I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
or abandonware?

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
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[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> spake the secret code
<20230406105837.41f8d9fe@wibble.sysadmininc.com> thusly:

>I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
>or abandonware?

trn had MSDOS support, but I'm not aware of any built clients laying
around; you'd probably have to build it from source. I'm in the
process of modernizing it but only plan to support Windows, not DOS.
<https://github.com/LegalizeAdulthood/trn>
--
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The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals-wiki.org>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

fRichard <legalize+jeeves@mail.xmission.com> wrote:

> [Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]
>
> Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> spake the secret code
> <20230406105837.41f8d9fe@wibble.sysadmininc.com> thusly:
>
> >I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
> >or abandonware?
>
> trn had MSDOS support, but I'm not aware of any built clients laying
> around; you'd probably have to build it from source. I'm in the
> process of modernizing it but only plan to support Windows, not DOS.
> <https://github.com/LegalizeAdulthood/trn>
>

I used KA9Q NOS back in the DOS days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KA9Q>

--
^Ï^. – Sn!pe – My pet rock Gordon just is.

<https://youtu.be/_kqytf31a8E>

On Thu, 6 Apr 2023 10:58:37 -0500,
Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that
> is free or abandonware?

Back in the day I used PNR (palmtop news reader) on my HP200LX for
reading (and posting?) news. It ran under the 200LX System
Manager, so I'm not sure it would run in pure DOS--but perhaps it
could be helpful. Some info is here...

http://panix.com/~theise/LXTCP.TXT

As I recall, it was developed by Rod Whitby, a right good guy.
I've fallen out of touch with him over the years, but could try to
make contact of you have an interest.

--
Ted Heise <theise@panix.com> West Lafayette, IN, USA

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
> or abandonware?

www.newsreaders.com used to be a good site for questions like this,
but it seems to be dead now.

In the old days, I used YARN (Yet Another Read News), which runs on
DOS, is an off-line news/mail client and uses SOUP (Simple Offline
Usenet Packet) packets.

I used the uqwk program on UNIX to get the SOUP packets to and from
YARN. I don't know if there are similar SOUPer programs for DOS.

I checked my notes, URL lists and (News) 'posted' file, but all URLs
are either dead or point to decades-old pages which probably also
contain dead links.

BTW, if you want to pursue this, you probably should (cross-)post to
news.software.readers or/and alt.usenet.offline-reader (if that latter
group is still alive). Users mostly hang out in news.software.readers,
not in this group (news.software.nntp).

Good luck.

On 6 Apr 2023 19:36:22 GMT
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

> Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> > I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is
> > free or abandonware?
>
> www.newsreaders.com used to be a good site for questions like this,
> but it seems to be dead now.
>
> In the old days, I used YARN (Yet Another Read News), which runs on
> DOS, is an off-line news/mail client and uses SOUP (Simple Offline
> Usenet Packet) packets.
>
> I used the uqwk program on UNIX to get the SOUP packets to and from
> YARN. I don't know if there are similar SOUPer programs for DOS.
>
> I checked my notes, URL lists and (News) 'posted' file, but all URLs
> are either dead or point to decades-old pages which probably also
> contain dead links.
>
> BTW, if you want to pursue this, you probably should (cross-)post to
> news.software.readers or/and alt.usenet.offline-reader (if that latter
> group is still alive). Users mostly hang out in news.software.readers,
> not in this group (news.software.nntp).

Thanks to you and the others for suggestions. I was really looking for
a whole package not really something that picks packets up from
something else. I've found a number of those. I'll try the
news.software.readers group you mentioned.

Thanks,

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
> or abandonware?

Lynx has some bare-bones newsreader functionality and there are
builds of it for DOS linked at the bottom of this page:
http://lynx.invisible-island.net/release/

The links are dead, but the wayback machine saves the day:
http://web.archive.org/web/20151231074959/http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm

Better options probably do exist though.

Tin supported DOS at some point:
"with tin 1.2, there are additional makefiles for Amiga, Borland C
(MS-DOS) and IBM Workframe/2 (OS/2)." ...
https://invisible-island.net/tin/tin.html

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
[...]

> Thanks to you and the others for suggestions. I was really looking for
> a whole package not really something that picks packets up from
> something else. I've found a number of those. I'll try the
> news.software.readers group you mentioned.
>
> Thanks,

BTW, you are really looking for a *DOS* (i.e. MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR DOS,
etc., etc.) client, aren't you? Not some CUI (Character/Console UI)
client which can run in a 'DOS-like' Command Prompt window under
(MS-)Windows?

If you *are* looking for the latter, then 'tin' (guess what I'm using
and on which OS? :-)), slrn, trn, etc. are possible candidates.

On 7 Apr 2023 17:41:59 GMT
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

> Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> [...]
>
> > Thanks to you and the others for suggestions. I was really looking
> > for a whole package not really something that picks packets up from
> > something else. I've found a number of those. I'll try the
> > news.software.readers group you mentioned.
> >
> > Thanks,
>
> BTW, you are really looking for a *DOS* (i.e. MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR
> DOS, etc., etc.) client, aren't you? Not some CUI (Character/Console
> UI) client which can run in a 'DOS-like' Command Prompt window under
> (MS-)Windows?

Yes, if you want to be pedantic about it, I'm looking for a *DOS*
client, not something that'll run on Windows.
> If you *are* looking for the latter, then 'tin' (guess what I'm
> using and on which OS? :-)), slrn, trn, etc. are possible candidates.
tin is a possibility. Thank you.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> On 7 Apr 2023 17:41:59 GMT
> Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
>
> > Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> > [...]
> >
> > > Thanks to you and the others for suggestions. I was really looking
> > > for a whole package not really something that picks packets up from
> > > something else. I've found a number of those. I'll try the
> > > news.software.readers group you mentioned.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> >
> > BTW, you are really looking for a *DOS* (i.e. MS-DOS, PC DOS, DR
> > DOS, etc., etc.) client, aren't you? Not some CUI (Character/Console
> > UI) client which can run in a 'DOS-like' Command Prompt window under
> > (MS-)Windows?
>
> Yes, if you want to be pedantic about it, I'm looking for a *DOS*
> client, not something that'll run on Windows.

Huh? There's nothing pedantic about it!

There's a *big* difference between a program running under DOS and a
program running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window under MS-Windows.

Note the "running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window" qualifier. For
example my tin copy runs in a Command Prompt window under MS-Windows,
but as it relies on DLLs, there's no way it would run on DOS.

> > If you *are* looking for the latter, then 'tin' (guess what I'm
> > using and on which OS? :-)), slrn, trn, etc. are possible candidates.
>
> tin is a possibility. Thank you.

Yes, I saw Kev's response. In a previous life I looked at the make
file for the DOS version. The difficulty probably lies in the NNTP
(versus local spool) part, so you'll need some (TCP/IP) network stack on
DOS.

Anyway, good luck. Should be an interesting exercise.

On 7 Apr 2023 20:18:01 GMT
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

> There's a *big* difference between a program running under DOS and a
> program running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window under MS-Windows.
>
> Note the "running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window" qualifier.
> For example my tin copy runs in a Command Prompt window under
> MS-Windows, but as it relies on DLLs, there's no way it would run on
> DOS.

I didn't ask for something that runs on Windows via the cmd prompt. I
asked for something that runs on DOS, otherwise I'd have asked for a
program than runs from the command prompt, which is totally different.

*smh*

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
> On 7 Apr 2023 20:18:01 GMT
> Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
>
> > There's a *big* difference between a program running under DOS and a
> > program running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window under MS-Windows.
> >
> > Note the "running in a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window" qualifier.
> > For example my tin copy runs in a Command Prompt window under
> > MS-Windows, but as it relies on DLLs, there's no way it would run on
> > DOS.
>
> I didn't ask for something that runs on Windows via the cmd prompt. I
> asked for something that runs on DOS

Sigh! No, you didn't ("ask something that runs on DOS"). You wrote:

<quote>
I don't suppose anyone has come across a DOS usenet client that is free
or abandonware?
</quote>

If you don't want people to ask questions, then don't be ambiguous.

And when people ask questions about your ambiguity, then be civil
about it.

> otherwise I'd have asked for a
> program than runs from the command prompt, which is totally different.

Well - to be pedantic :-( -, it can be different, but is not always
different.

But yes, as I wrote, "There's a *big* difference ...", that's why I
asked.

> *smh*

Perhaps less shaking and more paying attention to what you write?