Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It was founded in 1980 to enable users to read and post public messages to various newsgroups. As such, it predates forums, blogs, instant messaging and P2P networks.

Basking in glory after orchestrating a record punishment for a petty file-sharer in the US, the RIAA takes its legal campaign to the next level. Many may want newsgroups to stay under the radar but it’s too late - major labels have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com and it won’t be going away.

I’ve already done an article called Usenet for Dummies, where you can learn about what exactly Usenet is. Go read that article if you haven’t already. If you have, then this article will go over a variety of tools you need to get up and running with Usenet on Linux.

Ah, Usenet newsgroups… Online communication and file sharing for the masses, still equal today to what it was before the advent of blogs, instant messaging and P2P networks.

LottaNZB 0.5.3 Usenet client for Linux is released. It both features some new bells and whistles, making the application ready for future releases of your favorite GNU/Linux distribution, but also includes numerous bug fixes.

If you still visit Usenet or occasionally participate in its discussions and newsgroups, you can get by with Linux newsgroup readers that are integrated into browsers or email clients such as Thunderbird, Evolution, and the Opera Web browser. But if you're an advanced user who wants a more feature-rich newsreader, you need Pan.

TED Torrent Episode Downloader is a program that allows you to download the latest episodes of your favorite TV series thanks to a perfect combination of RSS and BitTorrent technology.

Slimrat is an easy to use rapidshare downloader which can be used from command line or GUI. It can download files from these services: rapidshare.com, depositfiles.com, youtube.com, leteckaposta.cz, fast-load.net, mediafire.com

Unix Recovery Legend: This classic article from Mario Wolczko first appeared on Usenet in 1986.