Quickly Approaching End of Google Groups

[TRS-90]

I'm just asking out of curiosity,

Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how I found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.

What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines or something else not Apple II related?

I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

TRS-90

[Speccie]

TRS-90 wrote,

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how I found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.

Never used them, as Google was only a client into Usenet where the groups live, and did not support all 111,000 or so groups, I have always used a dedicated news reader.

Post by TRS-90
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines or something else not Apple II related?

On the IIgs you would use SNAP: https://speccie.uk/software/snap/

If you use dedicated newsreader on whichever platform you prefer, you will need access to a server holding the Usenet groups. There are some free ones, but often they are limited, but the one I use, which is actually one of the cheapest, is Astraweb: https://www.astraweb.com

Post by TRS-90
I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

Very little, as Google was only one of the many access points into Usenet.

Cheers - Speccie

[Charlie]

Post by TRS-90
I'm just asking out of curiosity,
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum?

No.

Post by TRS-90
I used to, that's how I found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines or something else not Apple II related?

For CSA2 access I use Eternal September (which is free, although I send
them a donation from time to time). I use Thunderbird on Windows 10 for
both usenet and email reading.

Post by TRS-90
I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

One effect will be that people like you that found CSA2 through Google
Groups will not know of its existence. That's sad.

But the main effect will be less spam on all usenet newsgroups as I
believe most of it originates on Google Groups.

Post by TRS-90
TRS-90

Charlie

[mmphosis]

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum?

No. I am unable to login to Google because like a growing number of other
sites they require a cell phone number which I don't have.

Post by TRS-90
What system do you use to talk with CSA2?

https://macgui.com/usenet/

Sometimes I actually use news reader programs like Thunderbird on BSD and
Linux.

Post by TRS-90
I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

I can't predict the future although this forum has been around a very long
time unlike Google Groups.

[Your Name]

Post by mmphosis

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum?

No. I am unable to login to Google because like a growing number of other
sites they require a cell phone number which I don't have.

Yep. It's utterly ridiculous situation that pretty much everywhere has
come to believe that everyone has a mobile phone. :-(

You can get a virtual phone number from various websites, but I've
never used one.

Many places like competitions insist on entering a mobile phone number,
so I usually just enter 0210000000 which for New Zealand forms keeps
them happy. I've also used a faked number for a couple of store loyalty
'card' systems where all you have to do is tell them the phone number
in-store to get the freebie / discount, so do not need an actual phone.

[Antoine Vignau]

Hi "Your Name",
It is just a fact that are more mobile phone numbers than inhabitants in the world or in NZ. Read dataprot.net or statista.com.
Even if it does not mean that everyone has a personal mobile phone and/or number, b/c people may be using a professional mobile phone and/or number.

You are becoming the exception ;-)

Antoine

[barrym95838]

Post by mmphosis

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum?

No. I am unable to login to Google because like a growing number of other
sites they require a cell phone number which I don't have.

I have never owned a cell phone, and I am logged into Google on my
desktop pretty much always, including now. Maybe I joined before that
became a requirement?

[Your Name]

Post by barrym95838

Post by mmphosis

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum?

No. I am unable to login to Google because like a growing number of
other> sites they require a cell phone number which I don't have.

I have never owned a cell phone, and I am logged into Google on
mydesktop pretty much always, including now. Maybe I joined before
thatbecame a requirement?

It is a relatively new requirement, partly to supposedly stop people
creating lots of Gmail adddresses for use as spamming accounts, etc.

BUT, it's not consistent. I'm not sure if it is a random option, a
regional option, or only if you create too many accounts in a short
timeframe. As a test, I just created a new Gmail account without being
asked for a mobile phone number. But towards the end of last year when
I tried to create a throw away account, a mobile phone number was
required. Same computer, same web broswer, same version of the MacOS.

[Scott Alfter]

Post by TRS-90
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how I
found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines
or something else not Apple II related?

After a brief flirtation with tin, I'm back to using trn, running under
Linux. I have it in a 32-bit Gentoo container since it won't easily compile
on 64-bit hardware anymore. Since it's containerized, it could
theoretically run on any host that can run Docker or something similar.

trn (and rn before it) is what I've been using to read this newsgroup since
somewhere around 1989 or 1990, back when it was called comp.sys.apple.

[Colin Leroy-Mira]

Hi,

Post by TRS-90
I'm just asking out of curiosity,
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how
I found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS
machines or something else not Apple II related?

I have made a (free) account on news.eternal-september.org, and access
the newsgroups with Claws-Mail, my email and usenet client.

[Michael J. Mahon]

Post by TRS-90
I'm just asking out of curiosity,
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how I
found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.

No. I checked it out several years ago, and found navigation inconvenient
compared to (see below).

Post by TRS-90
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines
or something else not Apple II related?

NewsTap on iOS and Thunderbird on Windows 10. I’ve been participating in
CSA2 since the late 1980s, then using tin on HPUX.

Post by TRS-90
I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

I agree with Charlie, serious participants will easily find alternatives to
Google Groups, and spammers will be less of a problem.

Post by TRS-90
TRS-90

[Mitchell Spector]

Post by TRS-90
I'm just asking out of curiosity,
Do you use Google Groups to talk in this forum? I used to, that's how I found it in the first place. Now, I use an Apple IIgs.

Google Groups used to be a service called "DejaNews" decades ago,
which had a complete and comprehensive archive of all Usenet postings
dating back to 1979. Like most things, Google took it over, broke its
functionality and utterly ruined it.

What I still use Google Groups for is (attempting) to read the archive of
comp.sys.apple2 when I need it. I wish someone else could take all that
data and make it searchable again.

Post by TRS-90
What system do you use to talk with CSA2? Perhaps some use DOS machines or something else not Apple II related?

I have an old Windows XP system with Forte Agent to read and post to
the group (it's the same install I used on my 486 in the mid-90's!). Before
that I used to use my Apple IIGS or Apple IIc+ using ProTERM 3.1,
to access a remote VMS or Unix shell account (vnews or rn). Miss those
days, I'd go back to doing it if I could. Almost tempted to since I recently
replaced my AppleColor RGB monitor with a new one.

Post by TRS-90
I wonder how much the loss of Google Groups will affect this very fine forum.

My main concern is that Google (or anyone else for that matter) will
no longer be archiving Usenet postings. That could be the final death
blow to Usenet itself.

Personally speaking, I was a regular on this group from 1992 until
about 2001. From there onwards I posted sporadically until fading
out completely. I rarely check it these days because there's almost
no traffic and too much spam. I've been around Facebook (after
everyone left Delphi) to keep in touch with the Apple II community
but not pleased with it.

Mitchell Spector

[Scott Alfter]

Post by Mitchell Spector
I have an old Windows XP system with Forte Agent to read and post to
the group (it's the same install I used on my 486 in the mid-90's!). Before
that I used to use my Apple IIGS or Apple IIc+ using ProTERM 3.1,
to access a remote VMS or Unix shell account (vnews or rn). Miss those
days, I'd go back to doing it if I could. Almost tempted to since I recently
replaced my AppleColor RGB monitor with a new one.

A Raspberry Pi hanging off a serial port would replicate that fairly
cheaply. There are adapters like this that should work, with a few
appropriate additional converters and gender-benders:

https://amzn.to/4bxQVaG

or you could go with building something like this, which is basically a
Super Serial Card workalike into which you plug a Raspberry Pi via its GPIO
header:

https://gitlab.com/salfter/A2RPi_v2

Once the hardware is set up, you'd enable a serial-port console on the
Raspberry Pi, then fire up ProTERM (or whatever you prefer) on the
appropriate port.