Agent - New Newsreader Info and Liberal Upgrade Policy....
 

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:12:28 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 20:44:21 -0400, HarryKrause
wrote:



Looks like it handles multiple news servers, but only one email account.
Not good enough.

Multiple email accounts and personalities are on the roadmap, but
aren't implemented as of yet. Frankly, I don't know when Agent will
catch up to The Bat!, Eudora, or Pegasus... so I don't use it for
email anyway.

The greatest thing I have found with the new Agent is that I can
choose separate servers for a single group... such as rec.boats. IOW,
I have my separate pick and priority of which server(s) to use for
header retrieval, message retrieval, and posting. If you care to run a
third party filter, as I have done (until the last 2-3 weeks for
testing purposes), you can retrieve headers through the filter, but
retrieve messages from a larger constellation of servers.

Again, I think Agent is tops for text based USENET, but if you are
into binaries or want more that very basic email, IMHO, you will be
best served by more than one program....

Seeing how's you like to experiment with this stuff, you might want to
look into Xnews. You can customize it to your hearts content.

I know a lot of nerds and geeks who use it.

By the way, I updated to 3.0 and so far, I'm impressed with what
they've done, although I don't like the folders feature at this point.
Every single newsgroup I've visited in the past two years is there and
you just can't delete them all - you have to do it one at a time.

That's not a good feature when you are talking about 30 newsgroups.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:57:28 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:12:28 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 20:44:21 -0400, HarryKrause
wrote:



Looks like it handles multiple news servers, but only one email account.
Not good enough.

Multiple email accounts and personalities are on the roadmap, but
aren't implemented as of yet. Frankly, I don't know when Agent will
catch up to The Bat!, Eudora, or Pegasus... so I don't use it for
email anyway.

The greatest thing I have found with the new Agent is that I can
choose separate servers for a single group... such as rec.boats. IOW,
I have my separate pick and priority of which server(s) to use for
header retrieval, message retrieval, and posting. If you care to run a
third party filter, as I have done (until the last 2-3 weeks for
testing purposes), you can retrieve headers through the filter, but
retrieve messages from a larger constellation of servers.

Again, I think Agent is tops for text based USENET, but if you are
into binaries or want more that very basic email, IMHO, you will be
best served by more than one program....

Seeing how's you like to experiment with this stuff, you might want to
look into Xnews. You can customize it to your hearts content.

I know a lot of nerds and geeks who use it.

By the way, I updated to 3.0 and so far, I'm impressed with what
they've done, although I don't like the folders feature at this point.
Every single newsgroup I've visited in the past two years is there and
you just can't delete them all - you have to do it one at a time.

That's not a good feature when you are talking about 30 newsgroups.

Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:35:12 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:

Gene Kearns wrote:
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:57:28 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

Seeing how's you like to experiment with this stuff, you might want to
look into Xnews. You can customize it to your hearts content.


I have tried Xnews and found it to be incredibly slow, but a pretty
decent program otherwise.

By the way, I updated to 3.0 and so far, I'm impressed with what
they've done, although I don't like the folders feature at this point.
Every single newsgroup I've visited in the past two years is there and
you just can't delete them all - you have to do it one at a time.


You should be able to go to the "All Folders" desk, select whatever
you want to delete, right click, and choose delete folder....

You won't be able to delete "system folders," but everything else is
fair game.




Gene, I still cannot figure out the attaction you fans have for Agent. I
understand it can be customized, but so can other programs, and the fact
that it STILL can handle only one email account means it never is going
to see wide acceptance.

Harry, perhaps he uses Agent as a newsreader, and another program for multiple
email accounts (MS Outlook, for example). Agent is a great newsreader. Outlook
does just fine as an email program.

Agent is already widely accepted.

If you don't like it, don't use it.

Gene, thanks for the info.

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:34:58 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:02:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

That is supposed to be undertaken next. Forte is dead slow in writing
code, but their product is pretty bug free when released. Also, they
don't go digging in your pocked for extra money when they release most
updates.

Trust me, they've take a LOT of heat over this email
servers/personas/filtering issue.

Gene, have you started using 3.0? I'm still on 1.91/32...

Haven't had any problems with it, and I'm wondering if I'd gain a lot going to
3.0.

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:47:34 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:34:58 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:02:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

That is supposed to be undertaken next. Forte is dead slow in writing
code, but their product is pretty bug free when released. Also, they
don't go digging in your pocked for extra money when they release most
updates.

Trust me, they've take a LOT of heat over this email
servers/personas/filtering issue.

Gene, have you started using 3.0? I'm still on 1.91/32...

Haven't had any problems with it, and I'm wondering if I'd gain a lot going to
3.0.

For my money (the $20 it took to upgrade) it's sort of kinda worth
it.

Based solely on one day's worth of use, I've noticed the following.

Binary retrieval is much quicker. Login is a tad slower. Multiple
newservers are now working and seem to work well. Multiple email
accounts are still not part of Agent - don't know if that's important
to you or not.

The interface has completely changed and once you get used to it, is
more efficient.

Other than that, I haven't played with it enough to decide which was
better.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:23:18 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:47:34 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:34:58 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:02:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

That is supposed to be undertaken next. Forte is dead slow in writing
code, but their product is pretty bug free when released. Also, they
don't go digging in your pocked for extra money when they release most
updates.

Trust me, they've take a LOT of heat over this email
servers/personas/filtering issue.

Gene, have you started using 3.0? I'm still on 1.91/32...

Haven't had any problems with it, and I'm wondering if I'd gain a lot going to
3.0.

For my money (the $20 it took to upgrade) it's sort of kinda worth
it.

Based solely on one day's worth of use, I've noticed the following.

Binary retrieval is much quicker. Login is a tad slower. Multiple
newservers are now working and seem to work well. Multiple email
accounts are still not part of Agent - don't know if that's important
to you or not.

The interface has completely changed and once you get used to it, is
more efficient.

Other than that, I haven't played with it enough to decide which was
better.

Thanks, Tom.

When you loaded the new version, did you have to delete the old? I'm wondering
if it's possible to have both versions, just in case I don't like the new one
all that much.

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:58:06 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:23:18 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:47:34 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:34:58 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:02:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

That is supposed to be undertaken next. Forte is dead slow in writing
code, but their product is pretty bug free when released. Also, they
don't go digging in your pocked for extra money when they release most
updates.

Trust me, they've take a LOT of heat over this email
servers/personas/filtering issue.

Gene, have you started using 3.0? I'm still on 1.91/32...

Haven't had any problems with it, and I'm wondering if I'd gain a lot going to
3.0.

For my money (the $20 it took to upgrade) it's sort of kinda worth
it.

Based solely on one day's worth of use, I've noticed the following.

Binary retrieval is much quicker. Login is a tad slower. Multiple
newservers are now working and seem to work well. Multiple email
accounts are still not part of Agent - don't know if that's important
to you or not.

The interface has completely changed and once you get used to it, is
more efficient.

Other than that, I haven't played with it enough to decide which was
better.

Thanks, Tom.

When you loaded the new version, did you have to delete the old? I'm wondering
if it's possible to have both versions, just in case I don't like the new one
all that much.

There is a trick to do that, it's not hard, but as long as I had paid
for it, I figured it didn't really matter. The new Agent is not
backward compatible.

Now, one thing I forgot. Every newsgroup you have visited at one time
or another will show up in the sampled newsgroups and all folders
folder.

So...well, let's just leave it at that. :)

Seriously, it's a good upgrade and they've done some work with this.
It still won't do multiple email accounts though and that's a PIA.

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 18:36:22 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:58:06 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:23:18 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:47:34 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:34:58 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:02:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Oh, and they still haven't added multiple email servers which was
supposed to be accomplished in 2.0 but never was.

That is supposed to be undertaken next. Forte is dead slow in writing
code, but their product is pretty bug free when released. Also, they
don't go digging in your pocked for extra money when they release most
updates.

Trust me, they've take a LOT of heat over this email
servers/personas/filtering issue.

Gene, have you started using 3.0? I'm still on 1.91/32...

Haven't had any problems with it, and I'm wondering if I'd gain a lot going to
3.0.

For my money (the $20 it took to upgrade) it's sort of kinda worth
it.

Based solely on one day's worth of use, I've noticed the following.

Binary retrieval is much quicker. Login is a tad slower. Multiple
newservers are now working and seem to work well. Multiple email
accounts are still not part of Agent - don't know if that's important
to you or not.

The interface has completely changed and once you get used to it, is
more efficient.

Other than that, I haven't played with it enough to decide which was
better.

Thanks, Tom.

When you loaded the new version, did you have to delete the old? I'm wondering
if it's possible to have both versions, just in case I don't like the new one
all that much.

There is a trick to do that, it's not hard, but as long as I had paid
for it, I figured it didn't really matter. The new Agent is not
backward compatible.

Now, one thing I forgot. Every newsgroup you have visited at one time
or another will show up in the sampled newsgroups and all folders
folder.

So...well, let's just leave it at that. :)

Seriously, it's a good upgrade and they've done some work with this.
It still won't do multiple email accounts though and that's a PIA.

Really! Well, suppose one didn't want other potential users to notice that one
had frequented a porno group like 'rec.boats'. Could one not delete the group
name from the sampled newsgroups and all folders folder?

Thanks again for the feedback.

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:42:10 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:


I'm putting together a new desktop system over the next week or so. I
decided I needed
a real server, so I'm going to clean up my current desktop machine,
reformat the hard drives to zero them out, and - hold your hat - I hope to
install Red Hat Linux or something similar. It should be interesting,
because I know very little about Linux.

Red Hat is one of the more commercial distributions. That isn't a bad
thing, but there are many other distributions that may more closely fit
your needs. Check some of them out at:

http://distrowatch.com/

I've been using Linux for close to ten years now, and I've never looked
back. When forced to use Windows, I break out in hives. ;-)
Distributions can be a quite personal decision, but I have found Debian to
be about perfect for my needs. Apt is the easiest way to keep a OS
current, bar none.

http://www.debian.org/distrib/

If you need any help/advice, drop me a line. If I don't have the answer,
I should be able to find it. Be careful, Harry, your Windows days may be
numbered.

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:14:25 -0400, thunder
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:42:10 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:


I'm putting together a new desktop system over the next week or so. I
decided I needed
a real server, so I'm going to clean up my current desktop machine,
reformat the hard drives to zero them out, and - hold your hat - I hope to
install Red Hat Linux or something similar. It should be interesting,
because I know very little about Linux.

Red Hat is one of the more commercial distributions. That isn't a bad
thing, but there are many other distributions that may more closely fit
your needs. Check some of them out at:

http://distrowatch.com/

I've been using Linux for close to ten years now, and I've never looked
back. When forced to use Windows, I break out in hives. ;-)
Distributions can be a quite personal decision, but I have found Debian to
be about perfect for my needs. Apt is the easiest way to keep a OS
current, bar none.

http://www.debian.org/distrib/

If you need any help/advice, drop me a line. If I don't have the answer,
I should be able to find it. Be careful, Harry, your Windows days may be
numbered.

I tried Linux for a while and I liked it, but it quickly became a
chore to keep up with all the open source improvements - there doesn't
seem to be a central authority to say what is an improvement or
coder's wet dream.

I know with Thunderbird, which for my money is the best email program
going, getting something changed is like pulling teeth. I'm not much
for being a do-it-yourself software type having burned out on coding
and such back in the quantum theory days. :)

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:25:32 -0400, HarryKrause
wrote:

I've saved your post so I can reread it once I know what it means. Right
now, I'm reading Linux for Dummies. That would be me.

I don't know about your personal coding skills, but in my experience,
the Linux experience is very similar to the early DOS days only there
is a more extensive set of commands.

Personally, if you are wanting to experiment, put it on a separate
machine and learn it first before deploying it - that seems to be the
way a of of successful Linux deployments for personal computers seems
to go.

If you are doing this to be away from MS, think it through first. With
Linux you are on your own.

As always, do what you will - just some advice.

Later,

Tom

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:25:32 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:


Red Hat is one of the more commercial distributions. That isn't a bad
thing, but there are many other distributions that may more closely fit
your needs. Check some of them out at:

http://distrowatch.com/

I've been using Linux for close to ten years now, and I've never looked
back. When forced to use Windows, I break out in hives. ;-)
Distributions can be a quite personal decision, but I have found Debian
to be about perfect for my needs. Apt is the easiest way to keep a OS
current, bar none.

http://www.debian.org/distrib/

If you need any help/advice, drop me a line. If I don't have the
answer, I should be able to find it. Be careful, Harry, your Windows
days may be numbered.


I've saved your post so I can reread it once I know what it means. Right
now, I'm reading Linux for Dummies. That would be me.

OK, I'll translate as best I can. Something you don't need to know right
now, "Linux" technically is just the kernel, the software core, if you
will. Something you do need to know right now, distributions are the
entire operating system. There are similarities and differences amongst
the distributions.

Red Hat, I believe, is now primarily for business applications, with a
subscription fee. Fedora is Red Hat for the masses (free). I would
suggest going with Fedora, Suse, or Debian. They are all full blown
Linuxes, with easy installs.

Apt is a Debian, and other distribution, program to install additional
programs and to keep your distribution current with bug fixes and security
updates.

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:39:22 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

The is a very liberal
upgrade policy

Well, I've been using Agent for many years, and have been very happy
with it, but I'll be darned if I'm going to support some gosh darned
liberal software company. Damnit, anybody got a suggestion for a good
old fashioned flag waving, god fearing, family oriented news reader?

Rot In Hell Forte!!!!


bb

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:51:11 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


I don't know about your personal coding skills, but in my experience, the
Linux experience is very similar to the early DOS days only there is a
more extensive set of commands.

These days it can be, but it doesn't need to be. Most mainline
distributions can have you up and running as easy or easier than a Windows
install. You can use Linux fully GUI, but you have the option to use the
command line.

Personally, if you are wanting to experiment, put it on a separate machine
and learn it first before deploying it - that seems to be the way a of of
successful Linux deployments for personal computers seems to go.

The easiest way these days, is a Live CD. You can run Linux of the CD,
without ever having to install onto your hard drive. No muss, no fuss,
albeit slower due to having to decompress.

If you are doing this to be away from MS, think it through first. With
Linux you are on your own.

Not really, there is a tremendous amount of support out there. With
Linux, you may not have a support desk to call, but you do have quite a
few newsgroups. I have found Linux to be quite well documented online. I
have never run into a problem that couldn't be solved with a little onlne
reading.

Linux really had come a long way. If you liked it then, you might want to
give it another try. A couple of live CDs:

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/pclos/

http://www.novell.com/products/linux...nux/index.html


As always, do what you will - just some advice.

Later,

Tom

Im using outlook express, works great for me has filters so you can filter
out some of the junk posts.

Ed
"bb" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:39:22 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

The is a very liberal
upgrade policy

Well, I've been using Agent for many years, and have been very happy
with it, but I'll be darned if I'm going to support some gosh darned
liberal software company. Damnit, anybody got a suggestion for a good
old fashioned flag waving, god fearing, family oriented news reader?

Rot In Hell Forte!!!!


bb

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:25:27 -0400, thunder
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 11:51:11 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


I don't know about your personal coding skills, but in my experience, the
Linux experience is very similar to the early DOS days only there is a
more extensive set of commands.

These days it can be, but it doesn't need to be. Most mainline
distributions can have you up and running as easy or easier than a Windows
install. You can use Linux fully GUI, but you have the option to use the
command line.

I'll tell you the honest truth. I burned out writing long algorithms,
proofing same, diagnosing same plus my regular job back in the
original days when I was involved in some rather heavy theoretical
physics and mathematics. I worked closely with some hyper-brainacs
from high power physics labs around the world and frankly, I'm not
interested in rewriting an operating system to suit me which is what
would happen if I got a hold of open source software. :)

Personally, if you are wanting to experiment, put it on a separate machine
and learn it first before deploying it - that seems to be the way a of of
successful Linux deployments for personal computers seems to go.

The easiest way these days, is a Live CD. You can run Linux of the CD,
without ever having to install onto your hard drive. No muss, no fuss,
albeit slower due to having to decompress.

I know - believe me, I've looked at it more than once. The problem is
that I'm obsessive about these things (which can be a positive trait
in the scientific world), but it's taken me 10 years to decompress
from that environment and just enjoy my computational machinery.

If you are doing this to be away from MS, think it through first. With
Linux you are on your own.

Not really, there is a tremendous amount of support out there. With
Linux, you may not have a support desk to call, but you do have quite a
few newsgroups. I have found Linux to be quite well documented online. I
have never run into a problem that couldn't be solved with a little onlne
reading.

Linux really had come a long way. If you liked it then, you might want to
give it another try. A couple of live CDs:

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/pclos/

http://www.novell.com/products/linux...nux/index.html

~~ gets out a crucifix and waves it at the monitor ~~

BACK - BACK SPAWN OF THE DEVIL - BACK I SAY!!!! :)

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 14:09:23 GMT, bb wrote:

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:39:22 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

The is a very liberal upgrade policy

Well, I've been using Agent for many years, and have been very happy
with it, but I'll be darned if I'm going to support some gosh darned
liberal software company. Damnit, anybody got a suggestion for a good
old fashioned flag waving, god fearing, family oriented news reader?

Rot In Hell Forte!!!!

Wha?

Oh, wait - I get it - I get jokes.