.gif)
Tin (newsreader)
Encyclopedia
tin is an open source
text-based and threaded news client
, used to read and post messages on the USENET
global communications network.
did not exist.
At the time, tin was considered to be somewhat of a high-resource program in this environment (similar to the Pine email client) due to its use of terminal cursor control and page-oriented text scrolling to make navigating usenet easier. While it did not have graphics support it does provide a visually organized browser-oriented drill-down list of groups, subjects, and then articles, as opposed to simply scrolling endless pages and menus upwards from the bottom of the screen.
Tin is available for a variety of Unix-like
operating system
s. It is based on TASS
newsreader, whose source code
had been posted in 1991 on USENET
by Rich Skrenta
.
The work on tin was begun shortly afterwards by Iain Lea, who provided information for the IETF RFC 2980.
Since 1996, tin has been maintained by Urs Janßen.
The program is generally compared with trn
or nn
.
Some note that tin has the most flexible threading support.
Tin runs on any UNIX
or POSIX
platform.
This is because tin was an early adopter of autoconf
, in 1996.
Older versions of tin also ran on OpenVMS
; the newer versions which have UTF-8
support do not.
The original tin used termcap
.
Along with the portability improvements gained by using autoconf
,
its developers improved the adaptability by
making it work with terminfo
or curses
— again improving portability.
Other changes, such as localization using gettext
,
as well as IPv6
support have kept the application current.
Unlike trn
or nn
,
it is easy to follow the progress of changes since 1995 in tin
because its changelog
is detailed and dated.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
text-based and threaded news client
News client
A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...
, used to read and post messages on the USENET
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
global communications network.
History
Tin was initially used on text-only display terminals connected via a slow serial interface to a multi-user time sharing central server, where graphics were generally not supported and the mouseMouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
did not exist.
At the time, tin was considered to be somewhat of a high-resource program in this environment (similar to the Pine email client) due to its use of terminal cursor control and page-oriented text scrolling to make navigating usenet easier. While it did not have graphics support it does provide a visually organized browser-oriented drill-down list of groups, subjects, and then articles, as opposed to simply scrolling endless pages and menus upwards from the bottom of the screen.
Tin is available for a variety of Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. It is based on TASS
TASS (software)
The Tass newsreader is an open source computer software package that provides a full screen threaded newsreader. It was written by Rich Skrenta, who did not like the rn newsreader and gained his inspirations from the Plato Notes system. The Tass newsreader was later modified by Iaian Lea, who added...
newsreader, whose source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
had been posted in 1991 on USENET
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
by Rich Skrenta
Rich Skrenta
Richard "Rich" Skrenta is a computer programmer and Silicon Valley entrepreneur who created the search engine blekko....
.
The work on tin was begun shortly afterwards by Iain Lea, who provided information for the IETF RFC 2980.
Since 1996, tin has been maintained by Urs Janßen.
The program is generally compared with trn
Rn (newsreader)
rn is a news client written by Larry Wall and originally released in 1984. It was one of the first newsreaders to take full advantage of character-addressable CRT terminals...
or nn
Nn (newsreader)
nn is a Unix-based news client, which is a client software program for accessing Usenet servers.nn was originally written in 1984 by Kim F. Storm to provide an alternative more user-friendly way to access Usenet than the existing newsreaders. nn is currently at version 6.7.3, and is now...
.
Some note that tin has the most flexible threading support.
Tin runs on any UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
or POSIX
POSIX
POSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...
platform.
This is because tin was an early adopter of autoconf
Autoconf
GNU Autoconf is a tool for producing configure scripts for building, installing and packaging software on computer systems where a Bourne shell is available....
, in 1996.
Older versions of tin also ran on OpenVMS
OpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
; the newer versions which have UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for Unicode. Like UTF-16 and UTF-32, UTF-8 can represent every character in the Unicode character set. Unlike them, it is backward-compatible with ASCII and avoids the complications of endianness and byte order marks...
support do not.
The original tin used termcap
Termcap
Termcap is a software library and database used on Unix-like computers. It enables programs to use display computer terminals in a device-independent manner, which greatly simplifies the process of writing portable text mode applications...
.
Along with the portability improvements gained by using autoconf
Autoconf
GNU Autoconf is a tool for producing configure scripts for building, installing and packaging software on computer systems where a Bourne shell is available....
,
its developers improved the adaptability by
making it work with terminfo
Terminfo
Terminfo is a library and database that enables programs to use display terminals in a device-independent manner. This library has its origins in the UNIX System III operating system....
or curses
Curses (programming library)
curses is a terminal control library for Unix-like systems, enabling the construction of text user interface applications.The name is a pun on the term “cursor optimization”. It is a library of functions that manage an application's display on character-cell terminals .- Overview :The curses API...
— again improving portability.
Other changes, such as localization using gettext
Gettext
In computing, gettext is an internationalization and localization system commonly used for writing multilingual programs on Unix-like computer operating systems. The most commonly-used implementation of gettext is GNU gettext, released by the GNU Project in 1995.- History :gettext was originally...
,
as well as IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
support have kept the application current.
Unlike trn
Rn (newsreader)
rn is a news client written by Larry Wall and originally released in 1984. It was one of the first newsreaders to take full advantage of character-addressable CRT terminals...
or nn
Nn (newsreader)
nn is a Unix-based news client, which is a client software program for accessing Usenet servers.nn was originally written in 1984 by Kim F. Storm to provide an alternative more user-friendly way to access Usenet than the existing newsreaders. nn is currently at version 6.7.3, and is now...
,
it is easy to follow the progress of changes since 1995 in tin
because its changelog
Changelog
A changelog is a log or record of changes made to a project, such as a website or software project, usually including such records as bug fixes, new features, etc...
is detailed and dated.
External links
- tin.org – Official homepage
- Notes on tass