This article is from the Frequently Asked Questions for Linux, the Free/Open Source UNIX-like operating system kernel that runs on many modern computer systems. Maintained by David C. Merrill with numerous contributions by others. (v1.0).
A: Comp.os.linux.announce is the moderated announcements group. You should read this if you intend to use Linux. It contains information about software updates, new ports, user group meetings, and commercial products. It is the only newsgroup that may carry commercial postings. Submissions for that group should be e-mailed to linux-announce@news.ornl.gov.
Comp.os.linux.announce is archived at: http://www.iki.fi/mjr/linux/cola.html, and ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/comp.os.linux.announce/.
Also worth reading are the following other groups in the news:comp.os.linux and news:alt.uu.comp.os.linux hierarchies you may find many common problems too recent for the documentation but are answered in the newsgroups.
*news:alt.uu.comp.os.linux *news:alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions *news:alt.os.linux *news:alt.os.linux.mandrake *news:comp.os.linux.admin *news:comp.os.linux.advocacy *news:comp.os.linux.alpha *news:comp.os.linux.answers *news:comp.os.linux.development *news:comp.os.linux.development.apps *news:comp.os.linux.development.system *news:comp.os.linux.embedded *news:comp.os.linux.hardware *news:comp.os.linux.help *news:comp.os.linux.m68k *news:comp.os.linux.misc *news:comp.os.linux.network *news:comp.os.linux.networking *news:comp.os.linux.portable *news:comp.os.linux.powerpc *news:comp.os.linux.questions *news:comp.os.linux.redhat *news:comp.os.linux.security *news:comp.os.linux.setup *news:comp.os.linux.test *news:comp.os.linux.x *news:comp.os.linux.x.video
Remember that Linux is POSIX compatible, and most all of the material in the news:comp.unix and news:comp.windows.x groups will be relevant. Apart from
hardware considerations, and some obscure or very technical low-level issues, you'll find that these groups are good places to start.
Information about e-mail clients (MUA's), mail transfer agents (MTA's), and other related software are in the comp.mail.* groups, especially:
*news:comp.mail.misc *news:comp.mail.pine *news:comp.mail.sendmail
Questions and information about News reading software are in:
*news:news.software.readers.
Please read If this Document Still Hasn't Answered Your Question.... before posting. Cross posting between different news:comp.os.linux groups is rarely a good idea.
There may well be Linux groups local to your institution or areacheck there first.
See also How To Get Information without Usenet Access.
Other regional and local newsgroups also existyou may find the traffic more manageable there:
*news:fr.comp.os.linux (France). *news:de.comp.os.linux (Germany). *news:aus.computers.linux (Australia). *news:hr.comp.linux (Croatia). *news:it.comp.linux (Italy).
A search of http://groups.google.com/ can provide an up-to-date list of News groups.
[Axel Boldt, Robert Kiesling]
 
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