Hello William!

Sunday September 15 1996, William Connor writes to Rob Szarka:

 WC> Well, as I said before, I don't really know much about this, and my
 WC> provider tells me that I already have a Unix shell account built in
 WC> to my account as it is, but not UUCP access.  The only thing that I
 WC> think I do know is that I need the commands mput and mget accessible
 WC> to me in order to get the mail that I want.

Maybe not.  These commands are sometimes internal to the software that you are
running.  That software in turn issues commands to get a list of files in the
current directory and then asks for them one after the other.

 WC> This may not be true
 WC> either, but at any rate, noone that I have talked to, including the
 WC> tech people at my provider has any clue how to automate my email
 WC> process, and that is what I am looking for.

Internet Service Providers often fall into the category of "business folks" and
often are unaware of options you might require.  Most users are windoze
operators rather than folks attempting to do serious work.

 WC> The only program that
 WC> I seem to be able to use (I have ppp that I know works, but not a
 WC> static ip address, which is necessary for almost all of the programs
 WC> I have looked at)

Not necessarily true.

 WC>  is TransX, which is extremely proprietary, and at
 WC> least two of the people I get mail attached to email from refuse to
 WC> use the program, so I am stuck...

OK.  What are they using?  In what manner is the "mail attached to the email"?
Are these UUencoded FTN message archives?

 RS>> An analog to your statement above would be complaining that when you
 RS>> dialed another FidoNet mailer you could run all the commands on the
 RS>> BBS. Two different animals.

 WC> Again, my ignorance rears it's ugly head.  I can only go by what I am
 WC> told, since I have no experience of my own, and what you tell me
 WC> conflicts with what my provider tells me, and I am certainly not
 WC> trying to tell you you are wrong, since much of what my provider has
 WC> told me has turned out to be wholly inaccurate.

It might not be relevent anyway :-)  Let's concentrate on what might work for
you :-)

 WC> I am only seeking
 WC> a way to automate my email sending/creating/collecting, none of which
 WC> you have helped with.  I already know that I don't know what I am
 WC> talking about, and that is why I ask questions...

OK...let's get the basics out of the way.  Are you trying to transfer ARCmail
style (FTN) message archives?  Is there an FTP site where you pick them up/drop
them off?

At this point it sounds like you are trying to exchange UUencoded ARCmail
archives by Email.  If so, there are a number of pitfalls but various versions
of KA9Q can do it.  Do you have bidirectional SMTP mail available or is it
POP3?

Are you running under DOS?  DesqView?  A full-time connection or dialup at
"timed" intervals?  What mailer software are you using on the Fidonet side?
What type of message base?

                  John Mudge [jmudge@ptmudge.westsound.com]