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Text File
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1988-03-23
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8KB
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215 lines
HOW TO USE PC MAIL
******************
1. MAKE A BACKUP of this disk!
2. Read this document and any others in the DOCS directory on your PCMAIL:
disk.
3. Modify your PROFILE file--in the PCMAIL:usr/lib/uucp directory--to
reflect the SPEED of your modem (the second line from the bottom of the
file).
4. Modify your SYSTEMS file-in the PCMAIL:usr/lib/uucp directory--to
reflect your modem speed at the dialing exchange your system will be
calling from:
ATTD - for TONE dialing
ATTP - for PULSE dialing
You should be sure that the entire file is on ONE line.
5. Change your Serial preferences on your main SYS: disk (by loading the
Preferences program) to reflect the following:
Read Bits - 8
Write Bits - 8
Stop Bits - 1
Parity - NONE
Handshaking - NONE
PC Mail uses a different method for reading, composing, and dispatching
mail from what you are probably used to with other bulletin board systems.
With PC Mail, you compose your mail locally on your own PC and then
transmit the message to your concentrator site at full transmission speeds.
When your mail has been sent, the concentrator site will then send you any
messages you have waiting and any news from the boards you have signed up
for. The concentrator site then signs off, and you can view your mail and
news using your favourite text editor at your leisure.
[Note by Johan Widen. I have not provided the script uu. Use uupc directly.
The ideal way to use uucp is to start it with AmiCron, an Amiga implmentation
of the UNIX cron program. However, you can get by quite well by running
uupc manually. The magic formula is
uupc -r1 -s<system>
You can get debugging output if you supplu the switch -x<debuglevel> whwre
<debuglevel> is a number between 0 and 9 (4 is a good start). Example:
uupc -r1 -ssics -x4
Look at dcp.c to learn more about what you can do.]
PC Mail itself consists of two programs, "uu" and "mail". Use "uu" to
communicate with the remote concentrator site--that is, to send and receive
mail, messages, or news; use "mail" to prepare your own messages or news to
be sent to the concentrator site by "uu".
UU
**
"uu" is the program that dials VNET (or van-bc, as it is called), connects,
and sends and receives your mail and your subscribed News Groups messages.
Check that your modem is on line, ready to send; also make sure that the PC
Mail disk is the current directory by typing "CD PCMail:". Now use the
"uu" program to send and receive mail, messages, or news by typing:
uu -svan-bc
Note that there is no space between the "-s" and the remote concentrator
site, in this case "van-bc", to which you are sending your message.
The "uu" program will automatically dial, connect to, and sign in to
"van-bc" using your PC's address and your password. "uu" will then send
your mail (if you have any to send) and will prepare to receive any news or
mail waiting for you. When all mail has been transferred, "uu" will hang
up.
MAIL
****
You need to know the following information:
- the name of the remote concentrator site. Stuart's board is
"van-bc".
- the "Domain" or address of the person to whom you are sending
the message.
Let's say, for illustration purposes, that you want to send a message to
Stuart asking him for access to the Amiga news board, "comp.sys.amiga".
Stuart's address is "sl@van-bc".
First, use your favourite text editor to compose your mail. Next, save it.
Let's say that the name of the saved mail file is "ram:mymail". Now, make
the PC Mail disk the root directory by typing "CD PCMail:". To prepare
your mail to be sent to "van-bc" by "uu", type:
Mail <ram:mymail -s "Request for access to comp.sys.amiga" sl@van-bc
- the subject of your message is introduced by "-s"
- the subject title, in this case "Request for access to
comp.sys.amiga", must be enclosed in quotation marks.
- the address, in this case "sl@van-bc", follows the subject.
After you type the above command, the "mail" program will now copy your
message to a spool directory on your PC Mail disk, ready to transmit to the
concentrator site, and at the same time, will save a copy of your letter in
your own personal mailbox in a file called "mail.sent".
WHO CAN YOU SEND MAIL TO?
*************************
Other registered VNET users are:
dave@daami.vnet
jlydiatt@jlami.vnet
steve@slrami.vnet
lphillips@lpami.vnet
bhenning@bhami.vnet
joel@jmami.vnet
You will automatically be subscribed to the group vnet.info. As the number
of registered users increases, there will be welcome messages in this
group.
SENDING MAIL TO MORE THAN ONE ADDRESS
*************************************
To send a mail message to more than one UseNet address, simply add the
additional address or addresses to the outgoing mail. For example:
mail <ram:mymail -s "Hi Guys!" dave@daami.vnet jlydiatt@jlami.vnet
VIEWING MAIL
************
By typing "mail" by itself at the PCMAIL: level, you will get a listing of
the mail (if any) in your box. Type a question mark at the numbered prompt
for more information about using "mail".
If there is any mail in your mailbox, this is what you should see:
-----------------------------
Opening profile
New filename RAM:T/mailbox
New filename RAM:T/mailbag
New filename :Mailbox/name <---where "name" is your name.
0 11 Aug Dave Allen Testing ( 0)
0?
-----------------------------
The "0?" is the numbered prompt referred to earlier, and at this point, you
can type a question mark,"?", to view your options. Please note that not
all options are implemented at this time.
WHERE DO YOU FIND THINGS?
*************************
Here's where to find any news or messages you have received from the
concentrator site:
News: is located in the directory "PCMail:RNews". You will find that the
news comes packaged in bundles of 100,000 characters or less, and there may
therefore be more than one bundle waiting for you. There bundles all have
four digit numbers as file names. Use your favourite editor to browse
through the files.
Mail: can be read using the same mail program you used to send out your
messages. Simply type "mail" with no other parameters, and you will be
presented with a menu showing an itemized list of messages you can view or
with a message telling you that you have no mail. "mail" will tell you
what your options are if you type a question mark at the numbered prompt.
SOME HINTS FOR EFFICIENT USE
****************************
Conserve disk space. News will come in pretty regularly, and you will
find that if you do not delete the files as you read them, you will quickly
fill up the disk. I like to save the files on a separate disk and delete
the news bundles as soon as they come in.
PC Mail also keeps a log of your activity which can grow significantly.
You should also delete this file, called "logfile", occasionally so it does
not get too out of hand. You can find it in the directory
"PCMail:usr/spool/uucp".
PC Mail also keeps a copy of ALL messages you have sent in the file
"PCMail:Mailbox/mail.sent". You should also delete this file occasionally
to conserve disk space.
NOTE
****
The complete software is not yet implemented as it is still in the
development stage for the Amiga. Any suggestions or changes to the current
version should be sent to jlydiatt@jlami.vnet for distribution.
Please forward suggestions for this file to dave@daami.vnet.
Thank you.