Usenet on a Mac- please help?

[grimwood.rob]

Hi there,

I'm a Mac user and i wanna start using Usenet. I've already signed up with www.newshosting.com (on the Unlimited plan) and i'd just like to know what else i've gotta do to get everything started.

A little help please?
Rob

[geen]

uhh, why dont you help yourself by reading some guides or using google.

Found some things:

A free Mac Usenet Client: http://igrabnews.free.fr/Welcome%20to%20iGrabNews%20homepage.html
A free mac Par2/Par Client with RAR unpack capability: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/MacPAR_deLuxe/ (http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Egp/MacPAR_deLuxe/)
(alternatives: Split and Concat (http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Eloekjehe/Split&Concat/) and Machacha (http://homepage.mac.com/julifos/soft/machacha))

Guide: http://www.mrbass.org/newsgroups/

[grimwood.rob]

In that case could you, or anyone, give me the name of a decent client?

[geen]

In that case could you, or anyone, give me the name of a decent client?

edit ! :)

[grimwood.rob]

Sorry? Are you trying to tell me there's a client called 'edit'? Please bear in mind that the client has to be Mac-compatible (i'm usually in a fair minority with the wehole Apple thing).

[grimwood.rob]

Scrap that, it's late here and i just saw the other part of your post. Thanks a bundle.

[geen]

haha, hope you can figure it out now.

Found even more clients:
(havent verified the links)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=139)Hogwasher (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=139)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png iGrabNews (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=141)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png MacSoup (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=152)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png MT-NewsWatcher (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=255)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png Newshunter3 (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=368)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png Newslite (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=369)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png NewsWatcher-X (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=476)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png NewzHog (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=639)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png OSXnews (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=641)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png The unPoster (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=656)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png Unison (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=730)
http://www.goedbegin.com/pics/linkafbeeldingen/goedbegin/56.png Halime (http://usenet.goedbegin.com/clicklink.php?linkid=896)

[grimwood.rob]

Confused again. I've downloaded iGrab and MacPARdeluxe and as i've said i've got newshosting. How do i now get it all working together? iGrab's asking for a server address and port and i've got no idea what the hell it means. Also, each 'help' website seems to be program specific and none of them are really helping at all.

[MultiForce]

Confused again. I've downloaded iGrab and MacPARdeluxe and as i've said i've got newshosting. How do i now get it all working together? iGrab's asking for a server address and port and i've got no idea what the hell it means. Also, each 'help' website seems to be program specific and none of them are really helping at all.

I haven't used newshosting myself but the server addresses are here:
http://newshosting.com/index.php?PageName=serverinformation.php

I'm sure you have the user name and password yourself.

[geen]

Ill try to translate: http://www.binaries4all.nl/igrabnews/configuratie.php for ya.

Done! took me 2 hours but here it is:

ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE BINARIES4ALL TEAM, THIS IS JUST A (POOR) TRANSLATION. ORIGINAL PAGE: http://www.binaries4all.nl/igrabnews/configuratie.php
* See last page for links
Installation
You can install iGrabNews just like any other Mac application, just open the .dmg file* you downloaded from the iGrabNews website* and drag it to your aplications folder.
Configuration
Layout
When you start iGrabNews for the first time you will see this screen:
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/146/29748466rl8.jpg
A short introduction to what you are seeing.
On the left side of the screen are 2 areas, 'Servers & Subscribed Groups' and 'Activity and Stats'. 'Servers & Subscribed Groups' is where your Server and Newsgroups will be, you can check your download speed, ETA etc in Activity and Stats'. On the right side of the screen you’ll notice 3 tabs. Groups will show your available Newsgroups, 'Articles/Files' shows the available files in a Newsgroup and 'Download Queue' show the files in your current download queue


Adding a Newsserver
To add a server you need to CRTL-CLICK on the the field 'Servers & Subscribed Groups'. A new menu will open which allows you to choose 'New NNTP Server'.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2865/76896839xh9.jpg
Other ways of adding a Newsserver are: pressing Command-N or going to the ‘Servers’ menu and choose 'New NNTP Server'.
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/7443/70070299aq8.jpg
After cliking on 'New NNTP Server' a new window will appear. Here, you’ll have to fill in the most essential part of your configuration, the ‘Server Address’.http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9702/17972981ki7.jpg
As you can see there’s a default server allready filled in, just erase it and fill in your own Server address which you can find on your ISP/Usenet Providers website.



For example:
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/8655/untitled5ma9.jpg
The default ‘Server Port’ is commonly used, you don’t have to change it unless your provider insists.
Configuring the ‘Max connections” bar is easy, just slide to the amount of connections you are able to use. (You can check with your ISP/Usenet Provider for the amount of connections you are allowed to use). If you try to use too many connections an error will occur.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3629/untitled6vw1.jpg
If you use a ‘Pay Server’*, you’ll have to fill in the Authent tab too. Just enter your Login and Password information as provided by your Usenet Provider. If you use a free server or your ISP’s you can uncheck the ‘Nntp Server Requires Authentication’ box.






You can now see your Server listed in the “Servers & Subscribed Groups” area. http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4309/untitled7bd2.jpg
To make sure you’ve entered your server information properly you can try to: press the ‘Fetch’ button and select ‘Full group list’. You are now retrieving your servers grouplist.
If everything is ok youll see some Download activity in the 'Activity en Stats' area.
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7550/extreard8.jpg
After a short time the Gouplist will occur.
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1488/untitled8cz5.jpg

If something went wrong, try CTRL-clinking on the Newsserver you just created and choose 'Modify NNTP Server'.
If you want to connect to more then 1 server, just go back to the beginning and follow the steps as you just did.
Miscallaneous settings
iGrabNews has a limited ConfigurationScreen. The only things you can configure here are the download folder and the cache folder. You can open the ConfigurationScreen by pressing Command-, or choosing ‘Prefrences’ in your iGrabNews menu.

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/6910/untitled9le9.jpg
The 'Download Directory' is where all your completed downloads “files” will be stored.
The 'Cache Directory' is used by iGrabNews to store temporary files, these are not important and can be placed anywhere. Just make sure they are somewhere because iGrabNews will give some errors if they cant be found.
You’ve now configured iGrabNews and are ready to start !

Using NZB* files:
The easiest way to open a NZB-file in iGrabNews is to double-click on the NZB-file and and sit back while iGrabNews imports it. An other option is to click the drag the NZB-file to your iGrabNews screen. Or you can choose to press ‘File’ and select ‘Open .nzb file…’.
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/7050/untitled10so6.jpg
In this tutorial ill take the post 'Binaries4all Freeware Collection' for example.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8265/untitled11ru5.jpg
First of all you’ll see the name and location of the NZB file you’ve just imported.
The default download folder is the folder you specified during the configuration part. If you want to choose another direct press: 'Choose Directory'.
Below that you can choose which servers you want to use to download the files.
The 'Pause Par2 files' option gives us the posibility to automaticly Pause PAR2*-files which can be included in the NZB package. This is usefull if you don’t need them and are to lazy to delete them in your queue. Check the ‘Run par2 repair..’ option to automaticly start checking and repairing your files once they are downloaded.
After you’ve finished configuring, press the ‘Go’ button and watch the 'Activity and Stats' area to know what’s happening.
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6785/untitled12qb1.jpg
Dl Speed
Your current download speed.

Active
The ammount of items currently being downloaded.

Errors
The ammount of files which have failed to download.

Size
The total amount which is to be downloaded.
Queued
The amount of files waiting in your queue.

ETA
The Estimated Time of Arrival.


Download Queue
To open the queue, press the 'Download Queue' tab in your main screen. The files you are downloading will show up.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3770/untitled13ma1.jpg

Status
'Active' (Busy downloading).
'Pending' (In queue),
'Error' (An error occured),
'Cancelled' (Cancelled by the user).
Items with a 'Active' of 'Pending' status automatically disappear from the queue.
Progress

The progress of a file. '(Current part/Total amount of parts) percentage of parts done'.
Server
The Server currently in use
Group
The NewsGroup in which the file is found.
Action
Status message.


Once your download is completed youll be able to find your files in the Folder youve selected. If you press CTRL-click on a file in your queue you can perform some actions which are also available trough the download menu.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/219/untitled14dc9.jpg
Using headers
The more traditional way of downloading files from usenet is by using headers.
Suscribing to a group
The first step is adding a Group to your list. You can do this by selecting one in the ‘Groups’ tab or using the filter to find one.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8569/untitled16uq4.jpg
Once youve found the group you can check how many articles it contains and subscribe to it by CTRL-Clicking on a group and selecting ‘Suscribe’. Or you can press Command-U if you prefer that way.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4852/untitled17ib2.jpg

After you’ve suscribed yourself to the group it should be list in the 'Servers & Subscribed Groups' area.
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/9043/untitled18vx3.jpg

Fetching headers from a Newsgroup
To update a group CTRL-Click on it in the ‘Servers & Subscribed Groups’ area and select either ‘Full Article Update’ or ‘Incremental Article Update’. You can also do this by going to the ‘Groups’ menu.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8703/earte2jo0.jpg


Full Article Update
Retrieve all headers from the group
Incremental Article Update
Retrieve only the most recent headers.
Auto Refresh/Get

Automaticly retrieve headers which contain a certan key-word.

You can check the current activity in the ‘Articles/Files’ Tab

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2369/untitled19ge1.jpgjpg
Downloading the files
Once youve finished updating your group you can select a file and with a CTRL-Click you are ablte to grab the selected file(s).
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/5647/untitled20qw4.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5406/untitled21cd9.jpg
You’ll notice the grabbed files are now shown in the ‘Download Queue’

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9171/eretat3dm5.jpg


*Download iGrabNews: http://igrabnews.free.fr/iGrabNews%201.3.1b1.dmg (http://igrabnews.free.fr/iGrabNews%201.3.1b1.dmg)
*The official iGrabnews Website: http://igrabnews.free.fr/Welcome%20to%20iGrabNews%20homepage.html (http://igrabnews.free.fr/Welcome%20to%20iGrabNews%20homepage.html)
*Common used Providers:
Giganews : http://www.giganews.com/?a=fst
UsenetServer: http://www.usenetserver.com?agent=filesharingtalk (http://www.usenetserver.com/?agent=filesharingtalk)
*What are NZB’s ? http://www.techsono.com/faq/nzb.html
*What are PAR files ? http://www.techsono.com/faq/par.html
*You can either make your own NZB’s with a search engine like http://www.newzleech.com/
(or one of these: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/history/topic/111659-1.html) Or find them on a forum like: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/nzbindex.php.

[geen]

A lot of work for (probably) the only mac user here. There might be a lot of bugs/mistakes etc but im not in the mood to fix it right now.

I've uploaded the MSWord Document here: http://rapidshare.com/files/14860849/igrabnewsguide.doc.html

[MultiForce]

A lot of work for (probably) the only mac user here. There might be a lot of bugs/mistakes etc but im not in the mood to fix it right now.

I've uploaded the MSWord Document here: http://rapidshare.com/files/14860849/igrabnewsguide.doc.html

And you are probably the only PC user who would do this for a MAC user :lol: :P

Great work!

[abn0038]

Mavricks has killed MT-NewsWatcher, Anything out there as good as it that does still work, not impressed by Unison, Giganews are now giving away a piece of shit called Mimo, I want to view post/pics easily.

[emehrkay]

You don't like Unison? I love how smooth and OS X-like it is. I even paid for it :-O

[hogfish]

SAB works great on a Mac.

[nasa]

everyone realizes that this topic was only resurrected after a 5 year death because of the new posting rules right?

[zealot]

You don't like Unison? I love how smooth and OS X-like it is. I even paid for it :-O

I have Mac and I use Unison, I also paid as well. Unison allows you to make your own NZBs and search the Usenet groups, has an integrated Header search, the best Newsreader on the Mac for me. I also have NZBVortex, very easy to use and has a feature that allows auto sleep and shutdown after downloads complete.

[emehrkay]

Sad that Unison has been discontinued. It still works, but it won't forever. And the authors said that they cannot open source the project because it would require too much work.