[Pan-users] Re: 1) Printing from windows xp, 2)folders, 3)tutorial 4)Pam News group

[Duncan]

Robert Lewis posted <address@hidden>, excerpted below,  on Fri,
31 Dec 2004 03:47:03 -0800:

> 1)       The print command does not seem to work under XP; Pam opens a widow
> with 'Print Comand: lpr', but this does nothing.

[OK, I'm aware that this may come over a bit harsh.  I'm sorry and don't
mean it that way.  If you are not aware, <g> means grin -- it's a joke,
OK?  Just to be sure you know that.  However, the first paragraph below is
/not/ a joke (and has no <g>).  It's a serious security matter.  Many from
the *ix side of the tracks would simply kill file you based on it, no
warning. I generally try to at least warn folks first...]

First, kill the HTML (which I deleted).  There's a reason PAN doesn't
do HTML -- security. Are you a spammer trying to spread your junk mail, a
cracker trying to spread your malware, or simply an AOLamer newbie unaware
that your mailing agent is doing HTML?  Again, sorry to come across so
harshly, but that's the attitude may folks including myself take to those
that post HTML.  HTML offends me, but at least I'm honest enough to tell
you why and ask you to quit using it.

Pam?  What's that?  The cooking spray?  <g>  (OK, /that's the joke. <g>)
I'm assuming you mean PAN... However, I don't run MSWormOS, so I can't
help with this question.

> 2)       I have moved some messages to a new folder, but I can see the
> folder. How do I navigate to the folder?

Admittedly, this one isn't as intuitive as it might be.  In the groups
pane, click the drop-down box (which will probably say "Subscribed"), and
select folders.  Your new folders, as well as the default pan.sent and
pan.sendlater should be shown.

> 3)       Is there a tutorial or help system for Pam? I think a lot of my
> questions are basic but I can't seem to find much help in the FAQ.

Pam? <g>  I'm guessing you have a spell checker that expects "Pam" will be
capitalized, and that "pam" will /not/ be, and is  doing the wrong thing
here, thus your consistency in getting this wrong.

Unfortunately, there's no help documentation at this point.  However, look
at the version number.  0.14.2.91 is the latest beta version.  By the time
PAN reaches version 1.0 (which may be years from now... many open source
programs stay pre-1.0 for years, and PAN had been several years already
pre-1.0), if you look at the roadmap on pan.rebelbase.com, it should have
help documentation.

Until then, one hopes most of it is fairly self documenting and intuitive.
What isn't, well, there's this list (and don't forget its archives) to ask
in.

> 4)       Is there a way to list Pam as one of the user groups to watch?
> I can not see how to add Pam as a news group.

Again, "Pam" (twice even)??  <looking around>  I see no Pam here.  <g>

As best I can tell, you are asking if there's a way to get this "mailing
list" (which is different than a news group) as a news group, thus,
readable with PAN (which can send mail but doesn't fetch mail, only news,
so can't directly subscribe to the list).

The answer is YES.  In fact, there are at least two ways to do so.

The complex way involves running your own news server, such as INN, and a
mail2news gateway of some sort, such that you can subscribe to the mailing
list and have it automatically appear in your news server as a group,
which you could then subscribe to.  There are such schemes around...

However, the easier way, and in fact what I'm doing right now, is to use a
list2news gateway such as gmane.org.  Gmane takes care of all that work
above for you, and you can just subscribe to its news server, download the
group list, and subscribe for at least reading, as desired.

Most of the groups as shown there you can post to, but only after
subscribing to the mailing list so the list daemon knows who you are and
gmane can forward your message to it for posting.  Then, the first message
you post to a group on gmane causes the gmane system to send a
confirmation to the mail address you used to post with (which therefore
must be a real address), which you can confirm, after which gmane will
clear you for posting to that group and forward your message to the
mailing list daemon.  Again, note that if you haven't already subscribed
to the list, most (but not all) lists will reject your mail.  It's quite
simple, really.  Just keep in mind that gmane is /not/ the mailing list,
but a separate list2news gateway.  Thus, in ordered to post to a list
thru gmane, you have to validate with both the list and with gmane, two
separate validations, two separate steps.

Once you've subscribed to the list and verified that you can post thru
gmane, you will probably want to turn /off/ the mail actually going to the
address you subscribed with, as you will be using gmane for reading and
posting.  The procedure for doing so varies depending on the daemon
hosting the mailing list, but normally, there's what's called a "vacation
mode" you can use.  This keeps you subscribed to the list, allowing you to
continue posting to it, but stops it from actually mailing the messages to
you, which is what you want since you'll be reading and posting thru gmane.

Read more about it and get the necessary server details here:
http://gmane.org/

(Gmane also offers a web interface, if you prefer that to the news
interface.)

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --
Benjamin Franklin