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Top Document: [news.software.readers] trn newsreader FAQ, part 1: Basics
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OCNN: How does trn compare to other popular newsreaders like nn?


        Wayne Davison <trn@clari.net>,
        Tom Christiansen <tchrist@mox.perl.com>,
        Lazlo Nibble <lazlo@mack.rt66.com>

Notation
========
 + is an advantage
 o is neutral
 - is a disadvantage
 ? is open to debate

NN 6.4.16
=========
+ easier macro language
+ more powerful kill/select abilities (ANDing, ORing)
+ dedicated newsgroup (news.software.nn) for discussion
+ l command for flagging (with =) and leaving an article to deal with it later
  (this is better than trn's M command which just returns an article as unread 
  next time)
+ incredibly customizable
+ more robust on-the-fly killfile entry construction
+ configurable "instant" entry creation ("Kill subject 30 days?")
+ any kill/select can be set to expire
+ can easily view and organize your folders (both mail and news) with nn
+ can merge newsgroups
+ can search all (or some) newsgroups for subject and/or author
o faster auto killing/selecting
  [Davison: "I don't believe that nn is any faster at auto-killing than trn."]
o can split/unsplit digests
  [Davison: "If you are running the NOV-compatible version of nn this doesn't
  work."]
- does not thread
- not very active participation by developer(s) in newsgroup (news.software.nn) 
- can only search on subject and/or author; also author is the "real name" 
  rather than full From line
- macro names limited to 2 characters (as far as I can tell)
? more powerful macro language

TRN 3.6
=======
+ newsgroup selection level is friendlier than nn's A/B (advance/back)
  commands (I like being able to see the list of newsgroups that I
  say no to)
+ true threading (uses References line)
+ graphic view of thread ("article tree")
+ uses NOV (new overview database) for fast searching of headers; also
  NOV is used by other newsreaders (eventually nn too)
+ can search body of article
+ can search full header
+ can reorder subscription list from within TRN (using m)
+ can have macro names longer than 2 characters
+ active participation by trn developer in newsgroup (news.software.readers)
+ can reverse the sort order (e.g., most recent at the top)
+ intrinsic commands for going to root/leaf of a thread (in nn you
  need to do this with macros or a sequence of commands)
+ intrinsic command for auto-selecting your articles
+ easy to change attribution line to whatever you want (using ATTRIBUTION)
+ when you post you get lots of blank headers (e.g., Followup-To) put
  into your editor 
o newsgroup (news.software.readers) for discussion but also contains lots 
  of non-TRN discussion.
? harder macro language

This is certainly not a complete list.



Top Document: [news.software.readers] trn newsreader FAQ, part 1: Basics
Previous Document: OODA: What other documentation is available?
Next Document: OLVW: What's the latest version of trn and where can I get it?

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