Threaded Internet Newsreader (TIN)
Introduction
TIN, a full-screen Usenet news reader, displays news from various
electronic bulletin board groups on the Internet. In order to organize
and limit the number of entries on the screen, each group is composed
of articles, each of which contains a letter and any responses to
that letter (the responses are known as threads since they
are strung along with the main article). TIN is available on the
ACS cluster and on some departmental computers.
Getting Started
To start, type:
tin
at the UNIX shell prompt.
When you invoke tin, you will be in the Group mode. If you are subscribed to any groups, they will appear on the screen, otherwise, press y to yank in the full list of bulletin board groups. The current group is the one which is highlighted, and you can move it by using the up and down arrow keys to go to the next or previous group in the list. Since every group is numbered, you can jump directly to a group by typing the number to the left of that group and then pressing <return>. You can also search for a group with a specific word in its name. This is done by typing a forward slash, "/", a word you believe is in a group name, and a <return>.
At any time, you can quit tin by pressing q or get help by pressing h.
Subscribing and Unsubscribing
Being subscribed to a group means TIN will check that group for
new postings each time you invoke TIN and show you that group
every time it starts up. Press y to yank in the
full list of bulletin board groups. The current group is the highlighted
one and you can move it by using the up and down arrow keys to
go to the next or previous group in the list. Go to the group
you want to subscribe to and press s. If you wish
to unsubscribe to a group, press u. When you are
done, press y to yank away the groups not chosen,
leaving you with only those groups you are subscribed to.
Reading Articles in a News Group
From your list of subscribed news groups, select one using the
arrow keys to move the highlighted line, and press <return>.
This will put you into the Index mode. You will see a listing
of the threads in the group. For each group, tin will list an
index number, a plus ('+') indicating unread articles or responses,
the subject, and the author of the main thread. Again, using the
arrow keys to change your highlighted choice, pick a thread to
read and press <return>. To see the next page of the article
on the screen, press the spacebar. To go to the next article,
press n. To go to the previous article, press
p. To exit from the thread, press q.
Posting an Article to a News Group
When you are reading articles in a news group, there are three
ways you can post your own article: w to write
your own article; F to post a follow-up article;
and f to post a follow-up article which includes
a copy of the original posting. After pressing the appropriate
key, the bottom of the screen will prompt you for a subject with
the message "Post Subject." Type in a subject and press <return>.
After a few moments, the "Post Subject" screen will be replaced
with an edit session (usually Emacs, unless your have set your
EDITOR variable to a different editor). When you are finished
writing your letter, save the file, and, if appropriate, change
and save any header information. A moment later, the bottom of
the screen will display several options: q to
quit with out posting your article; e to edit
your article again; and p to post your article.
After a few moments, your article will be available to anyone
reading that newsgroup. If you would like to read your posting,
exit TIN and invoke it again so any new articles will be loaded.
Posting - Net Etiquette
Before you post, please consider the following two points of "net etiquette."
- Delete unnecessary quoted material. If your article contains quoted text please take some time to pare it down to just the key points to which you are responding. Many people have the habit of skipping any article when the first page is largely quoted material.
- Format your article with a line width of 80 characters or less. A 72 character line length is a good choice as it allows quoting without exceeding the limit. If your lines are too long they'll wrap around and people may not read what you write.
Printing an Article
In order to print out a copy of a news article, you must be reading
that article. Press o to send output to the printer.
TIN will ask you what to send: a for just the
article you are currently viewing; t for the thread
(the article and all of its responses); q to cancel
the print request. After you make your choice, you can pick up
your printout a few minutes later at the Input/Output window in
the basement of 111 Cummington Street.
Saving an Article
In order to save a copy of a news article, you must be reading
that article. Press s t o save. You will be asked
what to save: a for just the article you are currently
viewing; t for the thread (the article and all
of its responses); q to quit before saving. After
you make your choice, you will be asked how to save it: n
for no special save procedure; q for quitting
without saving. If you choose to save the file, it will be stored
in the News folder.
Mailing a Copy of an Article to Someone
In order to mail a copy of a news article to a friend, you must
be reading that article. Press m to begin mailing
the article. TIN will ask you what to send: a
for just the article you are currently viewing; t
for the thread (the article and all of its responses); q
to cancel the mail request. After you make you choice, TIN will
ask you for the e-mail address of the person you wish to send
your copy to. Enter an address and press <return>. Next
you will be presented with three choices: q to
abort the mailing; e to edit the mail before sending
it; and s to send the article.
Basic Commands
/ search for a keyword
F post a reply
f post a reply (incl. message)
h help
m mail
n next selection (or screenful)
o print
p previous selection (or screenful)
Q quit tin
q back up one menu
s save (when reading an article)
s subscribe (when listing groups)
u unsubscribe (when listing groups
w post an article (to the current group)
Y yank in new articles.
y yank in/out all news groups
ReferencesTo read more about TIN, see the online man pages. While using TIN, press h to display a list of available commands.
