Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!gpu.utcs.toronto.EDU!nishri
From: nishri@gpu.utcs.toronto.EDU (Alex Nishri)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: E-mail Mac/Mainframe
Message-ID: <8804181440.AA28549@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 88 14:40:32 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 48

We have been looking at the e-mail question here as well.  Being unsatisfied
with offerings like Intermail and Inbox, we have been bugging vendors for the
ability to gateway their proprietary mail formats to rfc822 comptable
networks.  After over a year of disappointment, we, like others are working on
our own solutions.

Thus far we have written a HyperCard stack which presents a good, but not yet
beautiful, user interface for reading and writing mail.  (With time we envisage
re-writing it into C because HyperCard imposes to many limitations on our user
interface.)  The HyperCard stack uses SMTP and POP protocols to send and obtain
mail from a mail server.  (The mail server could be your local Unix machine, as
an example.)

Currently, for testing purposes the HyperCard stack uses serial xcmds.  The
SMTP and POP are conducted over the serial line to a Unix machine.  This part
is working fine.  Naturally, using serial line async communication is not a
reliable solution.

With the Appletalk xcmds we have, it is our intention to be able to run SMTP
and POP over Appletalk.  This would extend mail to Mac Appletalk networks
without requiring additional ethernet cards.  We have obtained a MAC II with
AUX, Apple's Unix, hoping to use it as a mail server.  AUX can talk to our
campus TCP/IP ethernet backbone, and gate mail to the Appletalk.  Since AUX
comes with an SMTP server, all we have to do is port our POP server over, and
write a hundred line C program to glue Appletalk to POP and SMTP.
Unfortunately, The first release of AUX we got does not support Appletalk.  We
are currently looking at ways around this problem (eg Kinetics box, etc)

Our HyperCard stack mail user interface could also presumably be connected to
TCP/IP running over an ethernet card in the end user's Mac.  I don't know if
there are 'ethernet xcmds' around for HyperCard yet.  (This solution may
be popular with those people who already have other reasons to get an
ethernet card in their Mac.)

The experience we are gaining has been very worthwhile.  If there are other
people we can work with, we would be very interested in sharing.  We have
already found that Apple Canada has been very encouraging and helpful.  They
have helped us with technical information and access to equipment without which
we couldn't have gotten as far as we have.

Alex Nishri
University of Toronto
Computing Services

Bitnet/Netnorth/EARN: nishri@utorgpu
UUCP: {utzoo utcsri}!utgpu!nishri
Internet: nishri@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu
Future Utopia: nishri@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca