Subj : Re: Usenet/News to FTN gateway software?
To   : John Goerzen
From : tassiebob
Date : Sun Jul 03 2022 08:41 pm

Hi John,

 JG> Back in the day, I ran a BBS using the tools in ifmail.  It includes an
 JG> interface to the local mailing system (SMTP) and Usenet system (INN,
 JG> usually).

Wow, I haven't run INN since forever now (late 90's I reckon) - I ran DNews and Diablo in later years :-)

 JG> There is a pretty big difference between this and what Synchronet is
 JG> doing. Synchronet connects to a remote NNTP server as a user, and logs
 JG> in as that user to post.  It downloads news to its local Synchronet
 JG> database.  Basically, its idea is to pull the Internet stuff into the
 JG> BBS world.

The spoon/soupgate combination I'm playing with also does what Synchronet does, which works for me as I only have an NNRP account these days anyway.

I could probably rustle up a partial NNTP feed fairly easily though, spin up INN or Diablo, and do something with the ifmail tools...  

 JG> The opposite is true of ifmail; it is designed to pull the BBS world
 JG> into the Linux environment.  It assumes standard Linux accounts for
 JG> mail, news, etc. You would participate on Fidonet using Pine, or a
 JG> regular IMAP client, or a regular NNTP client, etc.

Interesting...  I did see the ifmail tools in Debian/Ubuntu, but hadn't got as far as exploring them further.

Not sure which direction I'll go with this yet - sadly there's very little legit text news any more - even the groups I used a handful of years ago are pretty much dead these days.  Seems Usenet has been taken over by those seeking to distribute "linux distros" :-(

Cheers,
Bob.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: TassieBob BBS, Hobart, Tasmania (21:3/169)

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