sbbs/ctrl/services.ini looks like that for NNTP(S) now
; Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
[NNTP]
Port=119
Command=nntpservice.js -f -na
[NNTPS]
Enabled=true
Port=563
Options=TLS
Command=nntpservice.js -f -na
so i have added -na to allow users who authenticate with an BBS account only.
anything else? Who uses NNTPS regularly to read and post?
Or is that just something you should not use or offer as a feature to users?
sbbs/ctrl/services.ini looks like that for NNTP(S) now
; Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) [NNTP]
Port=119
Command=nntpservice.js -f -na
[NNTPS]
Enabled=true
Port=563
Options=TLS
Command=nntpservice.js -f -na
so i have added -na to allow users who authenticate with an BBS account
only.
anything else? Who uses NNTPS regularly to read and post? Or is that just
something you should not use or offer as a feature to users?
The above looks correct to me, and you can definitely offer it as a feature to your users (with authentication, like you did, of course). That's what it's there for!
Mindsurfer wrote to Accession <=-
Any other Newsgroup Reader out there beside Thunderbird?
Well it works, but i think it is prone to making errors/problems. At
least in comparison to posting from the BBS, don't you think?
I keep it there for now, but i have removed port 119 from
portforwarding into my lan, as i want to offer the NNTPS port only. I don't see a problem in offering the enrypted transport only.
Any other Newsgroup Reader out there beside Thunderbird?
well, there is not very much documentation in the wiki or the old docs about NNTP. If i give my users access to NNTP i don't want them to be able to easily make a mess. (By default you dont have to authenticate at all to access NNTP for example). And if i as the sysop do not know much about the NNTP+synchronet details, how can i expect them users to handle it correctly.
i made some funky test posts using Thunderbird and Pan on FSXNet.
The "From" field includes an email in one post and the "To" field
contains the "newsgroup area tag" etc. It is Usenet that has to fit
into FTNs.
Well it works, but i think it is prone to making errors/problems. At
least in comparison to posting from the BBS, don't you think?
Not really. The only errors/problems you'll probably run into are old outdated newsreaders that don't do certain things how Synchronet would expect it to.
Any other Newsgroup Reader out there beside Thunderbird?I see you've already found Pan. I've tried out just about as many as I could find that still worked and/or compiled.
Otherwise, as it seems you're using Linux, I'd say the better of the GUI newsreaders would be Thunderbird, Claws Mail, and Pan (although Thunderbird has it's quirks at times, too). There's also some nice console newsreaders as well, but require a bit more configuration, like slrn, tin, neomutt, and alpine. slrn is my favorite out of these choices, and what I still use when reading/posting via NNTP(s). I also really liked neomutt, because while it has newsreader functionality, it's also a console email client (based off the original mutt). However, when I contacted the main dev and asked about NNTP issues, he told me unless I was willing to fix it myself and send patches, or find someone else to continue the NNTP support.. he wasn't interested in overhauling that outdated code. I ended up going back to slrn after that.
well, there is not very much documentation in the wiki or the old docs
about NNTP. If i give my users access to NNTP i don't want them to be able
to easily make a mess. (By default you dont have to authenticate at all to
access NNTP for example). And if i as the sysop do not know much about the
NNTP+synchronet details, how can i expect them users to handle it
correctly.
By defualt, an anonymous/guest login can't post messages. So they won't be able to "make a mess" either.
Might be true. There are not really any new or updated Newsgroups
Readers out there. Usenet and newsgroups are more known due to binary newsgroups nowadays.
It should have some advantage over reading/posting messages from inside
the bbs at least. If not a GUI, at least a better GUI with bigger XY characters resolution etc I see what i can find out there or test some
of those you mentioned. Claws Mail has Newsgroups capabilities?
Interesting.
By defualt, an anonymous/guest login can't post messages. So they
won't be able to "make a mess" either.
Ok, makes sense. So an anonymous nntp(s) user acts with bbs guest
rights.
parameters or with -f parameter only and Thunderbird just does not
provide a user/password field for the Newsgroup account. So it is a bit dificult to login as a non anonymous user using Thunderbird if you don't require your nntp(s) service a non anonymous login via -na parameter.
I doubt there will be any 'new' newsreaders any time soon. However, Thunderbird, Claws Mail, and Pan I believe are still updated. Tin is still currently being maintained, and slrn's last update was only a few years ago or so, I believe. So there are options.
I doubt there will be any 'new' newsreaders any time soon. However, Thunderbird, Claws Mail, and Pan I believe are still updated. Tin is still currently being maintained, and slrn's last update was only a few years ago or so, I believe. So there are options.
It should have some advantage over reading/posting messages from inside the
bbs at least. If not a GUI, at least a better GUI with bigger XY characters
resolution etc I see what i can find out there or test some of those you
mentioned. Claws Mail has Newsgroups capabilities? Interesting.
There are some advantages. Using slrn or tin in a UTF-8 console, uses iconv for character set translation, which is nice. If you're using something like Thunderbird or Claws Mail, you can do NNTP messaging and email in the same place. Even using slrn or tin, I just execute them from the command line and they automatically pull in new messages that I can start reading instantly, etc.
All depends on what you want to do, I guess. If I have time, I login to the BBS and read/write messages. If I want to do a super fast newscan without the need to login to the BBS, I use a newsreader or Golded.
Is Forte Agent still developed? That was my favorite.
So far i like Pan the most. i think Thunderbird is not really perfect
for Newsgroups. It can do it but not very good.
btw: can one of the newsreaders render/display ansi codes?
What does it take to use Golded with Synchronet? it does run on the same machine as Synchronet?
It takes a little bit of messing about, but not too much. However, while I tested Golded with Synchronet quite a bit, that's not how I use it normally. There's too many quirks that I don't like, and it doesn't look like Golded will be updated to work better with Synchronet any time soon.
1) Netmail doesn't work. You can read the mail base, but you'll break stuff if you try to write to it.
2) You have to completely disable Synchronet's "voting" feature, and completely clear your message bases of any "voting" messages. Golded doesn't understand it, and will display blank messages and then jump back to the first message in the area - completely ruining any chance of reading messages in order, or keeping last read pointers in tact.
If you don't mind any of that, then it works great afterwards. It was definitely enough for me to move on to other options. ;)
Those both sound pretty fixable... maybe I'll take a look this weekend.
Those both sound pretty fixable... maybe I'll take a look this weekend.
Wow, I'm surprised to see you here. :)
If you do anything with this, let me know and I'll gladly help test it out!
Heh, with the work on The Clans, I'm actually putting a non-zero amount
of time into making at least one of my boards not suck... even set up a
FTN message network.
https://bbsdev.net/BBSDev/
It sucks and has nothing to recommend it.
Re: NNTP(S) via Thunderbird
By: Accession to Deuce on Wed Nov 05 2025 04:49 pm
Those both sound pretty fixable... maybe I'll take a look this weekend.
Wow, I'm surprised to see you here. :)
If you do anything with this, let me know and I'll gladly help test it out!
Heh, with the work on The Clans, I'm actually putting a non-zero amount of time into making at least one of my boards not suck... even set up a FTN message network.
https://bbsdev.net/BBSDev/
It sucks and has nothing to recommend it.
The Deuce I know doesn't like people. Now you're setting up a message network... for... communication with people!? :D
I'll hop on IRC soon to set this all up.
It's only some people I don't like.
I'll hop on IRC soon to set this all up.
Cool, and the network is mostly for testing The Clans.
That's what I figured. Once The Clans is done, do you plan on possibly doing any others?
| Sysop: | KJ5EKH |
|---|---|
| Location: | Siloam Springs, Ar. |
| Users: | 9 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 19:16:48 |
| Calls: | 31 |
| Files: | 75,978 |
| Messages: | 42,567 |