OT: Where to ask genral Linux Questions?

[Ohmster]

Off topic, but if I get an answer now, I won't have to bug anyone in here.

Where is a good newsgroup to ask general Linux questions? alt.linux seems
to be a bunch of nonsense. Is comp.os.linux a good place to ask? Do you
guys visit that newsgroup?


Thanks.

--
~Ohmster

[notbob]

comp.os.linux.misc is probably the most busy and stays pretty much on
track, but like most of usenet, traffic is diminishing.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/, a forum, is probably your best bet for
all general linux Qs. There are more specialized forums on the web.

nb

[Moe Trin]

On Sat, 12 Jan 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.security, in article
<XnsA146BB4F96...@216.196.97.131>, Ohmster wrote:

>Off topic, but if I get an answer now, I won't have to bug anyone in
>here.

>Where is a good newsgroup to ask general Linux questions?

On the 15th of each month, there is a posting to the newsgroups
news.announce.newgroups, news.groups and news.lists.misc, and that
listing includes the basic description of the group.

[fermi ~]$ grep linux big.8.list.12.15.12
comp.os.linux.advocacy Benefits of Linux compared to other operating
systems.
comp.os.linux.alpha Linux on Digital Alpha machines.
comp.os.linux.announce Announcements important to the Linux community.
(Moderated)
comp.os.linux.development.apps Writing Linux applications, porting to
Linux.
comp.os.linux.development.system Linux kernels, device drivers,
modules.
comp.os.linux.embedded Linux operating system on embedded hardware.
comp.os.linux.hardware Hardware compatibility with the Linux operating
system.
comp.os.linux.m68k Linux operating system on 680x0 Amiga, Atari,
VME.
comp.os.linux.misc Linux-specific topics not covered by other
groups.
comp.os.linux.networking Networking and communications under
Linux.
comp.os.linux.portable Linux OS on portable PCs.
comp.os.linux.powerpc Linux systems running on PowerPC microprocessors.
comp.os.linux.security Security and the GNU/Linux Operating System.
comp.os.linux.setup Linux installation and system administration.
comp.os.linux.x Linux X Window System servers, clients, libs and
fonts.
comp.os.linux.xbox Linux on Xbox.
[fermi ~]$

From that, it looks like comp.os.linux.misc perhaps.

>alt.linux seems to be a bunch of nonsense.

Alternative group - alt.os.linux isn't much better

>Is comp.os.linux a good place to ask? Do you guys visit that newsgroup?

Bogus newsgroup - not carried on all servers. You're posting from
giganews, which carries a huge number of groups - many have no recent
postings, but "we've got a lot of groups!!!" You don't see the groups
comp.os.linux.help or comp.os.linux.questions listed above either. Set
your newsreader to retrieve the last 30 articles - and look at the
dates. Anything recent?

Old guy

[Ohmster]

Moe Trin <ibup...@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> wrote in
news:slrnkf457q.d...@fermi.phx.az.us:

> Bogus newsgroup - not carried on all servers. You're posting from
> giganews, which carries a huge number of groups - many have no recent
> postings, but "we've got a lot of groups!!!" You don't see the groups
> comp.os.linux.help or comp.os.linux.questions listed above either. Set
> your newsreader to retrieve the last 30 articles - and look at the
> dates. Anything recent?
>
> Old guy
>

Awesome list, OG. I usually never post Linux questions from Giganews, the
posts go back to 2008 and that is practically useless. I remember there was
a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or something like that. It was a
free public news server that only carried text articles and was particulary
good for Linux questions. I must find that one again and get off giganews
for Linux help.

--
~Ohmster

[Ohmster]

notbob <not...@nothome.com> wrote in
news:slrnkf40al...@nbleet.hcc.net:

>
> comp.os.linux.misc is probably the most busy and stays pretty much on
> track, but like most of usenet, traffic is diminishing.
>
> http://www.linuxquestions.org/, a forum, is probably your best bet for
> all general linux Qs. There are more specialized forums on the web.
>
> nb

Thanks nb. I never post to giganews for Linux help, too many newsgroups,
many bogus, with posts that go back over 15 years. Pretty useless. There is
a good, free, public NNTP server that was kick ass for Linux help, not sure
what it was, aoi or something like that, searching for it now.

--
~Ohmster

[Aragorn]

On Tuesday 15 January 2013 00:56, Ohmster conveyed the following to
comp.os.linux.security...

> notbob <not...@nothome.com> wrote in
> news:slrnkf40al...@nbleet.hcc.net:
>
>> comp.os.linux.misc is probably the most busy and stays pretty much on
>> track, but like most of usenet, traffic is diminishing.
>>
>> http://www.linuxquestions.org/, a forum, is probably your best bet
>> for all general linux Qs. There are more specialized forums on the
>> web.
>

> Thanks nb. I never post to giganews for Linux help, too many
> newsgroups, many bogus, with posts that go back over 15 years. Pretty
> useless. There is a good, free, public NNTP server that was kick ass
> for Linux help, not sure what it was, aoi or something like that,
> searching for it now.

It's called aioe.org, but you better don't use that, because many
posters filter that one out due to its popularity among trolls. It also
limits the number of posts you can make per day.

Better would be to register with www.eternal-september.org. It's free,
and although not perfect - but what ever is? - it is also fairly good.
I've been using it for several years now.

No binary newsgroups, but who needs that anyway? ;-)

--
= Aragorn =
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

[Aragorn]

On Tuesday 15 January 2013 00:54, Ohmster conveyed the following to
comp.os.linux.security...

> Moe Trin <ibup...@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> wrote in
> news:slrnkf457q.d...@fermi.phx.az.us:
>
>> Bogus newsgroup - not carried on all servers. You're posting from
>> giganews, which carries a huge number of groups - many have no recent
>> postings, but "we've got a lot of groups!!!" You don't see the
>> groups comp.os.linux.help or comp.os.linux.questions listed above
>> either. Set your newsreader to retrieve the last 30 articles - and
>> look at the dates. Anything recent?
>

> Awesome list, OG. I usually never post Linux questions from Giganews,
> the posts go back to 2008 and that is practically useless. I remember
> there was a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or something like
> that. It was a free public news server that only carried text articles
> and was particulary good for Linux questions.

Uhh, no, it's not. aioe.org is known on Usenet primarily as a gateway
for trolls. Only very few decent posters use it, but due to the troll
activity, many regulars filter out anything coming in through that
gateway.

> I must find that one again and get off giganews for Linux help.

I don't see why Giganews would be bad. It gives you access to the same
active newsgroups as aioe.org, eternal-september.org or any other Usenet
gateway. It's all Usenet, and the most active GNU/Linux groups are
carried by all of those news providers.

[Moe Trin]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.security, in article
<XnsA148C055F2...@216.196.97.131>, Ohmster wrote:

>I usually never post Linux questions from Giganews, the posts go back
>to 2008 and that is practically useless.

]User-Agent: Xnews/2009.05.01

Don't know Xnews because I don't have any windoze boxes, but if you
can't tell it that if it has a large number of articles available it
should ask you how many to download, you may want to look for a more
user-friendly news tool. I'm using slrn, and it's configured to ask
me if there are more than 100 unread articles in a newsgroup. I can
therefore tell it to just grab the latest N articles in a group.

>I remember there was a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or
>something like that. It was a free public news server that only
>carried text articles and was particulary good for Linux questions.

Aragorn suggests that may be aioe.org, and it's a wide open server
which is therefore pretty badly abused by trolls. As a consequence, I
(like many, I believe) filter off "articles from" and "responses to
articles from" that server in a number of groups. In several groups
I try to scan daily, that filtering makes a VAST improvement in the
signal-to-noise ratio.

>I must find that one again and get off giganews for Linux help.

Usenet is Usenet - Last I heard, aioe.org carried about 47000 groups,
compared to 111000 on giganews (but even that is meaningless because
many of the groups are dead or useless). For perspective, the list
of "Big-8" groups (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*,
soc.*, and talk.*) totals just 1995 - no, make that 1996 because they
just added "comp.mobile.android" on the 10th. Last I looked at the
.newsrc file for giganews, they had 4724 "Big-8" groups, but at least
they _have_ the groups. I don't know how many types of fish Ohm's
Fish Market carries, but the "Big-8" lists just 8 news groups with the
string "fish" in the name and giganews carries 116 of those 8. Does
that make it any better or worse? Who knows ;-)

Old guy

[Ohmster]

Aragorn <str...@telenet.be.invalid> wrote in news:kd26l0$baq$1@dont-
email.me:

[..]

>> Awesome list, OG. I usually never post Linux questions from Giganews,
>> the posts go back to 2008 and that is practically useless. I remember
>> there was a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or something like
>> that. It was a free public news server that only carried text articles
>> and was particulary good for Linux questions.
>
> Uhh, no, it's not. aioe.org is known on Usenet primarily as a gateway
> for trolls. Only very few decent posters use it, but due to the troll
> activity, many regulars filter out anything coming in through that
> gateway.

Yeah, that is the one. aioe.org. Trolls you say? Like AC? I have not seen
or heard from AC for a long, long time and sure do not miss him. Alright,
nixing aoie.

>> I must find that one again and get off giganews for Linux help.
>
> I don't see why Giganews would be bad. It gives you access to the same
> active newsgroups as aioe.org, eternal-september.org or any other
Usenet
> gateway. It's all Usenet, and the most active GNU/Linux groups are
> carried by all of those news providers.
>

Yes, I will stick with giganews. Thanks!

--
~Ohmster

[Ohmster]

Moe Trin <ibup...@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> wrote in

news:slrnkf9icr.f...@fermi.phx.az.us:

>>I usually never post Linux questions from Giganews, the posts go back
>>to 2008 and that is practically useless.
>
>]User-Agent: Xnews/2009.05.01
>
> Don't know Xnews because I don't have any windoze boxes, but if you
> can't tell it that if it has a large number of articles available it
> should ask you how many to download, you may want to look for a more
> user-friendly news tool. I'm using slrn, and it's configured to ask
> me if there are more than 100 unread articles in a newsgroup. I can
> therefore tell it to just grab the latest N articles in a group.

I like slrn in Linux. But for 'doze, I like Xnews, it is what remains of
"News Express" from years gone by. Even though the author is not the
same, some college kid wrote News Express and then abandoned it. Shame he
did not donate the source code. I really did like the interface. So Luu
Tran made Xnews and that is as close as I can get to it. Same thing
basically.

I did download slrn for Windows but getting it to work is so much
headache that it really is not worth the effort.

>>I remember there was a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or
>>something like that. It was a free public news server that only
>>carried text articles and was particulary good for Linux questions.
>
> Aragorn suggests that may be aioe.org, and it's a wide open server
> which is therefore pretty badly abused by trolls. As a consequence, I
> (like many, I believe) filter off "articles from" and "responses to
> articles from" that server in a number of groups. In several groups
> I try to scan daily, that filtering makes a VAST improvement in the
> signal-to-noise ratio.

Yah, Aragorn just told me about aioe. Not using it. When I need help, I
don't want to be filtered out and I try to be polite, repsectful, and
appreciative of the help offered here.

>>I must find that one again and get off giganews for Linux help.
>
> Usenet is Usenet - Last I heard, aioe.org carried about 47000 groups,
> compared to 111000 on giganews (but even that is meaningless because
> many of the groups are dead or useless). For perspective, the list
> of "Big-8" groups (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*,
> soc.*, and talk.*) totals just 1995 - no, make that 1996 because they
> just added "comp.mobile.android" on the 10th. Last I looked at the
> .newsrc file for giganews, they had 4724 "Big-8" groups, but at least
> they _have_ the groups. I don't know how many types of fish Ohm's
> Fish Market carries, but the "Big-8" lists just 8 news groups with the
> string "fish" in the name and giganews carries 116 of those 8. Does
> that make it any better or worse? Who knows ;-)

Wow, you are making my head spin. Thanks OG. Hey, didn't you used to be
"Moe Trin"? or something like that in previous, older posts?

> Old guy



--
~Ohmster

[Ohmster]

Aragorn <str...@telenet.be.invalid> wrote in news:kd266l$71q$2@dont-
email.me:


[..]

> It's called aioe.org, but you better don't use that, because many
> posters filter that one out due to its popularity among trolls. It also
> limits the number of posts you can make per day.

Yeah, I heard. Never mind aioe.

> Better would be to register with www.eternal-september.org. It's free,
> and although not perfect - but what ever is? - it is also fairly good.
> I've been using it for several years now.

Oh, awesome! That is what I needed. Thanks Aragorn.

> No binary newsgroups, but who needs that anyway? ;-)



--

~Ohmster

[Aragorn]

On Wednesday 23 January 2013 23:12, Ohmster conveyed the following to
comp.os.linux.security...

> Aragorn <str...@telenet.be.invalid> wrote in news:kd26l0$baq$1@dont-
> email.me:
>
> [..]
>>> Awesome list, OG. I usually never post Linux questions from
>>> Giganews, the posts go back to 2008 and that is practically useless.
>>> I remember there was a server that was good for this stuff, aoi or
>>> something like that. It was a free public news server that only
>>> carried text articles and was particulary good for Linux questions.
>>
>> Uhh, no, it's not. aioe.org is known on Usenet primarily as a
>> gateway for trolls. Only very few decent posters use it, but due to
>> the troll activity, many regulars filter out anything coming in
>> through that gateway.
>
> Yeah, that is the one. aioe.org. Trolls you say? Like AC? I have not
> seen or heard from AC for a long, long time and sure do not miss him.
> Alright, nixing aoie.

Nah, I wasn't talking of AC/SL [*], but rather of some rabid Win-droid
trolls who use it and who nym-shift a lot.

I myself haven't seen AC/SL around for years either. Maybe he's gone
off the grid again - he was a survivalist, as I understand it - or maybe
his ISP/NSP were getting too many complaints about his hostile behavior.
Or maybe he's gone into drug rehab again. ;-)

[*] For those wondering, AC/SL stands for a netkook - not a troll per
se, just a rather paranoid and hostile poster - who uses the
pseudonyms "Alan Connor" and "Sidney Lambe", among others.

>>> I must find that one again and get off giganews for Linux help.
>>
>> I don't see why Giganews would be bad. It gives you access to the
>> same active newsgroups as aioe.org, eternal-september.org or any
>> other Usenet gateway. It's all Usenet, and the most active GNU/Linux
>> groups are carried by all of those news providers.
>>
>
> Yes, I will stick with giganews. Thanks!

As it turns out, news.eternal-september.org was having problems
yesterday, but they appear to be back today. It happens, but it's
exceptional.

[Aragorn]

On Wednesday 23 January 2013 23:35, Ohmster conveyed the following to
comp.os.linux.security...

> Moe Trin <ibup...@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> wrote in
> news:slrnkf9icr.f...@fermi.phx.az.us:
>

>> Usenet is Usenet - Last I heard, aioe.org carried about 47000 groups,
>> compared to 111000 on giganews (but even that is meaningless because
>> many of the groups are dead or useless). For perspective, the list
>> of "Big-8" groups (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*,
>> sci.*, soc.*, and talk.*) totals just 1995 - no, make that 1996
>> because they just added "comp.mobile.android" on the 10th. Last I
>> looked at the .newsrc file for giganews, they had 4724 "Big-8"
>> groups, but at least they _have_ the groups. I don't know how many
>> types of fish Ohm's Fish Market carries, but the "Big-8" lists just 8
>> news groups with the string "fish" in the name and giganews carries
>> 116 of those 8. Does that make it any better or worse? Who knows
>> ;-)
>
> Wow, you are making my head spin. Thanks OG. Hey, didn't you used to
> be "Moe Trin"? or something like that in previous, older posts?

He still is - check the headers of his posts. ;-)

[Moe Trin]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.security, in article
<XnsA151B2D2E5...@216.196.97.131>, Ohmster wrote:

>Moe Trin <ibup...@painkiller.example.tld.invalid> wrote in
>news:slrnkf9icr.f...@fermi.phx.az.us:

>> Usenet is Usenet - Last I heard, aioe.org carried about 47000 groups,
>> compared to 111000 on giganews (but even that is meaningless because
>> many of the groups are dead or useless).

Aragorn suggested eternal-september as a news server. They only carry
about 30000 groups, but run them through clean-feed which significantly
reduces the gross spam.

>Wow, you are making my head spin. Thanks OG. Hey, didn't you used to
>be "Moe Trin"? or something like that in previous, older posts?

<looks at From: header quoted above...> ;-)

Back in 2005, you mentioned the nym I'm using to your wife, and she
apparently saw through my clever disguise. I did change the nym
slightly (adding the trailing ".invalid") in 2010, but I've been
using "Moe Trin" since roughly 1998.

Old guy