I keep seeing people refer to news groups with titles formatet like alt.whatever.

How does one find and read these news groups?

You need a news reader.

Some mail clients support NNTP (the protocol for news)

There are lots of text discussion groups, and then there are the BINARY newsgroups.

That's where people UUENCODE binary files into lots of ASCII text message formatted files and upload them to the newsgroup as a collection. Then when people who use a binary newsreader download all of those files, the newsreader puts the original binary file back together again.

Examples of binary files are.... executable program files, audio and video media files, etc...

Newsgroups are part of a "system" (lack of a better word) that developed at the same time as and  nominally not part of the Internet.  Basically they are a collection of interconnected bulletin boards very similar to forums like this but are on servers that only house newsgroups.  At the time they were evolving they were the best and cheapest and most efficient way for mostly technical professionals and computer geeks to post files, interchange data. , etc.

Binarf files are primarily pictures for hobbyists or enthusiasts.  You know Trains ,porn, Planes, porn, Anime, porn, maps. porn. Did I mention there are a lot of porn binary groups.

This may work it may not, your initial set-up with your ISP very likely set up a newsreader.

Take a look at the lower left hand side of your Windows browser, next to the "Start" button, you may see an E for Explorer and an envelope.  

Click on the envelope, you may get a page that shows some kind of news. xxx.xx or similar.  Click on that and then go up to the File drop down and select subscribe, that may give you a very long lisst or a blank box.  

Type in something you are intereted in guns, breasts, etc highlight a line that looks interesting and hit subscribe.  You should see a list of messages  or it may ask you how many headers to download.

Once you download double click on something on the list and see what you get.

Newsgroups are the actual Internet.  Most people say surf the net, when they are actually using the graphical URL nased WEB.  
Your ISP likeley gave you news access, but it sucks.  retention is key on USENet.  Dedicated news is the way to go if you use it much at all....

An easy way to access the groups:


www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q=

Quoted: Newsgroups are part of a "system" (lack of a better word) that developed at the same time as and  nominally not part of the Internet.

You must be NEW to the "internet thing"

Quoted: An easy way to access the groups: www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q=

Not if you are trying to download files. It is really useful for searching for info though.

Quoted: Quoted: Newsgroups are part of a "system" (lack of a better word) that developed at the same time as and  nominally not part of the Internet. You must be NEW to the "internet thing"

+1

Quoted: I keep seeing people refer to news groups with titles formatet like alt.whatever. How does one find and read these news groups?

n00b


AN APPROXIMATE DESCRIPTION
--------------------------

Usenet is a world-wide distributed discussion system.  It consists of a
set of "newsgroups" with names that are classified hierarchically by
subject.  "Articles" or "messages" are "posted" to these newsgroups by
people on computers with the appropriate software -- these articles are
then broadcast to other interconnected computer systems via a wide
variety of networks.  Some newsgroups are "moderated"; in these
newsgroups, the articles are first sent to a moderator for approval
before appearing in the newsgroup.  Usenet is available on a wide variety
of computer systems and networks, but the bulk of modern Usenet traffic
is transported over either the Internet or


What is Usenet? FAQ for n00bs