CSE 14x Newsgroups

Newsgroups provide a sort of electonic bulletin board that you can use to send and recieve messages to your classmates and participate in on-line discussions about class materials. If you already know how to use the net news, just point your newsreader to either uwash.class.cse142.bboard. or  uwash.class.cse143.bboard.   If not, this page will explain how to read the news using two different programs

Pine

Before you can read a newsgroup, you must subscribe to it:

  1. Start pine just as if you were going to read your e-mail.
  2. From the main menu, hit 'L' to see a list of your folders.
  3. Hit the down arrow once to select "News" and hit enter.
  4. Hit "a" to add a newsgroup. When asked to enter the newsgroup name, enter uwash.class.cse142.bboard and then hit enter. You should now see that this newsgroup has been added to the list of newsgroups to which you are subscribed.

To read the newsgroup, follow these steps:

  1. Start pine just as if you were going to read your e-mail.
  2. From the main menu, hit 'L' to see a list of your folders.
  3. Hit the down arrow once to select "News" and hit enter. Use the arrow keys to highlight uwash.class.cse142.bboard and then hit enter. This will take you to a list of messages that have been posted to the newsgroup. This message looks similar to your inbox.
  4. You can read and reply to messages, or even post new messages, in the same way you send and recieve mail. Note that when you read a message and hit 'R' to reply, you will be given the choice of following-up (which means your reply goes to the newsgroup) or replying via e-mail (which means only the author of the original posting gets your reply). Please don't be afraid to reply via private e-mail if your response is not of general interest to the rest of the class. It will help keep down the volume of messages on the newsgroup, and the rest of the class will appreciate it.

Outlook Express

Assuming you already read your mail with Outlook Express, you only need to tell OE where to find the newsgroups.

  1. Go to the Tools menu and click on accounts
  2. Click on add -> news
  3. Fill in the NNTP (news) server as news.u.washington.edu
  4. Be sure to check the box that says my server requires me to log on.
cse142-webmaster@cs.washington.edu