Accessing the Newsgroup

The CS61A newsgroup is a great way to discuss the material, or to ask questions of the staff that you think might be relevant to other students as well. In addition, even if you don't have questions of your own, you should follow the newsgroup just to pick up on useful info from your fellow students.

Remember, though: don't post code to the newsgroup—that's cheating! E-mail your TA instead, or drop by his or her office hours.

Easy Way

Use the off-campus access link on the main page.

1. Enter your cs61a-XX account name and password.
2. Click the "Change Subscriptions" button.
3. Type ucb.class.cs61a into the text box, then click the "Submit" button at the top of the page.
4. Click the "Group Index" button to go back.
5. Click on the ucb.class.cs61a link. You should then be able to access the group and its messages, as well as post your own messages.

Nice Way

Use a newsgroup reader on your personal computer.

1. Get a newsgroup reader such as Thunderbird, Unison, or Windows Live Mail. The instructions here are for Thunderbird, but generalize pretty well to the other clients.
2. Create a new Newsgroup account. In Thunderbird, this is under the "Other Accounts…" option in the "New" submenu in the File menu.
3. Your name and e-mail will be shown on the newsgroup. You can use your class account (cs61a-XX@imail.eecs.berkeley.edu) if you like.
4. The newsgroup server is news.csua.berkeley.edu.
5. Accessing the newsgroup from off-campus requires a username, usenet, and a password, gobears. Note that Thunderbird will not ask you for this until the next step.
6. Once you have this account set up, you need to subscribe to the ucb.class.cs61a group. In Thunderbird, you select the account you just set up and click "Manage newsgroup subscriptions", then select the group from the list.
7. You should then be able to access the group and its messages, as well as post your own messages.

[CS61A Home Page]