4.9 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

 
* When you start up rn, you get a "warning" that "bogus newsgroups" 
are present.  

Within a couple of minutes, you'll be asked whether to keep these or 
delete them.  Delete them.  Bogus newsgroups are newsgroups that your 
system administrator or somebody else has determined are no longer 
needed. 

* While in a newsgroup in rn, you get a message: "skipping unavailable 
article."  

This is usually an article that somebody posted and then decided to 
cancel. 

*  You upload a text file to your Unix host system for use in a Usenet 
message or e-mail, and when you or your recipient reads the file, every 
line ends with a ^M. 

This happens because Unix handles line endings differently than MS-DOS or 
Macintosh computers.  Most Unix systems have programs to convert incoming 
files from other computers. To use it, upload your file and then, at your 
command line, type 

     dos2unix filename filename  or
     mac2unix filename filename

depending on which kind of computer you are using and where filename is 
the name of the file you've just uploaded.  A similar program can prepare 
text files for downloading to your computer, for example:

     unix2dos filename filename  or
     unix2mac filename filename

will ensure that a text file you are about to get will not come out 
looking odd on your computer.

* Nothing happens or you get a lot of garbage on your screen when you try 
to download a file with Zmodem. 

Unfortunately, transferring files over high-speed modems can still 
sometimes be troublesome. Diagnosing and fixing the problem often means 
tinkering with settings either on your end (for example, if your modem 
supports hardware "handshaking" but your telecom program is set for 
software "handshaking"); the public-access site's end (with various 
flags) or both.  The best thing to do when having problems is to send e-
mail to your system administrator or post a message in your site's 
"general" or "help" newsgroup if there is one.   If you're having a 
problem, chances are somebody else has gone through the same thing and 
can help out.  It would probably make sense to include the type of modem 
you're using and the speed at which it connects.