Thunderbird doesn't show alt.binaries?

WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in the
newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries! Normally
I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want to download
something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

On 12/02/2014 11:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in the
newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries! Normally
I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want to download
something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?


It's nothing to do with Thunderbird - it displays all available groups.
I'm no good at interpreting headers, but perhaps someone in your Path
doesn't allow them.


--
Bob - Tetbury, Gloucestershire, UK

Capitalism - the survival of the fattest.

On 2/12/2014 5:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

What WLM version are you running? I tend to like the WLM 2009 myself.

I normally don't go into alt.binaries. And I thought my news server
doesn't carry them. Although I tried alt.binaries.e-books and it is
working just fine here under Thunderbird.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v24.3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Using WLM 2012, recently it often but not always asks for user name &
password to access NG's then won't accept them. Stats on my ISP's page
shows nothing wrong with news server.
To Bob, I don't understand "perhaps someone in your Path doesn't allow
them".
Example: alt.binaries.sounds.karaoke displays OK in WLM and Newsleecher but
not Thunderbird. Since they are all using the same news server I don't see
what the problem could be.

Kenny



"BillW50" wrote in message ...

On 2/12/2014 5:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

What WLM version are you running? I tend to like the WLM 2009 myself.

I normally don't go into alt.binaries. And I thought my news server
doesn't carry them. Although I tried alt.binaries.e-books and it is
working just fine here under Thunderbird.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v24.3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 4GB - Windows 8 Pro w/Media Center

Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

It depends on your newsserver. I use TB and my list goes;
alt.bible
alt.bigfoot
alt.bin
alt.binaries
alt.birdwatching

WLM or TB, you'll get the same list unless you change the newsserver.

Ed

Ed Cryer wrote:
Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

It depends on your newsserver. I use TB and my list goes;
alt.bible
alt.bigfoot
alt.bin
alt.binaries
alt.birdwatching

WLM or TB, you'll get the same list unless you change the newsserver.

Ed

The newsgroup list, as downloaded from the server, is contained in
this file for my AIOE account. Navigate step by step, substituting
your particulars, to get to an equivalent place. Each server will
have its own hostinfo.dat file. This particular one is 800KB+. Commercial
servers will have a huge file by comparison, with hundreds of thousands
of dead groups.

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\yyyyyyyy.default\News\nn tp.aioe.org\hostinfo.dat

The list does not have to match, verbatim, the list as maintained
on the server. The difference would be reconciled with an error
message if something you select from the list, is missing.

A root entry, doesn't necessarily have to exist. For example,
it might be that

alt.binaries
alt.binaries.dogsandcats
alt.binaries.horsesandcows

or the server might have just the lower ones, making
it harder with some news clients, to navigate in an
explorer-like way.

alt.binaries.dogsandcats
alt.binaries.horsesandcows

So finding alt.binaries missing, is not necessarily a
bad thing. But if you were interested in alt.binaries.horsesandcows,
type the full name into the subscription window and see if it
is there.

Opening the hostinfo.dat file, gives you a historical view
of the server list. Clicking the "refresh" button
in Thunderbird, downloads the list again. With Thunderbird
exited (not running), you could edit the hostinfo.dat by hand,
but that's a project for another day.

If you connect via the default port (119), you can also
use a packet sniffer, to watch what happens when a "refresh"
of the server list is being done.

And I detected which file was used above, by using
Sysinternals Procmon. I couldn't remember where that
damn file was located, so had to resort to sniffing it out :-)

Paul

On 2/12/2014 3:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in the
newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries! Normally
I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want to download
something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill


Windows 7 (x64)
Thunderbird 24.3.0
NNTP server reader.albasani.net

alt.binaries itself is not a newsgroup; it is a hierarchy. I can see 14
different alt.binaries.* newsgroups within that hierarchy.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Where does your elected official stand? Which
politicians refuse to tell us where they stand?
See the non-partisan Project Vote Smart at
http://votesmart.org/.

On 12/02/2014 6:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

If you're using a free newsserver, it makes sense that there wouldn't be
any alt.binaries groups available. What server are you using?
--
Silver Slimer
'Linux ****' on google.ca = About 5,460,000 results (0.30 seconds)

Silver Slimer wrote:
On 12/02/2014 6:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

If you're using a free newsserver, it makes sense that there wouldn't be
any alt.binaries groups available. What server are you using?


Yes, and the "sense" is the sizes. It ties up bandwidth in and out of
the server. Plus the additional thing that paedophiles used them for
their God-damned pictures.

Ed

On 2/12/2014 10:06 AM, Silver Slimer wrote:
On 12/02/2014 6:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

If you're using a free newsserver, it makes sense that there wouldn't be
any alt.binaries groups available. What server are you using?


The free server news.eternal-september.org shows 20 newsgroups under the
alt.binaries.* hierarchy.


--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Where does your elected official stand? Which
politicians refuse to tell us where they stand?
See the non-partisan Project Vote Smart at
http://votesmart.org/.

On 2/12/2014 4:56 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
Using WLM 2012, recently it often but not always asks for user name &
password to access NG's then won't accept them. Stats on my ISP's page
shows nothing wrong with news server.
To Bob, I don't understand "perhaps someone in your Path doesn't allow
them".
Example: alt.binaries.sounds.karaoke displays OK in WLM and Newsleecher but
not Thunderbird. Since they are all using the same news server I don't see
what the problem could be.

Kenny


Check your settings on all three newsreaders. Are they all connecting
to the same port on the same news server?

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Where does your elected official stand? Which
politicians refuse to tell us where they stand?
See the non-partisan Project Vote Smart at
http://votesmart.org/.

I am using Thunderbird 24.3.0 and when used with a news-server that has
the alt.binaries groups available it shows them just fine.

You might need to "Refresh" the list if they are missing.

If they are still missing after refreshing the group list then the
problem will most likely be at the newsgroup server end unless your
security configuration is wrong, like what happens with on the
news.eternal-september server and newbies or users switching from one
news reader to another. 9 times out of 10 the user has the security
options configured incorrectly resulting in a limited number of
newsgroups being visible.

On 2/12/2014 5:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

Have refreshed list a few times, no difference. If the problem's at the
server end why do the binary groups show in WLM and Newsleecher but not in
Thunderbird? If it's a server problem then shouldn't it also affect WLM and
Newsleecher?

Kenny

"GlowingBlueMist" wrote in message ...

I am using Thunderbird 24.3.0 and when used with a news-server that has
the alt.binaries groups available it shows them just fine.

You might need to "Refresh" the list if they are missing.

If they are still missing after refreshing the group list then the
problem will most likely be at the newsgroup server end unless your
security configuration is wrong, like what happens with on the
news.eternal-september server and newbies or users switching from one
news reader to another. 9 times out of 10 the user has the security
options configured incorrectly resulting in a limited number of
newsgroups being visible.

On 2/12/2014 5:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in
the newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries!
Normally I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want
to download something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?

Kenny Cargill

Kenny Cargill wrote:
Using WLM 2012, recently it often but not always asks for user name &
password to access NG's then won't accept them. Stats on my ISP's page
shows nothing wrong with news server.
To Bob, I don't understand "perhaps someone in your Path doesn't allow
them".
Example: alt.binaries.sounds.karaoke displays OK in WLM and Newsleecher
but not Thunderbird. Since they are all using the same news server I
don't see what the problem could be.

Kenny

Shut down Thunderbird.

Find the .rc file for the particular newsserver you are using
in Thunderbird.

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird\
Profiles\yyyyyyyy.default\News\nntp.aioe.org.rc

That file opens with a text editor. Only your subscribed
groups are in the list.

alt.windows7.general: 1-78518

Try editing that line, to look like

alt.windows7.general: 1-1

That changes the high-water mark, so all articles
would be detected as "new".

With Thunderbird shut down, you can also move

alt.windows7.general.dat
alt.windows7.general.msf

to a safe place. The next time you start Thunderbird,
they will be regenerated, since they're still in the .rc
subscription list.

So the key files a

hostinfo.dat # Newsgroup list since last refresh, from server
servername.rc # Subscribed group names, low-water, high-water marks
groupname.dat # Header list and status bits. Lose this, lose the history
groupname.msf

Editing and manipulating these files, is how you
"fix" Thunderbird. An unsubscribe/resubscribe approach,
won't do anything of note. Other news client programs,
an unsubscribe can do more good.

Paul

In message , Bob Henson
writes:
On 12/02/2014 11:00 AM, Kenny Cargill wrote:
WLM seems to be getting a bit flaky so decided to try Thunderbird but in the
newsgroup list it goes from alt.bills to alt.bio, no alt.binaries! Normally
I use WLM to see these groups then open Newsleecher if I want to download
something from them.
Is this by design in TB or is there something I should be doing to show
binary groups?


It's nothing to do with Thunderbird - it displays all available groups.
I'm no good at interpreting headers, but perhaps someone in your Path
doesn't allow them.


That wouldn't explain why he's seeing them in WLM and Newsleecher,
unless he's got those set to use a different newsserver than his TB.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Electricians do it 'till it Hz.