LRL@psuvm.psu.edu (Linda Littleton) (02/13/90)
Archive-name: vm-netnews/10-Feb-90 Original-posting-by: LRL@psuvm.psu.edu (Linda Littleton) Original-subject: NETNEWS package can offload LISTSERV Archive-site: listserv@psuvm.bitnet Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) Editor's Note: While this announcement is not within the charter for this list, we felt there might be interest from many readers who are interested in information sharing through mailing lists and usenet news/netnews systems. mgh A news package for VM is available that can help to offload LISTSERV traffic. It is called NETNEWS and is available via LISTSERV. NETNEWS can gateway LISTSERV lists into bulletin board format and make them centrally available on a local public disk, thus (theoretically) reducing the number of users who subscribe individually to LISTSERV lists. In addition, NETNEWS can receive USENET feeds via either Bitnet or NNTP (NetNews Transfer Protocol, which will let a Unix site feed a VM site over TCP/IP), set up local discussion groups, and control read and post access on a per-group basis. The user interface has a "Filelist-like" feel to it, with three levels. First there is the Newsgroup Menu, listing all groups available. The user selects a group via cursor and PFkey and gets that group's Article Menu, which lists all current articles in the group. Finally, the user chooses an article (again with cursor and PFkey) to be displayed. The software can keep track of what groups the user wants to see and what articles have already been read. For info, issue TELL LISTSERV AT PSUVM GET NETNEWS PACKAGE. This will send you an Administrator's Guide, a User's Guide and information on how to get the package. The LISTSERV discussion list on this is NETNWS-L at NDSUVM1.