[news.sysadmin] Problems using rn over a telnet connection

snyde_sl@tsca02.uucp (Steve Snyder) (05/25/91)

Our site recently established a newsfeed.  We are running C news (last
patch date is 24-Mar-91) and rn (last patch date is 01-Jan-91, # 54)
on an Apollo DN3000 under Domain/OS SR10.2 (sys 5.3 environment).
The ASCII terminals we have are connected to Black Box terminal
servers.

The problem we are having concerns using rn over a telnet or rlogin
connection to the news server.  It seems that regardless of what type 
of terminal (VT100, VT320, PC, SUN SPARC2, HP9000/380, or even another 
Apollo bitmap display) I use to telnet to the news server, this 
problem occurs.  The problem is that rn repeatedly displays the 
first '--read now? [npq]' prompt (beeping every time) as shown below:

Unread news in comp.ai					34 articles
Unread news in comp.ai.edu				 3 articles
Unread news in comp.ai.neural-nets			38 articles
Unread news in comp.ai.shells				 4 articles
Unread news in comp.arch			       128 articles
etc.

********  34 unread articles in comp.ai--read now? [ynq]
Type h for help.

********  34 unread articles in comp.ai--read now? [ynq]
Type h for help.

********  34 unread articles in comp.ai--read now? [ynq]
Type h for help.

********  34 unread articles in comp.ai--read now? [ynq]
Type h for help.

So I just have to quit and get out of rn.  This problem with rn does
not occur on Apollo bitmap displays that access the news server 
through the Domain file system.  (I have symbolic links set up from
all of our other Apollos to the necessary files and directories on
the news server.)  Although from these workstations I can generate
the same response by typing control characters that rn does not 
accept.  As far as I can determine there are no control characters
being sent by the remote terminal.  (I have saved a terminal session
in a file and done a hex dump of this file.)

The readnews reader (distributed with C news) works fine from remote
terminals over telnet, but I'd really like to give every user the
ability to use rn from any remote terminal or workstation.  I believe
that rn is running in curses cbreak mode at the above prompt, whereas
readnews is probably not.

Any ideas why rn responds this way over a telnet connection, or 
possible solutions to this problem?  I've run out of ideas.  I posted 
this previously to news.software.b and news.newusers.questions but got
no responses.

Should I be using rrn and NNTP?  (I answered no to Configure's "Do you
want this built as remote rn (rrn)?" question.)  Does rrn let you run 
rn over a telnet connection to a news server?  I'd prefer responses by
email, but I'll continue to watch the newsgroups where I posted this
if you'd rather post a reponse for the benefit of others who might
have a similar problem and questions.  Thanks.
-- 
Steve Snyder             | You've got to know when to code 'em,
Electronic Data Systems  | know when to modem, know when to load 'em,
snyde_sl@otsc.eds.com    | and know when to run.
uunet!tsca02!snyde_sl    |                        --Anonymous