Newsreaders

• We unabashedly endorse Forté Agent, simply the best newsreader available. It is best to start with Forte's Manual, there is a link on the links page.  Too many features to list here, but the most important for ABSLZ participants are offline reading, kill and watch filters, full in/out email, configurable for multiple servers or users, automatic MIME and UUdecoding, joined retrieval of headers for multiparts, customizable view filters and sorting, global search, extensive help file, and a keep article command (see "Missing Parts" to find out why this is important). Free "add-ons" are available to fix timeout errors (see Connectivity Problems). Offered for all version of Windows in many languages. A FAQ and help with Agent can be found in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent or get the FAQ, the manual and some great add-on utilities from the "unofficial" mirror site hosted by a member of the Forté support team, http://home.att.net/~JLBradley/LANCE3.HTM
  
  
• Of all the freeware readers around, Forté's scaled-down Free Agent has the most helpful features for downloading large multipart binaries. Same download and help sites as Agent.
  
  
• If you want a freeware reader that has kill filters and mime decoding, try NewsXpress.
  
  
• WinVN is also freeware and can handle multiple servers (archive sites).

• MT-newswatcher and YA-newswatcher are the best usenet applications for Macintosh users.  It is capable of up to 20 simultaneous downloads. 

Downloading Questions

1. How can I stop and resume a long download?
   Most newsreaders don't have this function built in, but with an offline reader you can trick it. If you see just a single header for the multipart post (e.g., in Agent you retrieve headers joined), split the file into its parts. Sort by subject. To avoid accidentally purging them, use the keep/lock command on all the parts (Forté users, hit K). Then retrieve the bodies. Stop and resume any time you want, so the download only has to begin again at the current part. When all bodies have been retrieved from the server, click on save and remove the lock so the post can be purged.
   
   There are additional benefits to downloading piecemeal as described above:
   • You don't have to completely restart the download if your connection cuts out.
   • If an intermediate part has been corrupted by any of the news servers along the route to you, its actual line count will usually be noticeably smaller or larger than the other parts, and often this is only apparent after the message body has been retrieved. If this happens, ask for a repost of that part and fill it in using the methods described in III.E. Missing Parts.

1. Does all the chat and spam hurt a large post's chance at coming through complete?
   YES and YES!!! The more spam or garbage messages in circulation, the farther back the binaries are in the queue. The number of posts actually matters much more than the size.   Each message must go through the same channels as binary parts do, and only so many will go through at once. Consider the handling required to process 1,000 2-line posts as opposed to a single 2,000-line binary. Reduce the spam, and you will see more complete posts.
   
2. Then just post the files in one piece, doh!
   Cute. You must have missed the paragraph way back at the beginning of this FAQ where we explained why large posts are broken up into pieces. News servers have packet size limits,which vary somewhat but are definitely present. As a general rule, the larger the article size, the fewer Usenet news servers will get the parts. Multipart posts in smaller pieces generally mean greater distribution with fewer problems. If you really did skip right to this part of the FAQ, please stop right here and read from the beginning, otherwise you won't understand much of what follows.
   
3. Okay, if you have to post in parts, can't you guys post ALL the parts?
   We do! Why would anyone deliberately post incomplete? Once in a while you'll see an aborted post, where the upload timed out and the originator didn't know how to resume it or cancel the unusable parts, but that's the exception.
   
4. I almost never see complete posts. What am I doing wrong?
   Most likely, just using a lousy news server.
   
5. But I'm on one of the better servers. Is there something in my setup I missed?
   Make sure your newsreader is set up to receive articles in random order because that's how the parts travel. In Agent, click on Options | User and System Profile | System, check the box titled "Server creates messages out of order." In Free Agent, that's in Group | Default Properties | Retrieving.
   
6. How come the parts don't show up all at the same time?
   Since message routing on the Internet is dynamic, pieces 4 and 5 of an 8-part file may have been routed through many more machines than the rest of the pieces. Articles sometimes land on a particularly bogged down news server between you and the originator where they are spooled (saved on disk) until the server has enough resources to do its part of the broadcasting. Sometimes, by the time those parts get moving again, your server has already expired posts from that date and you miss out.
   
   When faced with fragmented multipart posts, it's always a good idea to wait a couple of days for all the pieces to show up. If they never do, you should contact your news administrator to report the problem. Your newsadmin can sometimes check for logjams upstream and correct them, but only if made aware of the problem.
   
7. I've seen files in ABSLZ with over 100 parts. You gotta be kidding! No one can get those complete... right?
   Wrong. While smaller files are obviously more easily digested by many more people (and therefore, the better way to post) good servers get all those parts just fine.
   
8. I notice that the posts from certain people are always incomplete, so they must be doing something wrong.
   Maybe, maybe not. There are several factors involved. First, take a look at the path in the headers of those posts. Chances are, you'll see a long list of servers between yours at the beginning and the poster's at the end. Every hop is a chance for a part to be dropped. The question, then, is which one of you is too far away from the Usenet backbone.Odds are, it's you. If you want to guarantee that you'll get complete posts from your favorite cappers, just get on the same server(s) they use for posting. Most of the veterans post to Newsguy, Altopia or AT&T Worldnet. A post is always complete on the originator's server.
   
   On the other hand, some people post in chunks that are too big for many news servers to handle, and some servers have dropped packet size limits way down in an attempt to cope with increased Usenet volume. In 1996, 15,000 lines per part was common. In 1998, anything over 7,500 lines (or even smaller) is often stopped in its tracks. If you only see part0/n of the post and the last part, which is often much smaller than the intermediates,then the post has obviously run into packet size limits someplace.
   
9. Okay, but where? If there's no standard, how can I tell if my server is being stingy or the poster is being extravagant with packet size?
   What's the largest individual part size you see in ABSLZ? If it's fairly small, and if you see a lot of posts missing their entire middles, you can safely assume your server is filtering out larger parts.
   
10. How can I get the missing parts?
    If you've given the post a couple of days to propagate and have all but a few parts,most contributors will cheerfully re-up the missing ones for you.
    
11. The parts I asked for were reposted, but I still didn't get all of them. Can't I just ask the poster to send them by email?
    Ummm... no, better not. A few reasons:
    • What you're asking for is a substantial amount of upload time for just yourself.That's an awfully big favor to ask.
    • Mail servers have both packet size limits and total user mailbox size limits, so emailing is probably a waste of time anyway.
    • If you didn't get the parts, then other readers on your server didn't get them either.Usenet posting gives everyone a crack at completing their downloads.
    • As mentioned previously, your end of the transaction is to get on a better server if the one you use is inadequate for large binaries newsgroups. It's not fair to continually lean on people for reposts yet fail to make improvements on your end.
    
    
12. If the missing parts I request don't come through immediately, the ones I already have will be gone from my server. Is there some way to keep those parts while I'm waiting for the rest?
    Yes. However, with an online newsreader, you'll have to save each part individually to your hard disk and then decode the file offline when it's complete. If you're using an offline reader, the methods below for either Agent or Free Agent should work for you. The difference between the two, in this instance, is Agent's ability to display a single,joined header for multiparts and more sorting options.
    Agent users:
    
    1. Split the incomplete message into individual parts.
    2. Select all the parts and hit K (keep command, padlock icon).
    3. Hurry up and retrieve the bodies for those parts before they disappear from your server. Leave them right where they are, no saving, no decoding, no further action required until the rest come through.
    4. When the missing parts are reposted, split them (if there's more than one, they might be displayed joined at first) and then retrieve the bodies.
    5. When you have the bodies for all the parts, sort the message list by Subject so the parts fall into correct numerical order. Then:
       1. If the headers are identical, click on part 1 and hit "A" (save command).You're all done! Well... except for removing the padlock(s) and purging.
       2. If the reposted parts have a different subject header from the original post (for example, Attn: Sparky, etc.), you might find it easiest to create a folder and move all the parts to the folder, then select all of them by clicking and dragging. Otherwise,select them while they're still in the main ABSLZ browser window by clicking on part 1 and then scrolling down to the last part and hitting shift-click, THEN find the new parts and add them to the selection with control-clicks. Now click on Message | Join Sections. Use the Up and Down buttons on the screen to put the new parts into correct number sequence with the rest. Click on Save. Done!
    Free Agent users:
    
    1. Select all the parts and hit K (keep command, padlock icon).
    2. Hurry up and retrieve the bodies for those parts before they disappear from your server. Leave them right where they are, no saving, no decoding, no further action until the rest come through.
    3. When the missing parts are reposted, put a padlock on them and retrieve the bodies.
    4. When you have the bodies for all the parts, select them by clicking on part 1 and then scrolling down to the last part and hitting shift-click to select all with identical headers. To select reposted parts with different headers, find them and then use control-click to add them to the list of selected parts.
    5. Click on File | Manually Decode Binary Attachments. A dialogue box will pop up with the parts listed. Use the Up and Down buttons on the screen to put the parts in correct numerical order. Click on Save. Done!

• For modem disconnects, get DUNCE (Dial Up Networking Connection Enhancement). How it works: Automatically enters "connect" whenever your DUN dialogue appears.
• Task Monitor for Agent (not for Free Agent), Windows95/NT4 only. In the event of a timeout or disconnection, restarts retrieving marked message bodies and posting Usenet and email messages. Use in conjunction with DUNCE for fool proof downloading. How it works: Searches at specified time intervals for error windows where the parent window contains the word "Agent." If you have marked messages for retrieval in multiple newsgroups, Task Monitor will resume downloading in newsgroup order. To rearrange them to your liking, get AgentGroup Order.

• Select the file parts and download the bodies first (get marked message bodies).
• After you have all parts of the file, click on part 1 and save it. The advantages of this method are that you can stop and resume your downloads at any time. In case of a disconnection, you only have to resume from the last part retrieved. The only disadvantage is that you will need sufficient hard disk space to temporarily store many large encoded files during a long download session.

1. How long should it take to download an MP3 from ABSLZ?
   The major factors governing download time are:
   • your modem connect speed (not to be confused with the max speed your modem will handle)
     
   • the news server you are downloading from (i.e., LOCAL, your ISP's news server, or REMOTE, another news server you connect to through your ISP, such as Newsguy or Airnews).Here are typical times for downloading a 1MB (approx. 15870 lines) file from a LOCAL server:
     
     SPEED TIME (Approx.) +/- 5%
     ==========================
     28.8 305 sec (05:05) 15 sec
     26.4 340 sec (05:40) 17 sec
     19.2 465 sec (07:45) 23 sec
     14.4 610 sec (10:10) 30 sec
     9600 935 sec (15:35) 46 sec
     
     Remember that these times are affected by phone line conditions and server loading, but they should not vary more then about 5%. For REMOTE servers, the times given above will probably be the best you will ever see under ideal conditions. Depending on the number of servers/ routers/gateways you need to go through and congestion on the Net itself, actual time may be DOUBLE the times listed above.
   
   
2. How can I tell if I have a bad connection to begin with?
   There are a lot of utilities available for monitoring your actual, average connection speed. Shop around at www.tucows.com,www.macorchard.com, www.winfiles.com, www.shareware.com, or www.download.com. Seeing your actual bytes per second data transfer rate can be a real shock! Whenever you see wide fluctuations with a lot of stalling, suspect bad phone line conditions. Redial your modem and check again.