Newsgroups: How they work?

[PirateCy]

I'm a new user to newsgroups so I'd like to ask you a question. Why all the binaries on the newsgroups are incomplete? One day I went to alt.binaries.cd.image.games and I saw there the Unreal Tournament 2004 and it was incomplete. At first I thought that it was being posting this moment so I decided to come three days later. Three days later was still incomplete. Why it happens that and how can I download the full game?

I'd also like to tell me which do you think is the best site for searching binaries?

TIA

[Slycktom]

Why all the binaries on the newsgroups are incomplete?

It all depends on what news server you are using. If you are using your ISP's news server, chances are that they will be incomplete. This exists for several reasons. Some ISP's have low "retention", also known as the amount of time they keep an archive on file. Some ISP news servers only keep messages for a day or two. Other ISP censor their newsgroups, while others limit binary groups to keep bandwidth down.

The only way to get good completion is to join a pay news server. I use Usenetserver.com. Its 15 a month and unlimited. Its an adequate service and has decent completion. If you want excellent service, then easynews.com is the way to go (10 bucks for 6 gigs, expensive but FAST and complete and nearly a month retention...)

I'd also like to tell me which do you think is the best site for searching binaries?

Binary indexing sites such as bin news and nfo news are ok, but often lack every single post. I have often found things in the binaries that are never indexed. These sites rely on people reporting back what they find.

If you have a good news server, Newsgroups are simply the best method for finding everything you want. For more info, go here ---> http://www.slyck.com/ng.php (shameless self plug.)

[Ezza6745]

Like tom said check www.Slyck.com its got a great guide to using newsgroups where i first learnt about them now i use them all the time :)

[crackerjacker]

Heres a little information on newsgroups.
If you are going to download from newsgroups you are going to have to visit a website that gives out information on what is being released on the newsgroups. The reason you want to visit a website dedicated to newsgroups releases, is that way you avoid the problems of not getting all the parts from a file. That way you also know what day the file came out and when to expect to get all the complete files from the group.

There is plenty more information and you should head over to http://www.slyck.com/ng.php. This is where I learned how to use newsgroups and I have been using newsgroups for a very long time.

peace

[crackerjacker]

Binary indexing sites such as bin news and nfo news are ok, but often lack every single post. I have often found things in the binaries that are never indexed. These sites rely on people reporting back what they find.

If you have a good news server, Newsgroups are simply the best method for finding everything you want. For more info, go here ---> http://www.slyck.com/ng.php (shameless self plug.)

hehe I didnt read other peoples posts but you got the right idea lol in linking to slycks webpage. :)

btw you really did do a good job with the tutorials. :)

[Ken17625]

May I recommend newzBin for information on usenet postings.

http://www.newzbin.com

[fireforce555]

May I recommend newzBin for information on usenet postings.

http://www.newzbin.com



Yeah they are awesome. I cant wait till friday to start up my subscription with usenetserver :)

[Miniver]

usually parity files are posted with the files. These are very useful for completing incomplete files. They utilize the reed-soloman algorithm which enables any par file to be used to fix any file that is corrupted or missing within the posting. If there are not enough parity files it never hurts to post asking for a repost of certain files...just be polite. The utility to use for the parity files is quickpar. There is another program called fsraid as well but it only works with the first generation of parity files, whereas quickpar will allow you to use any type. For more info see my sig for another link to slyck's excellent (if slightly outdated) guide to using newsgroups.

[Miniver]

10 bucks for 6 gigs
crap I go through more than 6 gigs in a day. Thank god for verizon's unlimited usage at no extra cost.

[Ken17625]

I use Easynews.

It's expensive, but then again, I don't go through 6 gigs a day.

The retention, the number of carried groups, and the reliability is unparelled, in my opinion.

[muffenme]

:fire

I don't like the pay extra for these news server because it come up too high for my budget. If I get it from my local ISP then I get but I giving up on newsgroup because my ISP must cencor what they put because I seen posting from last month on the newsgroup but most of the binaries are incomplete and it could be a few hours or days and they stay incomplete.

:hole

[crackerjacker]

:fire

I don't like the pay extra for these news server because it come up too high for my budget. If I get it from my local ISP then I get but I giving up on newsgroup because my ISP must cencor what they put because I seen posting from last month on the newsgroup but most of the binaries are incomplete and it could be a few hours or days and they stay incomplete.

:hole

muffin what internet provider your using?
I use verizon and have no problems with retention. They did remove some binary groups that I really didnt use.

I would opt for maybe paying for a dedicated news server.
I am thinking about it too. But right now I am pretty happy though with verizon although a payed service is much better.

[jon138]

I must be lucky. My ISP (Charter) uses Supernews, and apart from the speed cap, I can't complain. The retention's great, and I never get any incomplete files unless it's due to a problem on the uploading end of things.

[fireforce555]

HOLY SHIT! Usenetserver ROCKS! I am getting 470KB a sec. 3.7Mbit or so. I downloaded a 300MB movie in 21 mins and I am getting a 1.6GB movie in about an hour now. This was soooo worth the 14.95!

[Miniver]

Isn't it though? The newsgroups are a dirty little secret that everybody knows. Yet no one tries to take them down. Just remember to give back to the community. And welcome...

[fireforce555]

I wish I could get a grip with these PAR2 files. I only got 2 and it says ALL the rars are damaged and require 512 blocks, I loaded the 2 pars I have and it said "510 Blocks required". This is gonna be a pain.

[muffenme]

:fire

muffin what internet provider your using?
I use verizon and have no problems with retention. They did remove some binary groups that I really didnt use.

I would opt for maybe paying for a dedicated news server.
I am thinking about it too. But right now I am pretty happy though with verizon although a payed service is much better.

I use Aliant up here, used to be know as NBNET, I pay $42.99 for my high speed. I go onto their newsgroup server and like I say alot of the binary are incomplete. I not talking about an hour or 2 but one day and yet I see some single posting from last month still on the server. Beside the newsgroup, Aliant is a great ISP but don't think about getting help now because some of the worker are on strike.

:hole

[fireforce555]

Is it normal for your hard drive to chug like its choking on copying a MASSIVE file when dealinf with large newsgroups? Cause when I try to load alt.binaries.svcd it says 438000 articles and it has a hard time pulling it up and really kills my PC with all the hard driving chugging. I had to ctrl alt del it like 4 times to get the hell out of grabit.

I tried newsbin, I guess I am functionally retarded because when I got newsbin running, it only shows 20 articles in each group and when I try to download it gets like 350KB of the file and stops for no reason.

[Miniver]

Mine starts choking anytime I try to download the 1,000,000+ headers for alt.binaries.dvd. The problem is you need more memory fireforce. As for newsbin you need to change the default options.

[fireforce555]

It seems I only had the troubles with memory with grabit. I tried Xnews and it downloaded all 438000 and and hardly even touched the drive. Just I am too new at this to use xnews(dont understand a damn thing LOL).

[Malicious Intent]

This whole not showing speed in Agent is really annoying. The headers took ages to download. It was reasonably quick in Outlook. Without speed, how are you suppose to know if it is downloading as slowly as it downloaded the headers?

[fireforce555]

Wanna talk about annoying? It took me 34 mins to download all the headers for alt.b.svcd, but it took 90MINUTES to display them! Holy Hell! I literally say it finish the download and them it said "Processing" and the hard drive chugged away so I went to have dinner and kept checking on it periodically. I started at 6PM and it got done right about 725PM. Damn!

[Miniver]

try turning your virtual memory settings up

[napho]

Better yet dispense with headers and just use search engines/nzb files. It takes about 15 seconds to search for a file and create an nzb file. That beats getting all those headers.

[Malicious Intent]

Do you know of any good guides for this?

[napho]

This is 1 such program. You just search for the file on either usenetjunkie or alt.binaries.nl, choose what you want, then hit the down arrow. It creates an nzb file in seconds. That works just like a torrent for your own use or posting. Do the searching for this yourself. ;)

[Malicious Intent]

Thanks.


[more characters................]

[fireforce555]

try turning your virtual memory settings up




I let windows use as much as it wants on my 40Gig drive. The largest I have ever seen it get was 130MB. Cause I only have 64Ram. Yeah I know that sucks :( Mostly my swap file stays around 60-75MB for just browsing the net and watching movie/music.

[DefCoN]

This is 1 such program. You just search for the file on either usenetjunkie or alt.binaries.nl, choose what you want, then hit the down arrow. It creates an nzb file in seconds. That works just like a torrent for your own use or posting. Do the searching for this yourself. ;)



Find it here NZBleecher (http://members.home.nl/pizza/)

[Malicious Intent]

My ISP (pipex) has made an annoucement that the news servers are going very slowly, particulary the ones with binary attachments. It also says that the engineers are working hard to solve the problem.
See the (short) report: http://www.connection.pipex.net/cgi-bin/nsus/nsus-display.pl?site=PIPEX&section=News

It advises customers to use a newsclient that supports multiple download connections. Is this common?

[napho]

My ISP (pipex) has made an annoucement that the news servers are going very slowly, particulary the ones with binary attachments. It also says that the engineers are working hard to solve the problem.
See the (short) report: http://www.connection.pipex.net/cgi-bin/nsus/nsus-display.pl?site=PIPEX&section=News

It advises customers to use a newsclient that supports multiple download connections. Is this common?


Sure. Most readers allow at least 4. Then it's just a question of how many connections your isp allows. Trial and error if they don't tell you.

[Malicious Intent]

You're right. Agent allows multiple connections. Sorry, I searched for "agent connections," instead of "Forte Agent Connections".
So is there anything else that needs doing? Port forwarding? Or do you think the connection is slow because of problems with the Pipex servers?

[napho]

Probably just their problem. Also they might be limiting your overall speed. Some isp's in the US limit the speed to 16k/sec x 2 connections. Usenet is an add-on feature and they're under no obligation to make it TOO easy for customers.

[fujow]

Welcome to the newsgroup world fireforce. I've been on usenetserver for about 6 month's now
well worth the $39 for 3 months. try checking here( www.nfonews.com ) for post on usenetserver.

[fireforce555]

Welcome to the newsgroup world fireforce. I've been on usenetserver for about 6 month's now
well worth the $39 for 3 months. try checking here( www.nfonews.com ) for post on usenetserver.



Thanks man LOL. I already easily got my 14.95 worth. I love the service, its just these news readers I am having a time getting along with. Newsbin doesnt seem to want to work for me at all. I loaded a NZB file into and and that worked fine but all the 6 download channels got to exactly 357.4KB and stopped. Wouldnt start again. And it only shows like 20 posts for group. So far, I can only get Grabit to work properly. I guess this is just trial and error.

[fujow]

I've been using newsbin with no problems. I download the headers in about a minute. I also have 1gig of memory. I also only use 3 channels you get alot more DL speeds upwards of 2.45mbs a 50meg file in about a minute. Seriously you only have 64megs of ram ?

[Miniver]

I use 8 connections on Newsbin. But I'm limited to 1.5mb/s with verizons newsserver. But then again it comes with the connection...no additional charge. Cable isp's tend to suck for newsservice. My charter connection allows only 256k and 2 connections on a 3mb/s line.

[Malicious Intent]

"Pipex is a good relaible connection. So I expect they will gain some customers here. BUT don't use it for binary newsgroups - their servers have been sick since February, - they know it's sick, thay say it's sick, and they don't know when it will be fixed. Ron."

Damn it. Perhaps newsgroups arn't the greatest plan.

[fireforce555]

I've been using newsbin with no problems. I download the headers in about a minute. I also have 1gig of memory. I also only use 3 channels you get alot more DL speeds upwards of 2.45mbs a 50meg file in about a minute. Seriously you only have 64megs of ram ?


Yup. I have only upgraded my storage(factory 6 gig, now 40Gig)
Burners( first I owned a creative, now a velocd)
I tried last year to upgrade my memory, Dell said ONLY buy PC133 ram, so thats what I bought and the PC wouldnt not recognize it at all. They didnt know why, I didnt know why. 64 actually runs pretty well for most things for me. I run 98se so its not much a resource hog or anything. The main things I do is watch movies/music/browse/ and program. And thats plenty for all that. I dont game much at all. I only regularly use MS flight sim 5.1(msdos) and midtown madness and both run awesome. Even my resident evil and mortal kombat 4 run great on this old gal.

[fireforce555]

Hey, I adjusted my virtual mem use from unlimited(windows manages) to 150min/max and now Grabit is moving like lightning! It literally used to take 2 hours to load the alt.binaries.svcd group! Now it takes about 2-3 mins? Was all that time just being wasted on windows adjusting the swap file?!?


Also I noticed that no many how many times I tell it to do a full update, the svcd groups last post is ALWAYS at may 1st. And I doubt that no one has posting anything from then till today. Is usenetserver just taking a while to update it or am I screwing up again?

[crackerjacker]

Hey, I adjusted my virtual mem use from unlimited(windows manages) to 150min/max and now Grabit is moving like lightning! It literally used to take 2 hours to load the alt.binaries.svcd group! Now it takes about 2-3 mins? Was all that time just being wasted on windows adjusting the swap file?!?


Also I noticed that no many how many times I tell it to do a full update, the svcd groups last post is ALWAYS at may 1st. And I doubt that no one has posting anything from then till today. Is usenetserver just taking a while to update it or am I screwing up again?


I use grabit. What you need to do is when you are updating the binary files, you should choose the incremental update that way it will just update the headers that are new.

Also remember that grabit will automatically remove old headers that are no longer on the server, give or take it takes some time to update the headers.

surf the web, or do something else while your updating those headers.

[fireforce555]

I use grabit. What you need to do is when you are updating the binary files, you should choose the incremental update that way it will just update the headers that are new.

Also remember that grabit will automatically remove old headers that are no longer on the server, give or take it takes some time to update the headers.

surf the web, or do something else while your updating those headers.



I just got bit by the "large group bug" in grabit. I can no longer view the svcd movies.divx, or MANY other groups now. Grabit simply wont show them. It seems the developers know of this issue and are trying to fix it. I switched to newsleecher and its a doll. It sucks though I only get 30 days to use this. 34.95 to register it! Thats 3 months of server access.

[kiwibank]

my isp offers unlimited access to all the newsgroups including alt.binaries, etc with no caps on downloading, speed or amount of stuff downloaded....it`s very cool. xnews is my newsgroup client of choice...very fast and light. a nice alternative to p2p.