I am not particularly good at writing. Maybe someone who is better
and a little more familiar the technology could rewrite this.
Lou
-- =================8<-------------------------------------- Yarn FAQ:How can Yarn help me organize my mail and news messages?
Yarn creates a virtual file cabinet with folders and sub-folders that contain all of your correspondence. Yarn's connection to the outside world is via import and export packets in the SOUP format. --------
How does Yarn collect and send messages?
Yarn will accept SOUP packets from a variety of utilities which contain your mail and news. Yarn is particularly useful in an off-line environment where packets can be downloaded conveniently and later imported and read while off-line. Yarn will create soup packets that can be uploaded and understood by the news and mail servers of your internet service supplier (isp). All of this can take place while on-line as well. --------
What are the most frequently used utilities to handle packets?
There are a number of utilities to choose from. If you have a slip or ppp connection, you can use Souper to pass packets to and from your isp. Other programs such as QWK and UQWK can be used for the same purpose, but Souper is designed for Yarn and offers more integration and functionality. If you have a shell account, then you may use UQWK in the unix environment on your isp's machine to pack and pass packets from yarn to the news and mail servers. --------
I subscribe to several usenet newsgroups with a high noise content and I would like to download only the interesting stuff. Can Yarn do this?
Technically, no. But you can set Yarn up to show only the interesting posts and mark all of the others as read. This is done by editing the "score" file. As of version 16 of Souper, you can maintain a similar "score" file for Souper that will eliminate uninteresting articles before they are packed and downloaded. --------
My isp will not allow me to post to USENET without "Authentication". What does this mean and how can I provide this authentication?
Several universities and other isp's wish to be able to track all posts to a particular user. This is easy when the user is logged in to a shell account, but is much more difficult when the user is on a SLIP or PPP connection. Plan B for the isp is to require the user to supply his ID and PASSWORD with each post. This dialogue takes place in the TCP/IP protocols. As of version 16, Souper will read this information from a particular file and pass this information when interrogated by the news server. If you are using a previous version of Souper, upgrade to version 16 or later to provide "original" authentication. --------
A friend has an expensive GUI newsreader that adds taglines and signatures to all of his mail and posts. Can Yarn do this?
Yarn does not have a built in editor; you simply use your favorite text editor. Several of the most common editors in the DOS, WIN, WIN'95 and OS/2 environments can also use what are called pre-processors and post- processors to add these features. "Yes" is very popular DOS utility to perform these functions, and "Yep" does much the same for the OS/2 users. --------
Why isn't there a charge for using Yarn?
Yarn is freeware and exists due to the dedication and skill of the author, Chin Huang. This does not mean that those who use it do not owe him a large debt of gratitude and respect. I wish that Chin would supply a simple GUI to install all of the necessary stuff just so that he could charge a fee and I could allay some of the guilt that I feel for using such a fine product without cost. There are several others who have also contributed to the utility of this environment. My thanks to all.