>Im not terribly sure why a program like Yarn is needed for Linux,
>instead of the traditional Unix programs already ported to Linux
>(I think):
Yarn is arguably a better newsreader (in some ways) than slrn is, which
I believe to be the best text-mode newsreader on Linux.
However, there's more to it than that. Yarn is an integrated mail and
news reader. It lets you treat mailing lists as pseudo-newsgroups in a
wonderfully simple manner, and it allows you to keep track of all of
your postings and e-mail replies under one roof.
Besides, I use both the DOS and OS/2 versions of Yarn here (though I've
not used the DOS version for more than basic lookups for a long time),
and having a cross-platform newsbase locally is also useful.
I would love to be able to read from a common newsbase regardless of
whether I'm in OS/2 or Linux.
>mail, mailx, and elm are quite decent mail programs, and I know mailx is
>ported to Linux. Traditionally, Unix also includes powerful news readers
>such as trn, and I think a version of tin is available for Linux.
Sorry, but IMhO trn and tin are both considerably weaker newsreaders.
I *do* like slrn (which I use under both OS/2 and Linux when I want to
do quick-and-dirty newsreading or browser alternative news servers),
but I still prefer Yarn to slrn because of its interface, because of
the high level of mail integration in Yarn, and because Yarn's outgoing
mail/news implementation is much more elegant (I can review everything
I've written before sending the batch of replies out, which sometimes
results in some additional editing a/o reply removals).
>I certainly understand fondness and preferences. But why would yarn be
>necessary in a version of Unix, in preference to the traditional programs?
Because in some ways it's better than those traditional programs are,
and I think would gain quite a following in the Linux community were it
to become available.
--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> rsteiner@visi.com >>>---> Bloomington, MN
OS/2 + Linux (Slackware+RedHat+SuSE) + FreeBSD + Solaris +
WinNT4 + Win95 + PC/GEOS + Executor = PC Hobbyist Heaven!
We're not LOST, we're locationally challenged!