CNS: Un*x guide for off-campus usenet access

The information provided on this page is only a guide; it is not a complete support reference. CNS does not have the resources to provide support for configuration and use of client software.

The Un*x following clients are known to work with AUS. If the client you wish to use is not listed below, please see General tips on connecting to AUS for pointers on getting your software to work. After you have completed the instructions below, your client will be ready to connect to the AUS. Information on the use of your client is outside the scope of this document. Please consult your software's manual and/or online help system for further documentation.

Index

Netscape Communicator 4

• If you have not already launched the Netscape Communicator application, launch it.
• Under the Edit menu, select preferences
• Click on the arrow to the left of Mail & Newsgroups so that the sub-categories (which are indented to the right) appear.
• Click on the item Newsgroups Servers
• Click the Add button
• In the dialogue box that will appear, type in the address: authnews.berkeley.edu
• Check the box labeled Support encrypted connections
• Click OK
• Click OK

slrn

• Your version of slrn must be compiled with SSL support. To determine if your version has ssl support, type slrn --version at your shell and examine the output for the item +ssl in the category External programs / libs
• If you want your default news server to be authnews.berkeley.edu, add a line to your shell's configuration file setting the environment variable NNTPSERVER to snews://authnews.berkeley.edu. For csh and friends the line

    setenv NNTPSERVER 'snews://authnews.berkeley.edu'
  

  would be added to your .cshrc file. Otherwise, you'll have to tell slrn when you want to use authnews using the -h command line option.
• Add the following line to your .slrnrc file:

  server "snews://authnews.berkeley.edu" ".newsrc-authnews"
  

• Run slrn with the following options to create the .newsrc-authnews file:

  slrn -h snews://authnews.berkeley.edu --create
  

• slrn should ask you for your Username and Password; use your CalNet ID and passphrase.
• Once slrn has created the .newsrc-authnews file, you may subscribed to groups and read news.

Send comments to usenet@agate.berkeley.edu.