actually its not. And so much for remaining nameless if it was, LOL!

And I did try the appropriate (usual default) guesses at possible NNTP
server names.

I, too, would be surprised if they don't have an NNTP server. But
then, I was ALSO surprised that the alleged network engineer didn't
know what Usenet was.

Thanks.

Sojourner

Quoted message said:

You think? With all the Californians and other coasters flooding in there,
it sure doesn't feel very southern to me. I'm not sure what to call it
because Midwestern doesn't fit either. It seems more Midwestern than
Southern though...

I asked when I moved here whether folks considered it Midwestern or
Southern.

In a very offended tone of voice, the askee stated - "NEITHER! This is
the HEARTLAND!"

And it is a lot more Midwestern than Southern. In fact, until the
religious right began to crawl from der voodvork oot, it was strongly
reminiscint of where I grew up in SWern Ohio.

Sojourner

Quoted message said:

And I did try the appropriate (usual default) guesses at possible NNTP
server names.

check out http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/apdi/au10.txt
where it says;
NNTP-Posting-Host: vma.smsu.edu
should maybe give some clues...

ZeMascouflatte said:

Quoted message said:

And I did try the appropriate (usual default) guesses at possible NNTP
server names.

check out http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/apdi/au10.txt
where it says;
NNTP-Posting-Host: vma.smsu.edu
should maybe give some clues...

There's a problem here.

smsu is not an appropriate name for this institution.

That's not to say somebody here hasn't named something wrong. But I
don't have my laptop here to test it anyway.

Sojourner

On 23 Jul 2006 13:52:46 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

ZeMascouflatte said:

Quoted message said:

And I did try the appropriate (usual default) guesses at possible NNTP
server names.

check out http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/apdi/au10.txt
where it says;
NNTP-Posting-Host: vma.smsu.edu
should maybe give some clues...

vma.smsu.edu doesn't resolve on dns; that may be old data.

Quoted message said:

There's a problem here.

smsu is not an appropriate name for this institution.

whois says they own it, but apparently they like missouristate.edu
better since that's where all their contact names are pointed. OTOH,
vma.smsu.edu doesn't resolve from outside their firewall, so it may be
useless info even if it exists inside.

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Quoted message said:

vma.smsu.edu doesn't resolve from outside their firewall, so it may be
useless info even if it exists inside.

Yup. And nobody here has the answer. I'll have to try to find one of
the 2 or 3 guys who MIGHT know something during the week.

It wouldn't surprise me if they just never moved that server when they
did the name change.

Sojourner

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 23 Jul 2006 13:52:46 -0700, "Sojourner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

smsu is not an appropriate name for this institution.

whois says they own it, but apparently they like missouristate.edu
better since that's where all their contact names are pointed. OTOH,
vma.smsu.edu doesn't resolve from outside their firewall, so it may be
useless info even if it exists inside.

Just what the world needed -- another MSU.
Michigan State University
Minnesota State University
Montana State University
Mississippi State University
Murray State University
Montclair State University
Memphis State University ... and more

Mike Kruger said:

Just what the world needed -- another MSU.
Michigan State University
Minnesota State University
Montana State University
Mississippi State University
Murray State University
Montclair State University
Memphis State University ... and more

Not to mention that the University of Missouri has gone by "Mizzou" for
years - which is what MSU would NORMALLY devolve into when you try to
pronounce it. Somehow U of M managed to hijack "Mizzou" YEARS before
this place managed to convince the state legislature to let it change
its name to MSU.

This place is very very jealous of U of M. LOL!

Sojourner

"Sojourner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mike Kruger said:

Just what the world needed -- another MSU.
Michigan State University
Minnesota State University
Montana State University
Mississippi State University
Murray State University
Montclair State University
Memphis State University ... and more

Not to mention that the University of Missouri has gone by "Mizzou" for
years - which is what MSU would NORMALLY devolve into when you try to
pronounce it. Somehow U of M managed to hijack "Mizzou" YEARS before
this place managed to convince the state legislature to let it change
its name to MSU.

This place is very very jealous of U of M. LOL!

I graduated from UMSL (University of Missouri - St. Louis) and understand
the "Mizzou" envy very well.
"Mizzou" (for the main campus in Columbia, MO) sounds cool. "UHM-sool" does
not.

Then I went to grad school at U of M(ichigan), where Mizzou was just a
rumor.

It's just like cycling: there's always somebody faster and somebody slower.