         Announce A Real-time Compress/Decompress NNTP Relay Engine !
                
                    ***** ZIPNEWS Relay Server  *****

============================================================================
1. Introduciton
2. Technical note
    2.1  Introduction
    2.2  compression effect
    2.3  Fetures
    2.4  platform
    2.5  memory & network resource usage
    2.6  hard disk usage
    2.7  network connection figure
    2.8  Installation
3.  Commands and dialogs in detail
4.  Where can I get the software ?
5.  How much does it cost ? ( no fee needed )
6.  Copyright information & Beta Release Notice
7.  Q&A, report Bugs
8.  Supported NNTP command list
9.  ZIPNEWS private NNTP extensions specification
============================================================================

1. Introduciton
    Now, NNTP has become one of the most popular protocols on the Internet. 
    but the NNTP transaction is alway in text format, and everyone know when 
    send bianries attachment, the encoding mechanism alway enlarge data length to 133%.
    HTTP or FTP can send binaries in original format, thus use less network
    bandwidth, why NNTP cannot ?
    This document attempts to introduce a software production -- 

	                 ZIPNEWS Relay Server

    the software can relay normal/stream NNTP conversations, and automatic compress
    or decompress data to keep any NNTP client and server software getting correct
    data as if there is not a relay server exist! But data transfered between
    two Relay Server is compressed, the result is:

         !! use  local CPU time to reduce Internet transaction !!

    Another Usage is act as a News Gate on firewall or over a dialup connection 
    so that all other computers on the LAN can access Remote News Host.

===============================================================================
2.  Technical notes

1. Introduciton

       ZIPNEWS Relay Server is a 32-bit multithread application,   it can run on Windows NT as a   
       Service or as a normal dialog based  server. It also can run on Windows 95 (dialog based server    
       only).
       It  takes effect on low speed (less than 3 Mb/s) network connection. If you use it in a high speed
       network connection the result will be disappointed  because compress and decompress operation   
       will slow down data transfer and cant be ignored on high speed network.

    2. compression effect

        speed ( on P-90 ):
           	500 kbytes/s(comrpess), 800 kbytes/s(decompress) 
	
        comrpession ratio:
        normal article:     			        40% - 60% reduced
	binaries attachment(JPG & GZIP): 		30% reduced

    3. Fetures
      
	 run as either a service on Win-NT or a dialog based server.
	 friendly GUI managerment.
         access control.
	 access log.
         up to 16 server sections ( you can refer to different servers ).
	 no threads and connections limited.
	 user can define how many threads and how many connections per-thread
         in each server section.
         
    4. platform
       Windows NT / Windows 95
  
    5. memory & network resource usage
        each relay connection use 5.1 KB memory & 2 socket

    6. hard disk usage

       only place the software ( 1 MB is enough )
       additional space to store log file. ( if you want to log information )
   
    7. network connection figure

        1. ZIPNEWS Relay Server work in data flow below normally:
		
	NEWS Server/Reader <==> Relay Server <----> Relay Server <==>NEWS Server
				
	 	( == ) normal data flow    ( -- ) compressed data flow
	between two Relay Server is a low speed network connection. ( less than 3 Mb/s )

        2.please see attached figure(GIF) for detail network connection.

   8. Installation

        1. select or create a directory, then unzip the package in it.
        2. Under Win-NT V3.5x:  create a new program item in a group.  set command line to 
                                znrs.exe -dialog

          Note: Lanuch ZNRS.EXE without parameter "-dialog" will start service under Win-NT.
                Under Win95, lanuch ZNRS.EXE wihout parameter is equal to with "-dialog" parameter.

============================================================================
3.  Commands and dialogs in detail
	please see manual.doc packed with software

4.  where can I get the software ?

5.  how much does it cost ?
     no fee needed:  ZIPNEWS Relay Server Evulate Version is freeware.

============================================================================
6.  copyright information & Beta Release Notice

    1. Copyright  (c) Steven Dong (Dong Yi) 1995,1996.  All rights reserved. 
    
    2.  Author: 
            Steven Dong ( Dong Yi )  <sdong@geocities.com>
            Dsoft Studio
            

    3. ZIPNEWS Relay Server Evulate Version is freeware.
 
       Permission is granted to anyone to use this version for any purpose 
       at no charge, provided that the software is  not  altered, and that
       the  above  copyright notice and this permission statement appear in
       all  such copies.
       
       this software MAY NOT be licensed or sold for profit, included in or 
       distributed with commercial products or otherwise distributed by 
       commercial concerns  to  their clients or customers without prior 
       written permission of the copyright holder.

    4. This software is provided  "AS IS",  WITHOUT  WARRANTY  OF ANY  KIND.
       THE AUTHOR  AND  THE  COPYRIGHT HOLDER  OF  THIS  SOFTWARE  DISCLAIM
       ALL WARRANTIES  OF  ANY KIND,  EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,  INCLUDING,
       WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND 
       F ITNESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

    5. This software is beta release but "no time bomb".
        Because this is beta release,  and I only do limited test under streaming  NNTP,
        so may be have bugs, please contact me if you find something  is wrong, thanks.
	
    6. data compression methods is base on Info-Zip Data Compression Library.

    7. All trademarks and register trademarks in this document are belong to their owner.

============================================================================
7.  Q&A, report Bugs
      If you have any suggestion or find bugs, please contact us:
                             Steven Dong <sdong@geocities.com>
       Thanks.

8.  Supported NNTP command list

      1. all commands in RFC-977
      2. stream command:
       	mode stream
	check
	takethis
      3. these extensions:
              listgroup
       	xgtitle
       	xhdr
       	xmotd
       	xover
       	xpat
       	xreplic
     4. any other commands that only have one-line response:
       	authinfo
       	date
       	...

9.  ZIPNEWS private NNTP extensions specification
        please see manual.doc packed with software

