OS/2 Shareware BBS: 35 Internet/35-Internet.zip/roadmap.zip/RMMAP04.TXT

Text File | 1995-04-12 | 10KB | 228 lines

MAP04: E-MAIL


     "I have received no more than one or two letters in my life
      that were worth the postage" -- Henry David Thoreau


I think I have the oldest e-mail program in history. I wouldn't
be surprised if my VM Mailbook program was written by the ancient
Greeks (or by my campus' squirrels). One of the features that
my mail program does not have is a spell-checker, so a few typos
are bound to slip through. Please accept my deepest apologies for
this :)

Almost all e-mail programs have similar, universal functions. The
problem is that all of the e-mail programs use completely different
commands to access these functions (example: to reply to the author
of a current message using the elm or pine e-mail programs, you type
the letter "r"; to do the same function in the VM Mailbook program
you have to hit the PF5 key).

I'm not going to be able to discuss all of these functions, but
what sort of functions do most e-mail programs have in common? Well,
most mail programs have a function that will allow you to access
and read your incoming mail, another to save incoming mail in a
file, one to print incoming mail, one to send new messages, one to
reply to a message, another to include a file in a mail message,
and one to import/export special objects into your mail messages.
Depending on your e-mail software, these functions are either easy or
difficult ... but nearly always possible.

With all of the different e-mail programs out there, and all of
the different commands required to run each program, how are you ever
going to find out what commands are right for YOUR e-mail program?
Easy! Ask your local e-mail service provider! This may shock you,
but almost every mail provider provides some sort of instruction
sheet or file that will teach you how to use the e-mail program
that your provider is running. All you have to do is ask!

I want to take a moment to show you how to actually read an Internet
address. I have to admit that when I first started learning how to
use e-mail, I was intimidated by the length of all of the Internet
addresses. However, once I learned to read the addresses BACKWARDS
-- from right to left -- Internet addresses ceased to be a thing of
mystery.

     Sample Internet Address (mine): [e-mail]

Every Internet address has three parts -- a user name, an "at"
sign (@), and the address of the user's mail server. In this example,
my user name is PCRISPE1 (and stop laughing -- there is nothing funny
about "p-crispy-one"), and my mail server's address is UA1VM.UA.EDU

The mail server address (the UA1VM.UA.EDU part of the above
example) is actually called the "domain" name, and it is based
on something called an IP (or Internet Protocol) address.

Each server connected to the Internet has a numerical IP address.
The IP address is four sets of numbers connected with periods
(for example, the IP address for the mail server that I am using at
the University of Alabama is 130.160.4.100).

Fortunately, the powers that be realized that people remember
NAMES better than numbers, and they created the domain name system.
The domain name system associates the numerical IP address with an
easier to remember "name" (for example, thanks to the domain name
system, the IP address 130.160.4.100 becomes a much easier to
remember UA1VM.UA.EDU).

You may run into IP addresses from time to time when you are FTPing
or telnetting (we'll talk about both of these tools in a few weeks).
Just remember than an IP address (the four sets of numbers connected
with periods) is simply another way to write a domain name, and you
will do fine. Both IP addresses and domain names should work equally
well.

Anyway, back to the "p-crispy-one" example. Remember that my domain
name is UA1VM.UA.EDU? Well, as I said earlier, the best way to read
an Internet address -- and, for that matter, a domain name -- is from
right to left. Domain names are broken down as follows:

     EDU     Educational sites in the U.S.
     COM     Commercial sites in the U.S.
     GOV     U.S. Government sites
     NET     Network administrative organizations
     MIL     U.S. Military sites
     ORG     U.S. Organizations that don't fit into other categories
     SU      Soviet Union (yes, there is still a Soviet Union ...
             at least on the Internet)
     FR      France
     CA      Canada
     ...     (other counties have their own country code)

Since my domain name has an EDU at the end of it, we now know that
UA1VM.UA.EDU is the domain name for some educational site in the
United States. But where?

The rest of the UA1VM.UA.EDU domain name lists the "subdomains" that
tell you where my mail server is actually located. UA is the University
of Alabama, and UA1VM is the name of my mail server's machine.

So, [e-mail] is the Internet address for someone named
"p-crispy-one" (stop laughing!!) at some U.S. educational site. Further
investigation shows that the site is at the University of Alabama, and
that the machine "p-crispy-one" is using is called UA1VM.

     Another Sample Internet Address: [e-mail]

Okay, reading this right to left, we see a GOV. That means it's
a U.S. Government address. I think we all know what NASA is --
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Unless you are a
a big NASA fan, however, you probably don't have the slightest clue
what MSFC stands for (it is the George C. Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama). HQ is pretty self-explanatory --
Headquarters.

So we know that [e-mail] is the address of some
person named w.v.braun whose mail server is at the Headquarters
of the Marshall Space Flight Center, and that the Marshall Space
Flight Center is part of NASA, which itself is part of the U.S.
government.

What can you tell from the Internet address [e-mail]?
A lot, especially if you are a history buff, and if you know that
"saceur" is the military abbreviation for Supreme Allied Commander-
Europe.

The best rule of thumb I can give you about Internet addresses is this:
if the address is not of the form described above and does not end
with one of the standard top-level domain abbreviations or country
codes, the address is NOT an Internet address. You may still be
able to send mail to non-Internet addresses through a gateway, though.


HOMEWORK:

Today's homework is completely optional. Remember though, please do not
send your homework assignments to me :)

Finally, please remember that replying to this (or any other) letter
with your GET commands will *NOT* work. You *MUST* send your GET
commands in the body of a *NEW* e-mail letter to [e-mail]

1)   I want you to find the following two commands for your mailer:

          - the command that allows you to delete an e-mail letter
            without having to read the letter

          - the command that allows you to delete an e-mail letter
            after you have read the letter

     You will soon discover that these two commands are the most
     important, and most used, e-mail commands you will ever use.


2)   If you have "Level Two" or "Level Three" connectivity and are on a UNIX,
     VAX/VMS, or VM system, there are three files I want you to GET from
     the University of Alabama's LISTSERV file server (see last Friday's
     MAP02: LISTSERV FILE SERVER COMMANDS for a review of the GET command).
     The files are from Richard Smith's "Navigating the Internet" workshop,
     and Richard was kind enough to give me permission to use them in this
     workshop.

     The first file covers the basic e-mail commands for the UNIX, VAX/VMS,
     or VM systems. The second file covers the commands to send e-mail,
     and the third file covers the reply function.

     Remember when using the GET command that your commands must be
     sent to the LISTSERV address, not to the list or to me. (Replying
     to this letter will *NOT* work).

      UNIX USERS:                       VAX/VMS USERS:
        filename    filetype              filename    filetype
          UNIX        1                     VMS         1
          UNIX        2                     VMS         2
          UNIX        3                     VMS         3

      VM USERS:
        filename    filetype
          VM          1
          VM          2
          VM          3

     You will have to use three GET commands (one for each file), but
     you can put all three GET commands in one letter. For example,
     if I wanted to get all three of the VM files, the body of
     my letter would look like this:

          GET VM 1 F=MAIL
          GET VM 2 F=MAIL
          GET VM 3 F=MAIL

     PLEASE REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR GET COMMANDS -- OR *ANY* OTHER
     LISTSERV COMMANDS -- IN THE *BODY* OF AN E-MAIL LETTER SENT
     TO [e-mail] (REPLYING TO THIS LETTER WILL *NOT*
     WORK).

3)   If you are not on a UNIX VAX/VMS, or VM system -- or if you are not
     sure what sort of system you are on -- contact your local
     Internet provider and ask for some information on how to use
     your mail program.

     In particular, you should ask for information on how to:

          - access your e-mail program
          - open and read an e-mail letter sent to you
          - save an e-mail letter to a file
          - print an e-mail letter
          - send a new e-mail letter to someone
          - reply to an e-mail letter sent to you
          - include text in a reply (and how to edit this text)

     You probably know how to do most of these things, but it never
     hurts to review it from time to time.

4)   If you would like to get a list of all of the Internet Country
     Codes, use the GET command to get the file COUNTRY CODES from
     the University of Alabama's LISTSERV file server.


   PATRICK DOUGLAS CRISPEN    THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS LETTER DO NOT
    [e-mail]      NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE
  THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA      UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - TUSCALOOSA

      ROADMAP: COPYRIGHT PATRICK CRISPEN 1994. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.