Xnews on Windows 8.1 (32 bit)?

Xnews on Windows 8.1 (32 bit)?

[Mike H]

Having failed to get Demon Turnpike running under Windows 8.1 (32 bit) I 
am looking for a Usenet client that is better than Thunderbird. Xnews 
has been suggested. Will it run under W8 and if not, can anyone suggest 
an alternative?
-- 
Mike
Swim? Naturally at Severn Vale
<http://www.severnvalesc.org/>

Re: Xnews on Windows 8.1 (32 bit)?

[Alan Browne]

On 2014.04.17, 12:39 , Mike H wrote:
> Having failed to get Demon Turnpike running under Windows 8.1 (32 bit) I
> am looking for a Usenet client that is better than Thunderbird. Xnews
> has been suggested. Will it run under W8 and if not, can anyone suggest
> an alternative?

I don't know if Xnews will run on W8 - but do be aware that it hasn't 
been supported in years.  I did use it on occasion (WinXP) when I was 
downloading some large files (.rar).  It did that okay.  The UI has a 
bit of a learning curve.  It's not a large package IIRC, so worthwhile 
to DL and try.

Thunderbird remains my goto usenet client - though I use Unison (Mac) if 
I need to DL .rars.  (seldom).

-- 
"Big data can reduce anything to a single number,
  but you shouldn’t be fooled by the appearance of exactitude."
      -Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis, NYT, 2014.04.07

Re: Xnews on Windows 8.1 (32 bit)?

[Peter Chapin]

On 2014-04-17 15:02, Alan Browne wrote:

> I don't know if Xnews will run on W8 - but do be aware that it hasn't
> been supported in years.  I did use it on occasion (WinXP) when I was
> downloading some large files (.rar).  It did that okay.  The UI has a
> bit of a learning curve.  It's not a large package IIRC, so worthwhile
> to DL and try.

I used to be an Xnews user but the fact that it appears to be a long
dead product is a bit of a turn off. I realize if it works well that
shouldn't be a problem. If it doesn't have any bugs, why update it? :)

I will confirm that Xnews has a counter-intuitive UI. I had to
constantly refer to the manual to figure out how to do things; just
scanning over the menus was not helpful. Based on the menus I at first
concluded that the program had very limited functionality. In reality
there is a lot of functionality buried behind "magic" key combinations.

Peter

Re: Xnews on Windows 8.1 (32 bit)?

[Simon Clubley]

On 2014-04-17, Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Having failed to get Demon Turnpike running under Windows 8.1 (32 bit) I 
> am looking for a Usenet client that is better than Thunderbird. Xnews 
> has been suggested. Will it run under W8 and if not, can anyone suggest 
> an alternative?

I don't know if you are aware, but there's a demon.service newsgroup.

It might be worth a posting in there to see if any of the regulars have
used Windows 8 with a newsgroup client.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world