rjast1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Robert J Anisko) (09/20/90)
I'm new to this net, so I have a quick question. What newsgroups (Atari-based) are available to read, other than this one? rjast1@unix.cis.pitt.edu
jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura) (12/21/90)
This message is only a REQUEST FOR COMMENTS and NOT a suggestion
for a change to the newsgroups. Depending on responses, someday
I may make a serious suggestion, but not now. I just want to find
out what's going on and why.
I just received some messages at 'tndb' sent to
'comp.sys.atari.st.tech'. Being a new group on my system they
were dumped in the catch-all 'letter.box' file that STadel creates
for undeliverable messages. My first reaction was to decide
that clearly I wanted to receive these messages. So I started up
STadel again and tried to create a "room" for this newsgroup name.
Unfortunately, STadel will not support a name this long. My peak
is 20 characters. I tried the STadel alias system before and it
didn't work on my version of STadel, so I can't alias the messages
to a shorter named room. As such, I'm considering dropping the
'comp.sys.atari.st.tech' newsgroup completely.
But looking at the current newsgroups, the 'comp.sys.atari.8bit'
group is almost completely unused. The only message I saw there
today was one where a fellow with a Mac was trying to get an old
8 bit trackball to work on his new Mac. That has *nothing* to do
with the Atari 8 bits anyway! Isn't it about time we got rid of
the '8bit'/'st' divisions? For my own usage, I could receive
messages into a 'comp.sys.atari.tech' newsgroup. Well, I have't
tried it, but as far as I know that would be workable.
Actually, having watched the newsgroup for the last month
or so, I don't see the point in the 'comp.sys.atari.st.tech'
newsgroup at all. I haven't seen any *non*tech questions in
the current 'comp.sys.atari.st' newsgroup. Since there is
no "noise" in the newsgroup as it stands why do we need the
new newsgroup at all? The small amount of traffic doesn't seem
to warrant subdividing it.
Cheers! -- Jim O.
--
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
lsuc!jimomura
Byte Information eXchange: jimomurajeff@onion.pdx.com (Jeff Beadles) (12/23/90)
In <1990Dec20.181848.1910@lsuc.on.ca> jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura) writes: [ Regarding the length of the newsgroup name comp.sys.atari.st.tech, and wanting to remove the 8bit newsgroup. ] ... >Unfortunately, STadel will not support a name this long. My peak >is 20 characters. ... Your "peak" is broken. Fix your software, or complain to the vendor. There's no real valid reason to change a set of working newsgroups, especially for software broken like this. For those who are interested, a list of all newsgroups with >20 character long names are included below the signature. Note, that "comp.sources.atari.st" (and the binaries group, of course) both fit in this category also. -Jeff -- Jeff Beadles jeff@onion.pdx.com List of newsgroups with >20 character names below. alt.binaries.multimedia alt.buddha.short.fat.guy alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo alt.cyberpunk.movement alt.flame.hirai.cs.dork alt.flame.pizza.greasy alt.flame.those.nasty.little.hangnails-ouch alt.folklore.computers alt.fractals.pictures alt.graphics.pixutils alt.national.enquirer alt.politics.homosexuality alt.religion.computers alt.rock-n-roll.metal alt.rock-n-roll.metal.metallica alt.society.cu-digest alt.startrek.creative alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork bionet.genome.chrom22 bionet.journals.contents bionet.molbio.bio-matrix bionet.molbio.embldatabank bionet.molbio.evolution bionet.molbio.genbank bionet.molbio.genbank.updates bionet.molbio.gene-express bionet.molbio.gene-org bionet.molbio.genome-program bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts bionet.molbio.oncogenes bionet.molbio.proteins bionet.population-bio bionet.software.contrib bionet.software.pc.comm bionet.users.addresses biz.comp.software.demos clari.news.gov.international clari.news.interest.animals clari.news.interest.people clari.news.interest.quirks clari.news.law.profession clari.news.law.supreme comp.ai.nlang-know-rep comp.binaries.atari.st comp.binaries.hypercard comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d comp.bugs.4bsd.ucb-fixes comp.dcom.lans.hyperchannel comp.graphics.visualization comp.lang.objective-c comp.mail.multi-media comp.org.usenix.roomshare comp.os.msdos.programmer comp.os.os2.programmer comp.periphs.printers comp.protocols.appletalk comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ comp.protocols.iso.x400 comp.protocols.iso.x400.gateway comp.protocols.kerberos comp.protocols.kermit comp.protocols.tcp-ip comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains comp.protocols.tcp-ip.eniac comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc comp.protocols.time.ntp comp.security.announce comp.sources.atari.st comp.sources.games.bugs comp.sys.amiga.hardware comp.sys.atari.st.tech comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware comp.sys.intel.ipsc310 comp.sys.mac.announce comp.sys.mac.hardware comp.sys.mac.hypercard comp.sys.mac.programmer comp.sys.workstations comp.terminals.bitgraph comp.terminals.tty5620 comp.theory.cell-automata comp.theory.dynamic-sys comp.theory.info-retrieval comp.theory.self-org-sys comp.windows.ms.programmer comp.windows.open-look comp.windows.x.announce gnu.emacs.lisp.manual misc.forsale.computers misc.headlines.unitex news.announce.conferences news.announce.important news.announce.newgroups news.announce.newusers news.ewusers.questions news.newusers.questions news.software.anu-news psu.beaver.scratch.and.sniff psu.father.knows.best psu.football.majors.dumb rec.arts.movies.reviews rec.arts.startrek.info rec.humor.doctortoyoubuddy rec.music.country.western rec.sport.football.college rec.sport.football.misc rec.sport.football.pro rec.sport.midget.tossing rec.sport.pro-wrestling rec.sport.snowboarding sci.math.num-analysis sci.psychology.digest soc.culture.african.american soc.culture.asian.american soc.culture.australian soc.culture.bangladesh soc.culture.esperanto soc.culture.latin-america soc.culture.sri-lanka soc.culture.vietnamese soc.religion.christian talk.politics.mideast talk.religion.christian trial.rec.metalworking vmsnet.announce.newusers
steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) (12/24/90)
[jimomura@lsuc.on.ca writes ... ] > I just received some messages at 'tndb' sent to > 'comp.sys.atari.st.tech'. Being a new group on my system they > were dumped in the catch-all 'letter.box' file that STadel creates > for undeliverable messages. My first reaction was to decide > that clearly I wanted to receive these messages. So I started up > STadel again and tried to create a "room" for this newsgroup name. > Unfortunately, STadel will not support a name this long. My peak > is 20 characters. I tried the STadel alias system before and it > didn't work on my version of STadel, so I can't alias the messages > to a shorter named room. As such, I'm considering dropping the > 'comp.sys.atari.st.tech' newsgroup completely. Here is an excerpt from the output of ";known floors" on the MAST BBS (Minnesota Atari ST users). [Port Atari].......... ctdl.sys.Atari.ST)* comp.sys.atari.st:* Atari8:* comp.sys.atari.st.t:* ^ | As you can see, the newsgroup name is truncated, but works. For further info, contact Tom Cook, sysop of the MAST BBS, at "tacook@moundst.mn.org". Aliasing works, too, although the docs are confusing. The room "ctdl.sys.atari.st" is so named at MAST for the benefit of neighboring sites that receive it via UUCP. Most Citadels call it simply "Atari ST." > But looking at the current newsgroups, the 'comp.sys.atari.8bit' > group is almost completely unused. Yup. 8bitters are history. Like it or not. > Actually, having watched the newsgroup for the last month > or so, I don't see the point in the 'comp.sys.atari.st.tech' > newsgroup at all. I haven't seen any *non*tech questions in > the current 'comp.sys.atari.st' newsgroup. Since there is > no "noise" in the newsgroup as it stands why do we need the > new newsgroup at all? The small amount of traffic doesn't seem > to warrant subdividing it. Heh.... stick around. Noise? You'll see plenty of it. comp.sys.atari.st periodically goes through horrid bouts of flaming, bickering about Atari Corp.'s marketing policies, etc. Such posts are explicitly forbidden by the charter of the tech group. comp.sys.atari.st also is open for discussion of applications and games, which .tech is not. Conversely, chatter about programming dialog boxes properly belongs in .tech, where it won't scare off the less technically inclined. Returning to the matter of STadel and BBSing: cmc@overmind.mind.org in Atlanta and Adrian Ashley up in Canada (sorry, Adrian, but I can't recall your net address) have source code to STadel and have developed their own mutations, Fortress and <fnord>adel respectively. Bob Lee at Time Arts (the Lumena people) also has his own version, called b0badel, but I think it's only for PCs. Any of these folks can fix the roomname-length bug. A related bug/feature commonly truncates very long user names; I hope that one gets fixed, too. The author of STadel*, David Parsons, no longer is working on it, but is developing a portable BBS called bauble. You can contact him at "orc@jazz.sybase.com" or "akcs.orc@vpnet.chi.il.us". *STadel originally was the Atari ST version of Citadel. It was ported from Citadel-86, which was HAW's PC version of a program that originated under CP/M. STadel later was ported back to PC-DOS and also to Amigados. The Lake, now a UUCP system, originally was "The world's second Atari ST Citadel," so I know about these things. :-) ---- Steve Yelvington / P. O. Box 38 / Marine on St. Croix, MN 55047 USA INTERNET: steve@thelake.mn.org UUCP: plains!umn-cs!thelake!steve Merry Christmas to all, and to all a warm blanket. Or two. Or three. It's -10 degrees (F) outside. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!