Looking for Linux newsreader closest to Forte Agent
Wayne Garmil
suggestions on what to use as a news reader. I currently use Forte
Agent 5.0 under Windows, and while I can run it under Wine, I would
like to try a Linux native news reader. I am looking for something
that is closest to Forte Agent. By this I mean:
* graphical interface (I can always run trn on the command line but
prefer a GUI if I can get one)
* multiple server support that combines the same newsgroup from each
server into one group. I've seen plenty of news readers where the
different servers are not combined. Can any of the Linux native
readers combine the different servers automatically? This seams to be
the big road block I am having, finding a Linux reader that does this.
* good filtering capabilities (I probably will have to learn how the
new program does it since it will be different from trn and Agent)
* threading with kill subthread capability (bonus if this can be done
via filtering but not required)
* bonus if it can do image preview but not required
I know Forte Agent does email as well, I am not worried about that
function for what I want to do.
The multi-server support, and not just each server kept separate, is
my big need for the reader to be able to do. Everything else is
negotiable although a GUI interface is the highest of the non-required
items (it is borderline required, but I won't make that the deal
breaker if the reader does the other things I need).
Thanks
Wayne
--
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
Mike Dee
> I currently use Forte Agent
> 5.0 under Windows, and while I can run it under Wine, I would like to try
> a Linux native news reader. I am looking for something that is closest to
> Forte Agent.
"Pan" is possibly the closest to what you are wanting, but I suggest that
you also look at XPN. <http://xpn.altervista.org/index-en.html>
If you installed from a common Linux distro e.g. Ubuntu, ,
OpenSuSE, PCLinuxOS, etc etc... there is a good chance that Pan will
already be installed.
--
dee
houghi
> If you installed from a common Linux distro e.g. Ubuntu, ,
> OpenSuSE, PCLinuxOS, etc etc... there is a good chance that Pan will
> already be installed.
On openSUSE PAN is not installed by default. Very easy to add by (for
11.1) one of the following ways:
1) Go to http://software.opensuse.org/ymp/openSUSE:11.1/standard/pan.ymp
with e.g. Firefox. Follow steps
2) in a terminal `OCICLI
http://software.opensuse.org/ymp/openSUSE:11.1/standard/pan.ymp`
3) `zypper in pan`
4) Using YaST
...
I was a heavy Agent user (in all meanings of the word heavy) and tried
PAN, but I went with slrn in the end, as I can easier use it over ssh as
I do now. I use that in combination with leafnode.
houghi
--
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq?
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
Whiskers
> Mike Dee wrote:
[...]
> I was a heavy Agent user (in all meanings of the word heavy) and tried
> PAN, but I went with slrn in the end, as I can easier use it over ssh as
> I do now. I use that in combination with leafnode.
>
> houghi
I too ended up with slrn plus leafnode; it's probably the most powerful
arrangement - although Pan or Gnus or XPN would be comparable in
combination with Leafnode.
Pan was originally designed to imitate 'Agent', but it has diverged
considerably since. The 'stable' version 0.14.2 is probably a better
choice than the 'beta' 0.132, which is a complete re-write. Lack of
documentation continues to be a defect of Pan, but users are eager to
support each other.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
houghi
> Pan was originally designed to imitate 'Agent', but it has diverged
> considerably since. The 'stable' version 0.14.2 is probably a better
> choice than the 'beta' 0.132, which is a complete re-write. Lack of
> documentation continues to be a defect of Pan, but users are eager to
> support each other.
I must say that the helpfile in Agent is one of the best if not the best
I have ever seen. That was at least the case in the last version I used.
Some early 1.x version.
Still a pity that they don't port it to Linux (even closed source)
Mike Dee
> Whiskers wrote:
>> Pan was originally designed to imitate 'Agent', but it has
>> diverged considerably since. The 'stable' version 0.14.2 is
>> probably a better choice than the 'beta' 0.132, which is a
>> complete re-write. Lack of documentation continues to be a
>> defect of Pan, but users are eager to support each other.
The "stable" version is the *only* version I will actually use. I do
try out the newer C++ versions as they get introduced, but to date,
each release gets further "dumbed down" and less useful AFA a news
client should be. IMHO "stable" 0.14.2 is still *highly-usable* on a
personal level, it is easier to write PCRE and change news servers
for example. The subsequent C++ re-writes of PAN ever since have
become less and less useable (which nothing to do with
"user-friendliness").
> I must say that the helpfile in Agent is one of the best if not
> the best I have ever seen. That was at least the case in the last
> version I used. Some early 1.x version.
>
> Still a pity that they don't port it to Linux (even closed source)
...true... however...
The OP (probably gone but not forgotten ;-)) wanted to discover a
Linux GUI app _just like Agent_ to use on his cross-over experience
of GUI apps - from that "other-than-MS" platform...
I don't think that there is one (Linux GUI app) at this current
point in time, other than perhaps even the current Pan which comes
close - there is XPN but maybe XPN is more platform independent
than being a strictly "Linux GUI app". OTH there are Pan ports to
other OS's if you are willing to install Gtk libraries.
One could possibly recommend Knode as an alternative Linux GUI
news-client, but really...
I do think that you actually need to go back in time, wind back the
clock to find a GUI app running on Linux that comes close to what
Agent had to offer. That app was the *C* version of Pan, vers.
0.14.2.
On Linux I do run Xnews under WINE... for fun and because I can...
But when Xserving to a Linux server, my preference is to use Pan
vers.0.14.2 - it beats the pants off all of the (Linux GUI)
competition, even (and lamentably) its own C++ Pan "successor", to
date.
I use Pan 0.14.2 because it can be compiled from source and I
*still* run that version. I don't think that it comes included with
any distro now other than in its current and newer "C++" form.
That is; if you try and install Pan from apt or whatever you get
pointed toward the latest and greatest version, not some old
fuddy-duddy out of date "C" version of Pan (who cares that it is
still superior to what has come after it since, eh?).
Stable Pan 0.14.2 still beats Xnews (AFA anything outside of ASCII
goes), _BUT_ when it comes to PCRE... Pan is out of the running - not
even slrn gets close to what Xnews can do when PCRE is involved
(concerning simplicity, ease of use and economy of implementation).
No? :-) :-) :-) :-D
--
dee