¢ Here's an interesting and informative¢ article on e-mail by TOM ANDREWS. ¢ I've asked Tom if I could put my own¢ bits of experience into this article¢ where they have differed from his,¢ and he has graciously agreed.¢¢¢ *************************************¢¢ The Joy of Email¢¢ by¢ Thomas J. Andrews¢¢ Email is one of the foremost reasons¢ people cite for going on the¢ Internet, and why not? While I don't¢ think it'll ever completely replace¢ "snail mail," email certainly has¢ advantages in the areas of speed and¢ convenience. Usually, an email¢ message is in the addressee's¢ electronic mailbox within minutes of¢ being sent, whether it was from¢ across town or across the country,¢ and it's nearly as fast between¢ countries. Replies can be even¢ faster, as all addressing can be¢ handled with a single command.¢¢ There are things you can do with¢ email that would be difficult or¢ nearly impossible with snail mail. I¢ belong to a group of "keyboardpals"¢ who keep in touch using email.¢ Calling ourselves "The Coffeehouse¢ Annex," we take our name from our¢ original online meetingplace, the¢ Coffeehouse Category of GEnie's¢ Writer's Ink Roundtable. Most of us¢ are no longer with Genie, so we no¢ longer have access to the¢ Coffeehouse. But, we keep the Annex¢ together by sending mutual email¢ letters. All letters are addressed¢ to all members of the group,¢ regardless of the specific person the¢ message is meant for. (Sending email¢ to multiple addresses is almost as¢ easy as with single ones, sometimes¢ even easier. More on that later.)¢ Because email is delivered so¢ quickly, we can all keep current with¢ the "conversation," even though there¢ are 14 of us and most live hundreds¢ of miles from each other. We've¢ celebrated engagements, marriages,¢ births, and success; commiserated¢ over divorce, illness, death, and¢ failure; and discussed most of the¢ problems plaguing Mankind. Imagine¢ doing that with snail mail!¢¢ What Do You Need To Get Email?¢¢ The same hardware and software I¢ discussed in my previous article,¢ "Usenet and the Atari8," is more than¢ adequate for email service. As for¢ service providers, all the Internet¢ Service Providers (ISP's) I wrote¢ about in that article provide¢ Internet Email service, including an¢ address and mailbox.¢¢ Email procedures vary with the¢ provider, but basic operations are¢ quite similar for all. I'll use¢ those of my own ISP, Delphi Internet,¢ as an example. Delphi is usually¢ case-insensitive when it comes to¢ commands, so you can use small¢ letters and capitals interchangably.¢ I'll use capitals here for¢ convenience in identifying commands¢ and such.¢¢ Reading Incoming Mail¢¢ If you have any unread mail waiting¢ in your mailbox when you log onto¢ Delphi, you'll receive a message with¢ the general announcements. To access¢ the mailbox you use the MAIL command,¢ which can be used from almost any¢ area of Delphi. When you get there,¢ if all you want to do is read the¢ first letter of your unread mail,¢ just press RETURN. The letter will¢ be displayed, one "page" at a time.¢ Press RETURN to move on to the next¢ page, and on through all the unread¢ letters.¢¢ If you have a long list of incoming¢ mail, you might want to screen it for¢ letters you want to read first or for¢ "spam"--junk mail you want to¢ ignore.¢¢ (Delphi filters out most of the spam,¢ but some does get through.) You use¢ the DIR command to do this. Each¢ letter will be given a number, and¢ you can read individual letters using¢ READ n, where n is the number of the¢ letter you want to read.¢¢ To get rid of a letter, whether¢ you've read it or not, use the DELETE¢ n command. This will put the letter¢ into a temporary "wastebasket" where¢ the letter can be retrieved until you¢ leave the MAIL area. Once you leave,¢ deleted mail is gone forever.¢¢ (NOTE: What Tom has said about¢ retrieving and storing messages is¢ generally true for information¢ services like Delphi and "free"¢ services like NassauNet, but¢ commercial ISPs generally delete¢ messages from their system after you¢ receive them. You are responsible¢ for storing the messages under these¢ conditions. I doubt that many 8-bit¢ Atarians use commercial ISPs because¢ most commercial ISPs don't offer¢ text-based, or "Unix Shell Accounts"¢ anyway. But if you do, you'd better¢ have a hard drive in your system! --¢ Ed.)¢¢ If you want to reread a letter from¢ another session, you must change the¢ active mail folder. If you have¢ unread mail waiting when you enter¢ MAIL, the NEWMAIL folder is¢ automatically activated. Once mail¢ is read, it is copied to the MAIL¢ folder. To activate that folder, use¢ SELECT MAIL. To reactivate the¢ NEWMAIL folder, use SELECT NEWMAIL.¢¢ Users who want to conserve online¢ time will want to capture mail to a¢ disk file, then read it offline. To¢ do this with Delphi's mail reader,¢ activate your software's capture¢ buffer (with Bobterm, just press¢ OPTION), then issue a SELECT command¢ to activate the appropriate folder.¢ To read all the mail in that folder,¢ type EXTRACT/ALL TT, then sit back¢ and watch it scroll by. (Bobterm¢ will pause when the buffer is full¢ and ask for a filename. I highly¢ recommend using a RAMdisk for this if¢ you have one.)¢¢ Is That All There Is?¢¢ Of course, reading email isn't the¢ only part of it, and maybe not even¢ the best part. You're going to want¢ to send a few letters, too. On¢ Delphi, you do that with the SEND¢ command. To send a copy to yourself,¢ use SEND/SELF, and to send "carbon¢ copies" to other recipients, use¢ SEND/CC.¢¢ Once you've issued the SEND command¢ you run right up against the most¢ complicated part of email--¢ addressing. The first thing you need¢ to realize is that there is more than¢ one type of Internet address, and not¢ all types can receive email. If you¢ see an address that starts with a www¢ or http prefix, or is labeled with¢ something like, "Join us at our web¢ site," that is an address for a site¢ on the World Wide Web. While it's¢ possible to leave messages at many¢ web sites and receive an email reply,¢ these addresses in general cannot be¢ used for regular email.¢¢ Addresses that start with the letters¢ ftp, or are otherwise labeled as ftp¢ sites, can't be used for regular¢ email, either. These are File¢ Transfer Protocol sites, places on¢ the Internet where you can download¢ or upload programs and text files.¢ There are several ftp sites dedicated¢ to the Atari 8-bit that are¢ relatively easy to access with our¢ machines, but that's the subject of¢ another article.¢¢ We're talking about email here.¢ Internet email addresses always take¢ the form:¢¢ "username@somewhere.someplace."¢¢ Addresses will frequently contain¢ more parts separated by periods--this¢ form is the bare minimum--but they¢ always have the @ symbol in the¢ middle.¢¢ The part before the @ symbol, the¢ user name, is analogous to the name¢ on a snail mail address. The part¢ after the @ symbol, the "domain," is¢ analogous to the street, city, state,¢ and/or country part. The final¢ suffix identifies the type of domain.¢ Domain types you'll commonly run into¢ are .com (commercial), .org¢ (organization), .edu (educational),¢ .net (network), and .gov¢ (government).¢¢ Letter addressing conventions vary¢ from provider to provider. Online¢ services usually use some additional¢ characters to differenciate an in-¢ service address from an Internet¢ address. On Delphi, the word¢ INTERNET or the characters IN% at the¢ beginning, followed by the address in¢ full, enclosed in quotation marks,¢ like this:¢¢ INTERNET"username@service.com"¢¢ or¢¢ IN%"username@service.com"¢¢ The quotation marks tell Delphi to¢ suspend its normal practice, and pay¢ attention to upper and lower case of¢ characters within the quotes. When¢ you type in the address, be sure to¢ keep the character cases correct, as¢ an incorrect address will be¢ rejected, or worse, misdirected.¢¢ Most providers allow multiple¢ addresses on the TO: line, seperated¢ by commas. Delphi allows another¢ option that's handy if you regularly¢ send email to a certain group, like¢ my Coffeehouse Annex. Each Delphi¢ member is alloted an amount of semi-¢ temporary storage space called the¢ "Workspace," designed primarily as a¢ resting place for files that are¢ uploaded, downloaded, or emailed.¢ Files in this area are regularly¢ deleted by Delphi after a period of¢ time, with one exception. Lists of¢ email addresses, called "Distribution¢ Lists," are left in permanent¢ storage, "as long as they're not too¢ long." I don't know how long "too¢ long" is, but a 14-address list¢ isn't. These lists must be in text,¢ one address to a line, just as they'd¢ appear on a TO: line, and the list¢ file must use the filename form¢ "filename.dis" (no quotes; case¢ doesn't matter). Once such a file¢ resides in the Workspace, when asked¢ for a TO: or a CC: address, respond¢ with "@filename" (no quotes, no .dis¢ extender), and that distribution list¢ will be used in the address field. ¢ It couldn't be muchsimpler.¢¢ Once your email is addressed, you¢ must fill in a SUBJECT: line. The¢ number of characters allowed varies¢ with the provider, so be brief.¢ Three or four short words are more¢ than sufficient. This article was¢ emailed to Alan Sharkis, for example,¢ with the subject, "Email Article."¢¢ (NOTE: Some services will allow you¢ to send a message without a subject,¢ but it's generally not a good idea.¢ I, for one, am instantly suspicious¢ of any message I receive that has no¢ subject -- Ed.)¢¢ After that, you type in your letter.¢ Delphi is set up to use 80-character¢ lines in email, the "standard" line¢ length. If you type away, like you¢ would with a word processor, only¢ putting RETURNs at the ends of¢ paragraphs, Delphi will automatically¢ advance you to the next screen line--¢ without word wrap, so your words¢ could be split anywhere. Type in too¢ many characters without a RETURN, and¢ the message gets truncated. To avoid¢ this, make sure you put a RETURN¢ somewhere less than every 80¢ characters. With Bobterm, this is¢ easiest to do if yiou activate your¢ edit window. Type into the window,¢ and when two lines are almost full,¢ press RETURN at an appropriate place¢ and the entire line is transmitted. ¢ Then, do the same with the next line.¢ It's a lot like relearning old¢ typewriter habits you had to unlearn¢ when you started using a word¢ processor.¢¢ When finished, de-activate the edit¢ window if you used it, then press the¢ key combination CONTROL-Z, and your¢ letter will be on its way. To exit a¢ letter without sending it, press¢ CONTROL-C.¢¢ I type my letters online only when I¢ have a short message, no more than¢ two or three lines, mostly because I¢ want to limit my online time, but¢ partly because longer letters¢ frequently need editing, and I've¢ never really learned to use Delphi's¢ online editor. I prefer to prepare¢ longer letters offline, using a word¢ processor, then upload them using¢ Bobterm's ASCII upload feature.¢¢ To do this, you need a word processor¢ that will print to disk, like¢ Atariwriter Plus, Paper Clip, or¢ Textpro. (Xlent also does this --¢ Ed.) I use Textpro 4.54, because¢ it's the one I'm most used to, and¢ it's completely compatible with¢ Bobterm and MyDOS 4.5. You can¢ easily switch from one to the other,¢ using the same RAMdisk. I have a¢ configuration file, specially¢ prepared for Delphi, that's¢ automatically loaded when Textpro is¢ booted. (page lenghth 255, top margin¢ 0, bottom margin 255, left margin 0,¢ right margin 75) I also have macros¢ set up to print to the RAMdisk, and¢ load Bobterm directly from Textpro¢ without going through DOS.¢¢ Once you have your letter in a¢ properly formatted disk file,¢ preferably on a RAMdisk, and have¢ used Bobterm to get to the point¢ where Delphi asks you for the text of¢ your letter, hit START to go to¢ Bobterm's main menu without breaking¢ the connection. Hit S (for SEND),¢ and 7 (for ASCII transfer), then¢ enter the filename where your letter¢ can be found. Then you must specify¢ the delay between characters. At¢ some speeds, with some connections¢ and hardware setups, characters may¢ be lost if transmitted too quickly.¢ If this happens to you, you need to¢ increase the delay value. When¢ Bobterm returns you to the terminal¢ screen, press SELECT to initiate the¢ transfer. When the transfer is¢ complete, press CONTROL-Z to send the¢ letter, or CONTROL-C to cancel.¢¢ Replying to a letter is even easier.¢ Just use Delphi's REPLY command when¢ you have the letter you want to reply¢ to on the screen, and the address and¢ subject lines will be filled in for¢ you. All you supply is the text.¢¢ What About Program Files?¢¢ Internet email is set up to use 7-bit¢ ASCII data only. That is, only¢ characters with an ASCII value of¢ less than 128. Program files are 8-¢ bit data, and can't be directly¢ emailed on the Internet. Before¢ mailing, 8-bit data must encoded into¢ a 7-bit form. Several methods have¢ been developed to do this, but to my¢ knowledge only one has been¢ programmed for the 8-bit:¢ "uuencoding." Don't ask where the¢ name came from. I don't know. (It¢ has something to do with Unix, but I¢ can't remember the details -- Ed.)¢¢ Several uuencoders/decoders have been¢ written for the 8-bit. On the few¢ times I've done it, I've used YAU.COM¢ (Yet Another Uuencoder). It's fast¢ and easy to use. Encoder and decoder¢ programs are separate, and you use¢ similar procedures to run each.¢ UUencoded files will start with the¢ word "BEGIN" and a number, followed¢ by line after line of what looks like¢ gibberish, so they should be easy to¢ recognize. If you get one, just run¢ it through the decoder and the¢ original file will be restored.¢ (There are similar programs called¢ UUEncode and UUdecode for our 8-bits.¢ I've used them all, and they generaly¢ work -- Ed.)¢¢ The procedure for attaching files¢ varies widely among providers. On¢ Delphi, the file is uploaded to your¢ Workspace, and a command from the¢ MAIL area attaches it to your email.¢ Encoded files should be uploaded with¢ an error-checking protocol like¢ xmodem or ymodem. Unlike text, which¢ is usable if a letter is lost or¢ corrupted, the entire encoded file¢ may become useless if there is a¢ single error. (Unfortunately, the¢ text-based portion of the NassauNet¢ that some of our local members use¢ doesn't allow for attachements --¢ Ed.)¢¢ That takes care of most of the¢ basics. You can take it from here,¢ if you want. The Atari 8-bit can¢ handle ASCII text as well as any¢ Pentium-based PC--maybe not as fast,¢ but just as well. Our Atari¢ community has become more and more¢ fragmented over the years, but email¢ (and Usenet) can keep us closer¢ together. It's a worthy, and¢ fascinating, use of our machines.¢¢ ************************************¢¢¢