IntroductionInitially, I had hoped to place browasable archives on the web... but as it turned out, the archives were HUGE; and it wasn't close to being everything. How much is too much? The threads I selected (and I was pretty picky) would have taken up around 40 MB of server space... and I just don't have that much bandwidth to spare. maybe someday... Besides, Deja.com, altavista.com and remarq.com have pretty extensive archives, so I feel less guilty as the days go on :-) However, their archives don't go back to the early days, I have come up with a compromise, and I think it is fair. The ArchivesThe archives are HUGE text files in MBX format. The MBX format is the format many Unix-based programs use to store their message stores (like Usenet or Mail. I believe the extension stands for MailBox Xtension or Xfer... but I digress). Happily some Windows based programs also use the MBX format for storing their files, so it seemed like a pretty good format to use. Also, since they're just text files, in a worst case scenario your favorite text editor should open them. SoftwareNowadays, I use XNews by Luu Tran. It is inspired by NewsXpress which I used in both in 16 and 32 bit incarnations until its developer dropped off the Net. XNews
NewsXpress
If people have instructions for other newsreaders, please forward them to us so we can add them here. Happy Catching-up! | |
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