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Mac Forum / General / General / July 2006? re OS X and newsgroups
The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have never used OS X before, I've been able to help her (due, in large part, to the fact that the "intuitive" nature of the Mac OS hasn't really changed all that much) with things such as setting up her email account, installing software, and getting her printer/scanner/copier operative. The bad news: I now want a new Mac and can't afford one! Anyhow, on to the question: How can I get her set up to read newsgroups? Can I use the Mail program for that? She's running 10.4.4 with 768 MB RAM and, IIRC, a 2gHz processor and 160g HD. TIA, Karl > The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a > new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Karl Safari or other browser will give access to news groups. I have found different news groups available on different ISPs. TB > > The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a > > new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Safari or other browser will give access to news groups. Ah, but this is what I'm asking: How? I know, for instance, that the Communicator portion of Netscape is a decent NG reader (at least the old v. 4.7 which I'm using in OS 9.1). But is there such a feature in Safari? If you're talking about using a news reader service on a web site, I can't imagine that being all that great. > I have found different news groups available on different ISPs. Sure, I'm aware of that but it's not an issue at this point. Karl > The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a > new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Karl Mail will not read newsgroups. There are many Mac newsreaders out there. The most OSX like is Unison from: <http://www.panic.com/unison/> Run software update (Click on the blue Apple at the top left corner of the screen) to bring OSX up to 10.4.7 -> -> Mail will not read newsgroups. There are many Mac newsreaders out -> there. The most OSX like is Unison from: <http://www.panic.com/unison/> -> Thanks for the pointer to this. I have added it to the Big8 Usenet Newsreader listing. http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=faqs:news_readers If anyone knows of any other News readers not already listed and still actively developed for Mac OS X or any other platform, please let me know. usenet1@os2voice.org Mark  SignatureFrom the eComStation of Mark Dodel http://www.os2voice.org Warpstock 2006, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Oct 12-15, 2006 - http://www.warpstock.org >The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a >new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Karl Both Mozilla (the open source version of Netscape) and Thunderbird have Usenet newsreaders within their programs. (Personally, we find Thunderbird--it's free--better than Mail for email and do not use Mozilla at all. Almost all of our Usenet participation is done on our PC, but occasionally we use MT Newswatcher--it's free, too--on the Mac.) JJ :-) > Anyhow, on to the question: How can I get her set up to read newsgroups? > Can I use the Mail program for that? She's running 10.4.4 with 768 MB [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Karl I find Mozilla Thunderbird to be a very easy to use newsgroup reader on my iMac G5. I also use Octanews (octanews.com) as my newsgroup server. As you now know, neither Safari nor Mail in OS X 10.4.x make any provision for reading newsgroups at all. Perhaps someone at Apple figured they were old hat and that RSS was the correct way to go. HTH, Jim Scott > > Anyhow, on to the question: How can I get her set up to read newsgroups? > > Can I use the Mail program for that? She's running 10.4.4 with 768 MB [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > provision for reading newsgroups at all. Perhaps someone at Apple > figured they were old hat and that RSS was the correct way to go. I am indeed finding that neither Mail nor Safari make provisions for reading NGs, although someone gave a rather cryptic reply in this thread stating that "Safari or other browser will give access to news groups" (without offering any nuts and bolts as to what he meant). Another person responded via email treating me like a freaking idiot for asking whether Mail could handle NGs - even though he admitted knowledge of a few programs that provided both email and NG access (and I stated within this thread that Netscape Communicator, which can be used for email just fine thankyouverymuch, is also a decent NG reader). I fail to understand why so many fellow Mac users feel they have to come off like pedantic snobs (not referring to you, Jim). I think I've come to a conclusion independent of any input here. I'm familiar with older versions of Netscape. Netscape is a free DL, correct? So I then DL Netscape 7.2 on Mom's machine and teach her how to use Communicator to read NGs. As the guy with the thick Philly accent says in the Hardee's commercial, "End of story." Karl > I am indeed finding that neither Mail nor Safari make provisions for reading > NGs, although someone gave a rather cryptic reply in this thread stating that [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Karl Sheesh, I've been trying to get somebody to call me a pedantic snob since grad school days, decades ago. Guess I'll never make it. :-) Yes, Netscape 7.2 is a free download. I've got Netscape 7.0 and a handful of other browsers (Shiira, IE, Sea Monkey, etc.) loaded on my iMac G5, but tend to use Safari and Mail for browsing and e-mail, and Thunderbird for newsgroups. Occasionally Safari balks at something and I then click on the Firefox browser. I've got them all lined up next to each other in my Dock, and access is very easy as the icons are quite distinctive. Netscape 8.1 is out for Windows, but not yet available for OSX. I'm not going to argue the merits of various browsers, e-mail clients and newsgroup readers since I've used most of them extensively at one time or another, and find selection and use a highly personal choice. I used to swear by Netscape, then IE, but now I'm quite happy with the ease of use and integration of Safari and Mail with OS X. And I find Thunderbird to be the best newsgroup reader for OS X 10.4.x. What's more, I can have Safari, Mail and Thunderbird open all at once without having to do anything more than click on an icon on the Dock. To me, it's easier to do than launching Netscape, then clicking on Window to get to Mail and Newsgroups, etc. Again, personal preference. As for your mother's 10.4.4 iMac, you should show her how easy it is to upgrade it to 10.4.7 using Software Update. Then show her how to set her machine to automatically download updates in the background and notify her when they're ready to be installed. I'd also suggest installing free utilities like Onyx or MacJanitor and showing her how to use them to periodically clean out caches. HTH, Jim Scott > Yes, Netscape 7.2 is a free download. I've got Netscape 7.0 and a > handful of other browsers (Shiira, IE, Sea Monkey, etc.) loaded on my [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > each other in my Dock, and access is very easy as the icons are quite > distinctive. Safari balks at some web content? Hm, interesting. I figured it was pretty much the industry standard for Mac browsers. Never heard of Shiira, Se Monkey or Thunderbird. Completely OT here, but am I the only one who thinks the "Dock" is just a glorified "Launcher" (assuming y'all even remember OS 7.x)? > Netscape 8.1 is out for Windows, but not yet available for OSX. Yeah, I noticed. Which actually brings to mind a good question: Are all OS X programs (at least for now and the foreseeable future) going to be compatible with subsequent versions as in the Classic environment? > I find > Thunderbird to be the best newsgroup reader for OS X 10.4.x. What's > more, I can have Safari, Mail and Thunderbird open all at once without > having to do anything more than click on an icon on the Dock. To me, > it's easier to do than launching Netscape, then clicking on Window to > get to Mail and Newsgroups, etc. Again, personal preference. Ok, this brings up another question. Is Thunderbird a free DL? > As for your mother's 10.4.4 iMac, you should show her how easy it is to > upgrade it to 10.4.7 using Software Update. Then show her how to set her > machine to automatically download updates in the background and notify > her when they're ready to be installed. I'd also suggest installing free > utilities like Onyx or MacJanitor and showing her how to use them to > periodically clean out caches. I'll try to make it a point to talk to her about the upgrade. She was interested from the outset in dumping browser cache and deleting cookies so I showed her how to do that manually. (Whether she'll remember or not is another matter.) If there are free utilities that do some of this automatically, she may be interested. Thanks, Jim. Karl > Safari balks at some web content? Hm, interesting. I figured it was pretty much > the industry standard for Mac browsers. Never heard of Shiira, Se Monkey or > Thunderbird. Yep, sometimes Safari won't handle some sites, even when you've got the User Agent set to automatically choose the correct browser format in the Debug menu. Kind of like what we used to do with Internet Explorer when Netscape balked at a site, etc. It's always a good idea to have several browsers installed in today's surfing environment. Thunderbird's not a browser (see below). The others, including Firefox, are among the more visible alternatives to Safari, now that Internet Explorer's no longer supported for Mac by Microsoft. All are free. You might want to Google them, download, install and experiment. Firefox is quite nice, though my personal preference is for Safari. All the Mozilla-based browsers display their Netscape heritage in a number of ways. But Netscape lost me years ago, so that's my bias talking. Completely OT here, but am I the only one who thinks the "Dock" is > just a glorified "Launcher" (assuming y'all even remember OS 7.x)? Yes, it's an extension of the Launcher concept, but oh so much more sophisticated and useful. For example, want to add your favorite game to the Dock? Just drag the application icon to the dock and let go. Want to delete it? Just click on the icon, drag it to the desktop, and Poof!, it's gone in a puff of smoke with appropriate sound. The Launcher never was that easy and foolproof to use, in my experience. >> Netscape 8.1 is out for Windows, but not yet available for OSX. > > Yeah, I noticed. Which actually brings to mind a good question: Are all OS X > programs (at least for now and the foreseeable future) going to be compatible with > subsequent versions as in the Classic environment? I'll leave that one to the experts in such things, but I think we will see PPC/MacIntel compatibility for quite a while as the installed Mac base is overwhelmingly PPC. Whenever you see an application tagged as "Universal," it means it will run on OS X PPC Macs (G3-G5) as well as on OS X Macs with Intel cpus. >> I find >> Thunderbird to be the best newsgroup reader for OS X 10.4.x. What's [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Ok, this brings up another question. Is Thunderbird a free DL? Yes. I originally called it Mozilla Thunderbird in my first post in this thread. That means it's the mail client/newsgroup reader sibling of Mozilla Firefox. Just Google it to get a download site. >> As for your mother's 10.4.4 iMac, you should show her how easy it is to >> upgrade it to 10.4.7 using Software Update. Then show her how to set her [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > to do that manually. (Whether she'll remember or not is another matter.) If there > are free utilities that do some of this automatically, she may be interested. Google Onyx and MacJanitor to find download sites. Both are free utilities and are well thought of in the Mac community. Onyx is quite powerful and has a lot of capabilities. It's also possible to do some damage you don't want done, so it should be used carefully, as you'll see when you open it up the first time and navigate around. MacJanitor is very simple and easy to use. It's hard to do damage with MacJanitor. > Thanks, Jim. > > Karl You're welcome, Karl. Jim Try MacSoup, you can find it if you search for it by name on www.versiontracker.com. I have used it for years and like it. > > > Anyhow, on to the question: How can I get her set up to read newsgroups? > > > Can I use the Mail program for that? She's running 10.4.4 with 768 MB [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Karl > The good news: My mom got sick of Windows, viruses, etc. and bought a > new iMac. And, even though I'm running 9.1 on an old clone and have [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Karl i use Mozilla suite used to bge a Netsacpe fan years ago Hugh W Signaturenew computer = new blog http://mac-on-intel.blogspot.com/ daily blogs with new photos http://snaps2006.blogspot.com/ http://slim2005.blogspot.com/ family history http://hughw36.blogspot.com |
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