Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!davidr
From: davidr@hplsla.HP.COM (David M. Reed)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Anybody know a way of getting mail on PCs?
Message-ID: <5190011@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 27 Apr 89 16:32:20 GMT
References: <876@servax0.ESSEX.AC.UK>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 33

One of the main reasons we bought FTP Softwares' PC/TCP was for the SMTP mail 
programs.  The package includes telnet, ftp, rexec, ping, lpr, rcp,
rsh (remsh), tar, mail, and several other programs.  The mail program is
a reasonable implementation of mailx.  The only real "gotcha" is that the
typical PC is a single tasking system.  In order to receive mail you have
to run an SMTP server.  If that program is not running, then mail will
back up on any system trying to send the mail.  So users have to remember to
leave it running when there system is not doing anything else (e.g. at
night), or let if run for a while to receive mail before they want to read
it.  The can send mail at any time, but if they are sending mail to another
PC (which will probably NOT be running the server), we route all PC mail
through one UN*X server.  (From there the mail administrator can determine
who has not been running the server frequently enough.)  We have a sight
license.  

   FTP Software, Inc.
   P.O. Box 150
   Kendall Square Branch
   Boston, MA 02142
   617-246-0900

P.S.  Technically, we did not use the "receive and read mail on the PC"
approach very long before we determined there were too many problems (e.g.
running out of hard disc space for incomming mail, the servers not being
run frequently enough, people not wanting to have to remember to run the
server program, etc.).  So we changed our approach to set up one UN*X system
as the PC server, where all PC users are provided a login and all mail
is addressed to.  Then, whenever they want to read their mail they simply
telnet to the system.  If they want to tranfer information from their mail
to the PC, or from the PC to be mailed, they use 'tftp' within telnet.  We
set up some simple programs to make it easy for the file transfers, and
also to easily print their mail on their local PC's printer, or send the
PC files to the UN*X systems for printing on servers.