==========================================
sample NNTP session using the "nc" command
==========================================
-Ian! D. Allen - idallen@idallen.ca

The "nc" TCP/IP "Swiss Army Knife" program is a "pure" way to connect
your keyboard with a remote TCP/IP daemon.  It is similar to "telnet",
except it doesn't try to auto-negotiate any line parameters first.  It is
useful for connecting directly to many text-based Internet protocols.

One such protocol is the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) used
to send and receive USENET News over the Internet.  It is documented
in RFC977:

    http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc977.html

My input is marked by "*" in the examples below.  This particular NNTP
server has some HELP commands enabled.

  * $ nc -v news.idallen.com nntp
    news.idallen.com [206.47.37.39] 119 (nntp) open
    200 localhost DNEWS Version  5.7b1,, S0, posting OK
  * HELP
    100 Legal commands
      authinfo user Name|pass Password
      article [MessageID|Number]
      body [MessageID|Number]
      check MessageID
      date
      group newsgroup
      head [MessageID|Number]
      help
      ihave
      last
      list [active|active.times|newsgroups|subscriptions]
      listgroup newsgroup
      mode stream
      mode reader
      newgroups yymmdd hhmmss [GMT] [<distributions>]
      newnews newsgroups yymmdd hhmmss [GMT] [<distributions>]
      next
      post
      slave
      stat [MessageID|Number]
      takethis MessageID
      xgtitle [group_pattern]
      xhdr header [range|MessageID]
      xover [range]
      xpat header range|MessageID pat [morepat...]
    .
  * list
    215 list of newsgroups follows
    control 2 2 y
    control.cancel 102 2 y
    news.announce.newusers 4759 4745 m
    news.newusers.questions 503924 503633 m
    ott.business.ads 38231 37827 y
[... 265 more lines of available news groups deleted here ...]
    idallen.net2003.05w.announce 31 3 m
    idallen.net2003.05w.discussion 75 3 y
    .
  * listgroup idallen.net2003.05w.announce
    211 Article list follows
    3
    4
    5
[... 23 lines of numbers deleted here ...]
    30
    31
    .
  * head 4
    221 4 <cr4e63$er1$1@elm.home.idallen.ca> article retrieved - head follows
    From: idallen@idallen.ca (Ian! D. Allen)
    Newsgroups: idallen.net2003.05w.announce
    Subject: Course starts Wednesday January 5, 2005
    Followup-To: idallen.net2003.05w.discussion
    Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:52:19 -0500 (EST)
    Organization: Ian!  Ottawa, CANADA.  http://www.idallen.com/
    Lines: 9
    Sender: idallen@elm.home.idallen.ca
    Approved: idallen@freenet.carleton.ca
    Message-ID: <cr4e63$er1$1@elm.home.idallen.ca>
    Reply-To: idallen@idallen.ca (Ian! D. Allen)
    NNTP-Posting-Host: cpu1808.adsl.bellglobal.com
    X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: cpu1808.adsl.bellglobal.com
    X-Trace: news.idallen.com 1104526339 206.47.37.39 (31 Dec 2004 15:52:19
    Path: news.idallen.com!cpu1808.adsl.bellglobal.com!not-for-mail
    Xref: localhost idallen.net2003.05w.announce:4
    .
  * body 4
    222 4 <cr4e63$er1$1@elm.home.idallen.ca> article retrieved - body follows
    NET2003 05W starts with the first lecture in Algonquin room T327 (School
    of Advanced Technology - Building "T") at 12:00 noon.

    There are no classes on Monday January 3 or Tuesday January 4.
    --
    -IAN!  Ian! D. Allen   Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
          EMail: idallen@idallen.ca   WWW: http://www.idallen.com/
          College professor (Linux) via: http://teaching.idallen.com/
          Support free and open public digital rights:  http://eff.org/
    .
  * quit
    205 closing connection - goodbye!
    $