Re: [Pan-users] "no connections"

[Adam Shrode]

Bob W. Anderson wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:03:14 +0200, Tim Kynerd <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>  
>
> > On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 20:08:33 -0700
> > "Bob W. Anderson" <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> > > Very newbie here!   Haven't used Pan yet - "no connections" displays
> > > in box in lower left corner of the screen.   Kmail works fine, as does
> > >
> > > Firefox.   Dialup connection.  Athlon 1.2g  SuSE 9.0  Suggestions?
> > >      
> > At the risk of sounding stupid: Have you set up your news (NNTP) server
> > in Pan?
> >
> > Tools --> News Servers...
> >    
>
> Thanks for the response, Tim.   I'm sure it's something like that that
> I've failed to do - but lacking (or not being able to find) any
> helpful instructions, I'm floundering.
>
> What do I do if I go Tools -> News Servers   ?    I think I was there
> once, but didn't know what to do.   Sorry for being so dense.   Maybe
> it's related to my being left-handed?
>
> Bob
>  

Mmkay Bob, first you have to promise to read 
http://www.google.com/googlegroups/basics.html at least.  Then you will 
probably want to spend some time reading about usenet etiquette and the 
like.  You can get a few of these guides at 
http://kb.indiana.edu/data/abcy.html or 
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/Etiquette/  But maybe you would benefit 
most from http://www.newbie.net/tgos/newbie/

Since you're on dialup you probably aren't going to be going for the 
music and movie downloads and, given the way you orchestrated your 
posting, you seem to be nice ... too nice.  Watch out for the newsgroup 
sharks.

The gist of it is newsgroups are a separate service you often receive 
via your internet service provider.  Like you already have email through 
your ISP (pipeline which is part of earthlink) that allows you to send 
messages *over the internet* and that is a service just like www is a 
service that allows you to browse websites *on the internet*.  Your ISP 
gives you the internet and the internet is made up by a whole assortium 
of things.  (If you want to get technical, you have 65,356 ports which 
are kind of like channels on the television.  Warning, large list 
http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers but take a look if you want 
to see.  Your ISP gives you access to the main stuff like email and the 
web.  A lot is made available by other people/companies.  Stuff like 
games (Id software, Hasbro, Blizzard Entertainment), instant messaging 
(AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo), and newsgroups (giganews) are provided for 
additional costs or sometimes free.

In regards to your question though. It looks like you work with 
earthlink so this page would be relevant.  
http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/img/walkthroughs/other/landingpage/8532.psc.html

Specifically,*
**What server name should I use?*
Two servers are available for Newsgroups usage: 
*news.west.earthlink.net* and *news.east.earthlink.net*. For best 
performance, if you live west of the Mississippi River, you should use 
*news.west.earthlink.net*. If you live east of the Mississippi River, 
you should use *news.east.earthlink.net*. If you are unsure, you should 
use *news.east.earthlink.net*. Both servers will have the same 
functionality, capability, list of newsgroups, and articles.

All EarthLink members have access to both servers. We encourage you to 
select whichever server provides the best experience for you.

*Do I need to log in to the news server?*
Yes. All connections to the news servers require authentication. You 
must log in with your entire email address (e.g. 
johndoe@/earthlink.net/). Remember, your email address and password are 
case sensitive. (Make sure your CAPS LOCK button is off!)

*How many connections may I open to the news server?*
EarthLink news servers only allow four simultaneous logins from one 
connection. This means that you can have up to four programs accessing 
the news server at any given time.

So basically, your setup would be like this 
http://anotherguy.com/img/newsgroups.jpg.  I don't know if that will 
work precisely though.  Maybe you have another email to log in as or 
they are switching yours?  Alternatively, you can get a free account 
with http://www.teranews.com/

So hey, have fun with that.
-as-