How do I send and receive e-mail?

If you have a Telnet or dialup shell account, and you don't have PPP (dialup) access with another provider, you can use the Pine program to send and receive e-mail.

If you have a PPP account (or a Telnet account and PPP access via another ISP), you can make a Telnet or SSH connection to use Pine, or you can use an e-mail client that runs over your PPP connection.

There are many options for reading and sending e-mail under PPP. One popular option is to use the e-mail function of your Web browser. If you've used your Web browser for e-mail in the past, this might be the most convenient solution for you.

However, because they're designed specifically for this purpose, we highly recommend that you use a separate e-mail client software program.

If you're using Windows, Outlook Express may be on your system already. Similarly, most Macintoshes come with Outlook Express or Eudora Light, another good e-mail program.

If you don't already have an e-mail program on your computer, don't fret. Drizzle keeps a list of e-mail freeware/shareware options for Macintosh and Windows platforms. These can be downloaded from the World Wide Web.

If you have a dialup or DSL connection to Drizzle, here are instructions for setting up your e-mail program to receive your mail.

NOTE TO LAN USERS: If you are on a Local Area Network (LAN), your SMTP (outgoing) mail server should be the same as the outgoing mail server for your LAN, but your POP3 mail server should still be "pop.drizzle.com". If you don't know the outgoing mail server for your LAN, ask your system administrator.

NOTE TO USERS WITH A TELNET ACCOUNT: Your SMTP (outgoing) mail server should be the same as the outgoing mail server for the ISP which provides your dialup PPP access, but your POP3 mail server should still be "pop.drizzle.com". If you don't know the mail server for the ISP which provides your dialup PPP access, ask that ISP.

NOTE TO USERS HOSTING A VIRTUAL DOMAIN: Your "E-mail Address" and your "Reply To" or "Return Address" fields should be in the form:

myname@mydomain.com (or .org)

Finally, Drizzle supports the Pine e-mail program for those who want UNIX-based, non-graphical e-mail. Though it doesn't have the fancy screens of graphical e-mail clients, Pine is fast and easy to use. You don't have to deal with POP3 or SMTP settings. However, your mail messages will continue to take up space on the Drizzle server, and if you don't delete messages/folders on a regular basis, you could end up using your entire disk quota! Also, most people want to keep their mail message on their own computers, rather than on the server.

To start Pine: Make a Telnet or SSH connection to "drizzle.com" (or just dialup to Drizzle if you have a Shell account). Enter your username and password, hit Return to enter the Online Salon, and type "m" (for "mail") at the YOUR TURN prompt. The commands are straightforward, but if you'd like more information, type "?" at the Pine main menu, or check out the Pine Information Center.

Do you want to set up the Pine configuration so that Lynx will be the default URL browser for links embedded in e-mail?

Open Pine

Type S then C then W

Enter "url". This should take you to the field labeled "enable-msg-view-urls" Hit [RETURN].

Type W and hit [RETURN]. This should take you to the field labeled "url-viewers."

Hit [RETURN].

Enter "/usr/bin/lynx" and hit [RETURN].

Type E then Y.

If your Pine e-mail is in READ-ONLY mode due to an improper log out (dropped connection, computer crash, etc.) you may need to delete the previous Pine session from the server before Pine will allow you full control over your e-mail. The reason for this is that Pine still believes that your first e-mail session is still open and is really you. Pine believes that the second session you are trying to open is someone else; therefore, Pine denies the someone else access to your account. It's easy to fix this situation.

Go to the shell, and type "ps x" at the prompt. Your output will look something like this:

(The pine line may read "popper" or "zombie" instead of, or in addition to, "pine.")

Note the number in the PID column which is on the line containing "pine". It is 1116 in this example.

At the shell, type: kill 1116

Now, go back into pine, and see if it is read-only now. It should not be.

If it is, go back to the shell, and type: kill -9 1116

If that doesn't do it, call us, but it really should.

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