I'm still running the DOS stuff at home. I'd like to run Linux and
then use C-News and TNN or something on top of that. (I want to run
Linux for reasons other than just getting off DOS ... :-)
If I were to answer the survey truthfully today, I'm not using any
of that stuff, so why answer?
I'll answer it the way I *WANT* to have things set up. Howzat?
>I am considering some significant changes relating to size and efficiency of
>the software, most of which will not change the format of the output, or the
>way I perceive it is being used. THAT is the problem. How is it really
>being used?
Please see above, however I'd expect that a PC/486-50 running Linux would
do a reasonable job, any improvement in efficiency is always appreciated!
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>News Software: C-News
>
>News Reader: TRN
>
>Operating System: LINUX
>
>Memory Size: 16 M Bytes
>
>Hard Disk Availability: 100 M Bytes
>
>CPU and speed: 486-50MHz
>
>Are you using the premium service that requires the decoder: No.
>
>Do you pay attention to {Rate in order of importance (10 very - 1 not much)}:
>
> entertainment : 3
> stock quotes during the day : 4
> stock closing prices : 5
> world news : 6
> business news : 7
> weather : 10
> sports : 8
> education : 9
>
>One of the changes that I am considering is to drop the attempts to capitalize
>the articles. This is a high overhead operation which is rarely successful.
>This operation appeas to be most useful in the xpress.news.international.china
>articles which would come through in lowercase. I would replace the
>capitalization attempt with forced uppercase. What do you think?
Sure. Save time where possible and it would certainly be easier to read.
>Another change is to try to eliminate the multiple buffering going on in
>the formatting of an article. This will greatly reduce the current
>memory requirement for the software as well as tend to smooth out the
>processing of articles and hopefully reduce the number of missed articles or
>quotes due to the placement of the bulk of the processing between articles.
>How many of you are getting these complaints:
>
> T_EUNIT: unmatched
> T_EFRAG: unmatched
>
>from your X*Press news gateway software?
Not yet. (See above... :-)
>I believe that most of these messages stem from the attempt to process an
>entire news article before your receiver overflows your buffers.
Sounds like a change is due here...
>Do you want to get a summary of the responses?
If you feel like it.
-
Name/Rank/Serial#: John Balogh, Systems Engineer, JohnBalogh@PSU.EDU
Employer: Penn State University, Office of Telecommunications
Phone: +1 814 863 1252 Fax: +1 814 863 4092
SNAILmail: 101 TELECOM, UNIV. PARK, PA 16802-5800