This step could contain the entire manual. But here you will get just a short description of the fundamentals. The detailed things are explained in the chapters dealing with specific functions.
MyNews allows you to download the UseNet-newsgroups from your
provider. For your provider it looks like you are using a
"normal" news-reader.
You define what newsgroups you want and enter the information for
your providers news-server. Then you click "Get now
from" - and MyNews will download your newsgroups.
One thing is important here: The messages are stored on your
computers harddisk! So you will never download them twice. You
can use a very dumb online-newsreader which does not store
messages. MyNews does it for you. And access to the same message
a second time is really fast - because it comes directly from
your harddisk.
You use your favorite news-reader (if it works with MyNews)
and configure it that it does no longer access your providers
news-server. Instead it accesses your own MyNews-Server. The only
difference you will see is, that things are much faster :-)
MyNews has a tiny built-in newsreader. You can really read news
with it. But every other newsreader is
better! (Perhaps it will be improved a little).
Your wife loves the newsgroups also? And your kids? Or
you have a small company with ten employees who reads about 10-50
groups?
They can _all_ read their news from your own MyNews-server. And
this is unique to MyNews!
One tip: MyNews is not designed to serve 100 users and it is not
designed to keep more than 100 newsgroups. So if you are an ISP
or admin for a medium size company, then get yourself a
"true" news-server. My own experiences with DNews
(http://netwinsite.com) are so good that I can recommend it
without any restrictions. (ChrisP.: well done!). It is worth
every single buck.
You use more than one news-server? You have an additional
pay-provider? Or some additional free public servers?
No problem: You add them all to the MyNews-server-list. Then you
use "Download multiple headers" or create some
scheduled events. MyNews will contact all those servers and will
get the messages (and headers) from them - and store them
locally.
You say that your news-reader can also access multiple servers?
Yes, there are some news-reader which do this. But most of them
do not offer a summary for a group, but then you have the same
group in several server folders.
MyNews summarizes them all - and if you access MyNews then it
looks like just ONE group. Finding all multi-parts is no pain.
And you will never download a message twice.
One great news-reader which accesses multiple news-servers in a
similar way as MyNews is "AllNews" by Mike Read. The
approach is
great. However you need to like this tool. With MyNews you can
continue to use your "well known" tools.
No matter how many news-servers you can access: You WILL miss something. I have access to TEN news-servers at different providers and I'm _still_ missing messages! The problem is, that the transportation of messages in the Usenet is not perfect. Sometimes a whole bunch of messages is not transported from the US to Australia or to Europe. So we need a different path. If every news-server in the world would be open, then one important reason for MyNews would be superfluous. But most news-servers are locked - so we use a different way: We use our friends.
Already today you can get missing messages from your friends:
You ask them for a "repost". Someone will read your
request and post a message again. This is really friendly - but a
new problem occurs. Some messages are repeated 2-5 times until
everybody has seen it. Especially large multipart-messages must
be reposted often!
An other chance is to meet your friends on IRC (Internet Relay
Chat) or on special web-chat-servers. Then you can exchange
messages by MIRC (Fserver, FTP, private WWW-Server).
A lot of new words for you? A lot of work and know how just to
get two missing messages? Yes - MyNews makes it easier:
Imagine that 20 neticens are using MyNews to read a specific newsgroup. They all download the messages from their providers - and their pay-providers. All the messages are available. We just need a comfortable connection between "you and them". MyNews is this way. You've read already that MyNews allows you to read news in your workgroup. Now we will extend your "workgroup" to the world! If "Gus" in Atlanta can read messages from "Igor" in Moscow, then we have a new network - the "MyNews-Network".
The traditional way to find others is the IRC (Internet Relay
Chat) - or posting a message to the newsgroups - or using ICQ or
some kind of netmeeting or making a fixed "date" when
you want to meet. And this WORKS with MyNews !
If you meet someone anywhere and he tells you that he is
"online" actually, then you can contact his
MyNews-Server: The other guy gives you his IP-address. You click
to "Get now from", enter his IP-address and your
MyNews-server will immediately download messages from his server.
Vice versa his MyNews will get messages from you (automatically
if configured).
This works without any registration - with the free temporary
license!
You never contact me - but you can still use MyNews for this
purpose.
You can exchange all kind of messages. Encrypted Email, open Email, Documents, Pictures, any kind of material! And the best: You don't need ANY providers server! No Email-server, no news-server, just the line to the internet.
WARNING! Messages are still transported on the Internet. So Secret Services can find them if they "listen" in the backbone (what they do).
The last way is to make a "dialup" directly into the computer of your friend (or your company). Then you can exchange messages on a national or international phone-line. And then you are independent from the Internet.
You dont want to use IRC or other things? You are new
and have no friends, yet? Or no friends any more?
No problem: MyNews helps you to find others:
There are MyNews-"Root"-Servers available. Such a
"Root"-Server is a special MyNews-Server which is
always online. If you know it, then you can contact it always.
The "Root"-Server is the "Meeting Point" for
MyNews-Users.
You enter the name of the root-server into Mynews. Then you click
to "Login" or "Start". Your MyNews will now
contact the MyNews-Root and tells it that you are
"active" (online) now. The Root-Server stores your name
(from the registration) and how to access you (your
IP-address). Then it sends you a list of all other MyNews-servers
which are already there. The next one who says "Hello"
to the Root-Server will get the
information that _you_ are now "online". And so on....
Using just "login" will have no bigger consequences. You are listed now as "active" and you have got a list of others who are active. If the Root-Server has some groups available (and most of them will have some special groups - like announcements), then the root might contact your MyNews now to exchange some basic messages.
If you did use "Start" - then MyNews will become more active. MyNews runs the "Login"-procedure. Then it will immediately begin to contact _all_ other active MyNews-Servers. And it will get messages from them.
Those other MyNews-servers around the world which are configured for "replying" will begin to download messages from you. So you will not just get messages immediately - you will also deliver messages!
One thing is important here: If your MyNews contacts ten other servers, then it will NOT download the same message ten times. It will download it just once! But perhaps all ten other servers will get a new message from _you_.
If you start MyNews immediately after dial-up (going online), then you will have other things to do: Reading your Email, Visiting Websites, Downloading software.... MyNews runs without your intervention.... You can read already Newsgroups, but it will take some minutes before the new messages are available.
If you have finished exchange with others (or have to go),
then you use "Logout". MyNews tells the root-server
that you are no longer online. You are deleted from the list of
active servers. So you become "invisible". MyNews will
also send a "LogOut" (bye bye) to all other
MyNews-Servers it had contact to. So they will no longer try to
access you.
However there might still be some transfers in progress. (And
this can take days.........)
If you do NOT logout but use QuickExit or your dialup freezes or is broken or your PC crashes, then the root-server will not know that you've disappeared. But the "good" root-servers check periodically if you are still there. (They create a connection and send a kind of "Ping" or "Are you There"). If your MyNews does not respond, then you are removed from the list of active hosts automatically (with an error-message in the logfile). The difficulty is, that the period of "Pings" is about 1-5 minutes. In this time others will believe that you are "still there". And they will try in vain to connect your MyNews (which freezes their MyNews). So it is _always_ recommended to use "Logout"! Please be honest.
You can stop downloads from other servers any time you like.
The button "Stop" will stop downloading AFTER the
actual download is finished. So the active message is not lost
for you.
You can stop transfers to others (their download) in several
ways: You can stop the server-function. No new connections will
be allowed. But the current transfer will still
be finished. This is polite.
You can "Kill" the connection to someone (manually).
Then this transfer is immediately aborted. This is not polite!
But sometimes necessary.
You can always use the "Quick Exit" function. This
terminates the entire MyNews immediately. All connections are
"killed" (also your own download).
You have a good friend with a Mac? Or with BeOS?
Or too careful to install MyNews?
Meet your friend on the net (anywhere) and tell him your
IP-Address. While your own MyNews is running he can access it
with his ordinary "news-reader". So you can not get
messages from him, but he can get messages from YOU.
MyNews is able to LOCK OUT normal news-reader access. You have to
activate "news-reader-access". Because it is your
traffic - and the other one will not "pay back".
MyNews can act as a very simple WWW-Server. It delivers then
files from its own "Web"-Directory. If you want to
offer others files, then move them to the web-directory and tell
your friends where they are.
It is not possible to fool or attack this Web-Server. It has just
50 lines of code :-) And when the WEB-Directory is empty
(what it is after installation), then nothing is delivered.
The intention for this "toy" was to let you read your
news with your web-browser. This is not yet developed.
If you contact a huge MyNews-Root-Server, then there might be
hundreds, perhaps thousands of other MyNews-users listed already
as "active". It is necessary to avoid contacting
everybody around the world. So we will create
"Communities". A keyword will identify a community -
and you have to enter your community already during the first
startup. If you are interested in "Bike", then you will
get contact to all others who use "Bike" in their
community. Of course you
can use multiple communities. For example:
"Bike,Playboy,PinkFloyd" This feature is already
used!
There are now three different Root-Servers available. Each
root-server offers different "Communities". There will
be announcements how to configure MyNews in
your favorite newsgroup!
Later there will be additional root-servers available around the
world. I dont know what they will do. But they can offer whatever
communities they like.
A root-server will NOT be the freeware! It will be a cheap
payware for private usage and a little expensive one for
commercial purposes!
If you tell your friends or your admin that you are running
now an Internet-server (what you do with MyNews), then he will be
astonished:
"Do you have a leased line? - Isn't it expensive?" they
may ask?
Normally you need a leased line (permanent connection to the
internet) and a fixed IP-Number to run an Internet server. The
fixed IP-Number and the availability "around the clock"
are essential for running a server in the Internet. And so a
fixed IP-Number and a leased line are expensive. Please remember:
Someone has to PAY for the Internet - and this is NOT YOU,
actually. As a private user you pay just a small fee - to get
access. The backbone and all national and international
connections are payed by the commercial servers, the marketing
divisions (advertisers) and some edu- or mil-hosts.
Running a server without a fixed IP-address on a
"dialup-line" is normally not possible. But MyNews uses
some tricks to bypass this limitation.
You never heard about an IP-Number? OK, here ten lines about it:
Every computer in the internet (including yours - as long you are
"online" via dial-up") has a number. This number
is today 32 bit long and divided into 4 decimal numbers.
Example: 195.214.82.230
This is the "permanent" IP-Number for my WebServer. It
is there 24 hours/day. 7 days a week (we say: 24/7). I pay for
it. And you can access it all the time.
When you go online with a dial-up, then your
computer is assigned also an IP-number. But this number changes
every time you go online. (Your provider has a pool of IP-Numbers
- and he gives you one randomly). So NOBODY knows where you are,
because your IP-Number is not constant. So your computer is _not_
available 24/7!
If you start MyNews, then it shows you the IP-Number of your own computer. If it is 0.0.0.0 then you are not yet online. If it is "195.214.82.60", then you use one of my dialups :-) (Tell this number to others on Chat :-)
If your MyNews contacts another MyNews (or the root-host during login), then the other side knows your IP-Number! (because every message which goes through the internet contains the sender- and receiver IP-number). So you are "known" then by the other side. (This happens also if you access any webpage in the world with your browser!) And the root-servers will share their "knowledge" with all other MyNews-participients.
The trick for the MyNews-Network is this "Logon" -
this sharing of "dynamic" (changing) IP-addresses.
Whenever you go online and "LogIn" (or contact another
server), then your Server-Name (from the registration) is
connected to your actual IP-address. So you can be found and
identified - and contacted.
Your IP-Address is NOT anonymous!
It is possible to find you by this IP-Adress. because it belongs
to your provider. And your provider has logfiles about you, the
time you logged in/out and the IP-address you've got. So you can
be identified! MyNews offers a certain level of privacy. It does
NOT protect you against legal prosecution!
This was _very_ technical - and if you did not understand it
then it does not matter :-)
Now more interesting stuff:
One of the purposes for using MyNews is to get a better
Usenet. So the question "what newsgroups are there" is
evident! The answer is simple: All the groups you
like. :-)
When you decide to "subscribe" to a Usenet-Newsgroup,
then it is available in the MyNews-network. (And you should
announce this in a mynews-annouce-newsgroup). But if you dont
download messages from your provider, and offer them to others,
then this group will be _empty_. Nobody will fill it for you! Now
you need other friends who want the same group. They download
messages, you download and you exchange.... This begins to make
sense when two-ten "friends" share a group. There are
always some "addicts" to a newsgroup. And those who
post directly to a newsgroup do it GREAT with MyNews: They post
to their own MyNews-server. Their server posts the message to his
provider. But it is _already_ in the MyNews-network! 100%
and complete. No loss! So try to convince the regulars (or the
reposters) to use the MyNews-AutoPoster. Their posts are always
100% available in MyNews.
Those who want to support and promote a special newsgroup can
create a permanent MyNews-server - or be online nearly all the
time. (Perhaps the responsible moderator or FAQ-holder). Then the
Usenet-newsgroup is permanently available. For the moderator the
job is _very_ easy. He already posts ALL the messages. So he IS
the primary 100% source for a newsgroup :-)
There are already a bunch of Usenet-newsgroups permanently
available. The groups _I_ read :-) (or where I am the
moderator). More groups will be added later - or by others. First
all the moderated newsgroups of the Usenet will be available (by
me).
A 'side-effect' of MyNews is that we cannot just subscribe to Usenet-newsgroup. We can create our OWN newsgroups. Some MyNews-newsgroups already exist for startup. Especially for announcements and private fun. More about the "rules" for the creation later. MyNews-Newsgroups begin with the name: "mynews.*" Some groups might be moderated. (This might become necessary - as the experience shows with the Usenet). Because the MyNews-newsgroups are not connected to the Usenet they will be free of spam (in the first time).
Private newsgroups begin with the keyword: "private.<yourname>.*" You can create your own private groups whenever you want. Share them with your friends. This is your personal "living room". There you make your very own rules. You are the OWNER of such a group.
The principle is, that the messages are exchanged between MyNews-Servers, which are online (and logged in). So if you are the only one online, then you cannot exchange messages. There must be always TWO servers online at the same time to exchange messages. When the next one comes up, then one can go. The more servers are online, the faster the messages will be distributed.
Some groups are so small, that it never happens that two servers are online at the same time. Then any root-server must be subscribed to the group and keep all the messages (for free, a commercial admin, or a pay-site: you can "purchase a newsgroup then" :-). I'm sure that a lot of groups will have some addicts who stay online all the time (perhaps not as a root-server, but as a normal, dynamic MyNews-Server).
Perhaps some users create a community and make a fixed schedule when they go 'online'. This can also be done by a private dialup-network based on phone lines :-)
How long will a message stay available in the MyNews-network?
The answer is simple: Until everybody decided to delete (or
expire) it. The true addicts will purchase some GigaBytes (or
TeraBytes in 2005) of Harddisk space - and offer the messages
forever. This will _strongly_ reduce the amount of necessary
reposts. The newbies will be able to download from the existing
storage. (Reduction of reposts seems to be important for the
Usenet to survive!)
It might become necessary to develop a
"seperation"-index for old messages. A newsgroup with
150.789 messages is hard to download :-)
MyNews does actually now support posting text-messages to the Usenet. And there is an AutoPoster which allows to post binaries. So now you can post to a Usenet-newsgroup on the MyNews-net. The messages will be distributed in the MyNews-network, and appear in the "normal" Usenet - because your own MyNews posts them to your Usenet provider.
In the previous text I stated that you "download a
newsgroup" from your provider or the MyNews-network. This
would be downloading everything. Of course you
can set some "limits". Amount of headers, size of
messages, amount of messages, list of "good authors",
killfiles, ........ MyNews offers a huge variety of
"selecting what to get".
The most important selection is - and stays - the manual
selection. That is why MyNews offers "basic"
news-reader functionality. You configure MyNews to download
everything (all messages), nothing (just the headers) or
"something" (discussed later).
If you download "everything", then you will want to
delete some messages. MyNews allows you to delete whatever you
want. This is YOUR server.
If you download "nothing", then you can view the list
of headers (by newsgroup) and select what to download manually.
Messages will be not delivered to your news-reader (or your wife
:-) until you've decided to download it.
If you download "something", then you can delete the
"mistakes", change the download-conditions and mark
messages for manual download.
Unfortunately your News-Reader does NOT offer functions for this
job. So you will need the "built in" tiny news-reader.
At least for the header-survey. But you configure your
news-reader now to download everything - because you've selected
already with MyNews.
MyNews does not support canceling articles. It will be possible to "recommend" and/or "rate" messages, soon. Perhaps canceling message will be implemented soon. But then in a way that the message is just moved to a "canceled"-folder - or marked as "canceled". Automatic removal of messages on your server without your interventions seems to be inacceptable (for me).
You can read moderated newsgroups. But MyNews does not support forwarding to moderated newsgroups, actually (This is done by Email). However proper approval is necessary for distribution of messages in the MyNews-network. So you cannot post to moderated newsgroups! Just the AutoPoster allows posting to the moderated newsgroups of the Usenet/MyNews-network, because it posts to your providers server - or special Usenet-Servers. If you configure MyNews to post all messages upstream to your provider, then his server will do the necessary forwarding.
Control-Messages and a lot of other stuff is not supported in MyNews. The MyNews-Server is not designed for "minimum" or "remote" administration. If you want a new group, then you add it manually. There _is_ a control-message to remove a servers license (in case of abuse of the system)!
If you have no news-server actually, then the MyNews-Network will offer you what it has. Whether you've got a message from your provider or another MyNews is not important. But you should be so polite to let your MyNews run and active while you are really online. Just downloading and then immediately "going offline" is not too nice. However if you are downloading for a long time, then others will download from you also a long time - so fairness is maintained.
MyNews contains (in the full version) a scheduler and startup with special jobs. This allows to perform all necessary jobs automatically. AutoDial, AutoLogin, AutoDownload, AutoPost,.... a lot of things are possible. This is mainly important for the root-servers, power-users and news-admins. They can do MUCH MORE with MyNews. But this is far beyond the scope if this step (and will cost a few bugs).
In the next step (4) we will try if you can access other MyNews-Servers. You will read something about "Ping", "Tracert", "Netstat", "Telnet" and WinIpCfg". (You will become a kind of netadmin :-) Independent if you use MyNews or not: You will learn something.
You can skip Step-4 - but you should keep it in mind in case you have trouble with MyNews.
Step-5 will be the download and installation - and perhaps registration.
Juergen, <InfStar>
All rights reserved. Document contains mistakes in spelling,
grammar and terms.