geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) (03/24/90)
This is a regular posting providing information about Usenet Macintosh groups. It is designed to help you find the best place to post your Macintosh questions/discussions. A companion posting answers some of the more commonly asked questions. [Note that the Q and A posting does not yet exist; that's my next project.] Feel free to send comments, questions, etc. about this posting to uunet!pmafire!geoff. Usenet Macintosh groups ----------------------- There are several newsgroups for discussions related to the Macintosh. Here are group names, along with their `official' definitions taken from the monthly `List of Active Newsgroups' posted in news.announce.newusers, news.lists, and news.groups. Each of these is followed by a more detailed explanation of the newsgroup. [Note: there is currently a vote underway (watch news.announce.newgroups for announcements) which would reorganize much of the comp.sys.mac.* hierarchy. The descriptions below reflect the current hierarchy. They will be updated when the result of the vote is known.] ********** comp.sys.mac Discussions about the Apple Macintosh & Lisa. This is the main Macintosh newsgroup. This is where general Macintosh discussions (i.e., those without a specific group) should go. Volume is very high in this group, so please try to do your part by not posting here if a more specific group exists. ********** comp.sys.mac.hardware Macintosh hardware issues & discussions. This newsgroup is for discussing Macintosh hardware. If you have a question about your ImageWriter or want to know about upgrading the memory in your Mac, this is the place. ********** comp.sys.mac.hypercard The Macintosh Hypercard: info & uses. This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you have a question or comment about HyperCard, it belongs here. By extension, discussions about SuperCard and Plus (two HyperCard-like programs from other vendors) also belong here. ********** comp.sys.mac.programmer Discussion by people programming the Apple Macintosh. This group is for those involved in Macintosh programming. (Note, if your Macintosh programming is in HyperTalk, then it belongs in comp.sys.mac.hypercard.) Questions and discussions about writing XCMDs and XCFNs for HyperCard should go ... [here or c.s.m.hypercard? What so folks think? I can see a case for each.] ********** comp.sys.mac.digest Apple Macintosh: info&uses, but no programs. (Moderated) This newsgroup (which is actually a gatewayed mailing list) presents a digest of postings covering all Macintosh topics. It is also the source of information for files available for FTP from sumex-aim.stanford.edu. (See the Q & A posting for information on FTP and alternatives for those not on the Internet.) ********** comp.binaries.mac Encoded Macintosh programs in binary. (Moderated) Macintosh programs in BinHex form appear here. For more information about this newsgroup, see the companion Q & A posting. ********** comp.sources.mac Software for the Apple Macintosh. (Moderated) [Is this group really active? Our feed for this is from uunet, and I've never seen anything in it. If uunet doesn't get it, I wonder who does.] ********** comp.protocols.appletalk Applebus hardware & software. Questions and discussions relating to AppleTalk (LocalTalk) and Macintosh networking belong here. ********** comp.unix.aux The version of UNIX for Apple Macintosh II computers. If you want to talk about A/UX, this is the place to do it. ********** comp.sys.apple Discussion about Apple micros. Note: This group is *not* for discussing the Macintosh. Please don't post your Macintosh discussions here. Comp.sys.apple is for Apple ][ and Apple /// computers. To clear up this misunderstanding, comp.sys.apple2 was recently created. Comp.sys.apple will soon be disappearing. A Word About Crossposting ------------------------- You should have little need to crosspost within the Macintosh newsgroups. They are intended to provide dedicated areas for your discussions, and there should be little, if any, crossover between areas. The most commonly seen crossposting is to post to one of the more specific groups and crosspost to comp.sys.mac. For example: Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.mac This is unnecessary, and even somewhat rude. If you have a programming question, it should be posted to comp.sys.mac.programmer. There are folks reading comp.sys.mac who don't really care about programming the Macintosh, and they shouldn't have to wade through programming discussions. That's why comp.sys.mac.programmer exists. This, of course, applies to the other groups as well. Other Groups of Interest ------------------------ There are other groups that, while not Macintosh-specific, may be the place to post your questions/discussions. For example: comp.fonts Typefonts -- design, conversion, use, etc. comp.text Text processing issues and methods. comp.text.desktop Technology & techniques of desktop publishing. These groups would be a better place for desktop publishing discussions, since they exist for just such a purpose. comp.lang.c Discussion about C. comp.lang.pascal Discussion about Pascal. comp.lang.fortran Discussion about FORTRAN. etc. If you have questions or discussions about the language you're programming in rather than a Macintosh-specific programming question, the appropriate comp.lang.* group would be a better place to post. In short, check the list of active newsgroups (posted monthly to news.announce.newusers, news.lists, and news.groups) for newsgroups that might be of interest. Some examples you might wish to explore include: comp.graphics Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing. comp.graphics.digest Graphics software, hardware, theory, etc. (Moderated) comp.ivideodisc Interactive videodiscs -- uses, potential, etc. comp.lang.postscript The PostScript Page Description Language. comp.laser-printers Laser printers, hardware & software. (Moderated) comp.object Object-oriented programming and languages. comp.os.mach The MACH OS from CMU & other places. comp.os.minix Discussion of Tanenbaum's MINIX system. [These two represent UNIX-like systems available for the Macintosh.] comp.unix Discussion of UNIX* features and bugs. (Moderated) comp.unix.questions UNIX neophytes group. comp.unix.wizards Discussions, bug reports, and fixes on and for UNIX. comp.windows.misc Various issues about windowing systems. comp.windows.x Discussion about the X Window System. comp.virus Computer viruses & security. (Moderated) -- Geoff Allen uunet!pmafire!geoff bigtex!pmafire!geoff
ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University) (03/26/90)
Regarding the activity on comp.sources.mac, a few weeks ago I posted MenuStuff.sit.hqx, a collection of menu-manipulation tools for use with the MPW Shell. Did anybody else see them? (In particular, the people who asked me for them). The file was about 90K in size. If it got chopped or lost, let me know, and I'll repost, in two (or more?) sections this time. Lawrence D'Oliveiro Computer Services Dept, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Whatever happened to Tania Harris?