
POPmail for PC/MS DOS	- 1 -






POPmail/PC








User Manual
Version 2.3

18 September 1991









Computer & Information Services
University of Minnesota
Room 125 Shepherd Labs
100 Union St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

1991 University of Minnesota

Introduction
This manual is about POPmail for IBM and compatible microcomputers that run the MS-DOS 
operating system.  POPmail is an electronic mail (E-mail) system, written by the 
Microcomputer & Workstation Networks Center at the University of Minnesota. With the 
POPmail program, you can send and receive E-mail messages locally or to and from large 
systems on campus and around the world.  In addition to POPmail for the IBM, we also 
support an Apple Macintosh version, although all references to POPmail in this manual will 
pertain only to the IBM version unless specified otherwise.

POPmail uses the standard IBM character set to emulate a graphical user interface (GUI).  For 
this reason, POPmail runs on a wide range of IBM PCs and compatibles, including the earliest 
PCs which contained a monochrome display adapter (with no graphics support).  In other 
words, POPmail does not require that you install a special graphics display adapter in your 
computer.

With a GUI, you interact with the program by responding to graphical symbols which appear 
on the computer screen, rather than by issuing single line commands (as with the MS-DOS 
operating system).  Because of its graphical user interface, POPmail is largely self-explanatory.  
If you are familiar with the GUI in Microsoft Windows or the Apple Macintosh operating 
system, you will be able to run POPmail without much help from this manual.

We allow free distribution of POPmail to all interested parties as long as our copyright notices 
are not altered or removed and you do not charge others for distribution of our software.

Help! 
If you run into difficulties installing or using POPmail, you should first contact your local 
network administrator.  If you have questions, bug reports, suggestions, or general comments 
about POPmail you can send E-mail to us at:

        popmail@boombox.micro.umn.edu

or if you prefer paper mail:

        POPmail Project
        Microcomputer & Workstation Networks Center
        University of Minnesota
        Room 125 Shepherd Labs
        100 Union St. SE
        Minneapolis, MN 55455
        U.S.A.

In all of your correspondence pertaining to POPmail, please indicate:

	your POPmail version number; and
	your operating system and version number (e.g., DOS 3.2).
POPmail User's Guide

Background and Philosophy
To be widely effective, an E-mail system must embody these three qualities: wide connectivity, 
ease of use, and reasonable cost.  We designed POPmail to meet these goals.  Wide 
connectivity is crucial because most people dont want to use three or four different E-mail 
packages to communicate with colleagues who use different computers.  You can use POPmail 
to send and receive E-mail to and from the academic computer centers on campus Academic 
Computing Services (ACS), St. Paul Computer Center (SPCS), Health Sciences Computer 
Services (HSCS) as well as departmental minicomputers and workstations.  Moreover, you 
can use POPmail to send and receive E-mail to and from machines on the worldwide Internet 
(CICNET, NSFNET, and MRNET) and on BITNET.  POPmail is easy to use and it is in the 
public domain (its free).

Because Unix machines have excellent connectivity to other systems, they are a good choice 
for a mail server.  However, most non-technical users do not want to learn to use Unix just to 
use E-mail.  For this reason, we achieved POPmails design goals on the IBM by writing the 
program in Turbo Pascal so we could hide the ugly realities of the traditional Unix mail system 
from the POPmail user.  By developing our own custom application with an intuitive user 
interface to the Unix mail system, we can give POPmail users the best of both worlds: wide 
connectivity and ease-of-use.

POPmails name is derived from Post Office Protocol, the protocol that defines how a 
computer can retrieve mail from another computer which acts as a shared post office or mail-
server.  POPmail uses the POP2 or POP3 protocols to communicate between POPmail and a 
Unix mail server; this setup lets us present an easy-to-use interface to the E-mail user.

In addition to connectivity, there is another reason to use POP and a Unix machine as a post 
office.  Since microcomputers arent usually left on all the time, any reliable E-mail system will 
require a post office machine (or host mail server) to hold mail that arrives when someone's 
microcomputer is turned off.  The Unix mail server is available 24 hours a day to receive and 
store incoming mail and the user can call for it when it is convenient.

Selecting a Host Mail Server
POPmail requires a host computer to act as a central shared mail server.  Several host options 
are available to you.  The easiest option is to sign up for mail-server-only service with ACS 
(the Universitys Academic Computing Services department). For $20 per year, ACS will 
provide you with unlimited access to the ACS mainframe mail-server.  (For further information 
about this service, you can call ACS Accounts at 612-625-1511.)

If you have access to a Unix-based computer in your department or work group, you may want 
to use that machine as your host mail server.  Examples of small Unix hosts include SUN 
workstations, NeXT computers, or Apple Macintosh IIs running the A/UX operating system.  
Computers of this size should be adequate for servicing around 150 POPmail users.

Another low-cost option you can consider for a host mail server is to use our MailStop 
program.  MailStop is a mail-server application, written by the Microcomputer and Workstation 
Networks Center, that runs on Macintosh computers.  This server software is designed to 
service client workstations, either IBM-compatibles or Macintosh computers, that run 
POPmail.  MailStop is in the public domain and is included as part of our overall POPmail 
package.  This means that MailStop, along with POPmail, is available from us via anonymous 
FTP on the internet.  (See the "Configuring POPmail" section below for details.)

In any case, to use POPmail, you designate one machine to use as a post office (also known as 
a POP server).  Incoming mail is held in your mailbox on the post office server until you use 
POPmail on your microcomputer to call for the mail.  This process is similar to having your 
paper mail held for you in a P.O. box at the U.S. Post Office.  Like the paper mail user, those 
who use POPmail dont need to know how the post office business works; they just need to 
know how to collect their mail.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a worksite that uses the ACS mainframe computer as the mail server; 
the server is connected to the campus-wide backbone network.  The worksite is running 
POPmail on both IBM and Macintosh microcomputers.  The IBM computers on the top of the 
diagram are connected to the campus backbone network by Ethernet cable and a LANmark 
Ethernet telephone Type LDI-410.  (Making a connection to the Ethernet backbone may entail 
running wires for the network and setting up a LANmark phone connection.  If you do not 
have the wiring and phone in place, call Telecommunications Services at 612-625-6333.)

Figure 1:  Sample POPmail Setup
                                                          

The POPmail User Interface

The POPmail screen consists of two full-sized windows.  The Viewer Window is for viewing 
messages which have been sent to you.  The Composer Window is used to compose new 
messages to send to others.

In addition to POPmail's two full-sized windows, smaller windows, (dialog boxes) pop up 
from time to time in response to commands you issue.

POPmail's Menu Bar
The very top line of the computer screen contains POPmail's menu bar with five menu labels.  
The menu bar looks like this:

	   Options   Edit   Group   Memo   Window

The menu bar is the primary mechanism you use to communicate with the POPmail program.  
The menus have "pull-down" labels; that is, when you select Edit in the menu bar, a list of 
specific editing commands are dropped down from the Edit menu label and displayed in a list. 
If one of the commands in a pull-down menu is followed by three periods (...), choosing that 
command will result in the display of a modal dialog box (explained later in this section).  If a 
command in a pull-down menu is not followed by three periods, this means that once you 
choose it, the indicated action will occur immediately.

You can use either a mouse or keyboard to select commands.  To use a mouse, click on the 
desired menu title to display the pull-down menu. (Use only the left mouse button if your 
mouse has more than one button). Then click the desired command.  Alternatively, instead of 
clicking you can push the mouse button down over a menu title and then continue to hold the 
mouse button down while you drag straight down from the menu title to the desired menu 
command, and then release the mouse button.  If you decide not to choose a command, just 
drag out of the boundaries of the pull-down menu and no action will be performed.

To choose menu commands using the keyboard, first pull down the menu.  You do this by 
pressing the F10 key to make the menu bar active.  (When the menu bar is active, one menu 
title is highlighted.)  If the menu title you want is not the one currently highlighted, use the 
arrow keys to move to the right or left along the menu bar, until the menu title you want to 
select appears highlighted. (Alternatively, you can just type the first letter of the menu title.)  
Then press the <ENTER> key.  This will cause the menu to pull-down (drop-down).  There is 
a hot-key alternative method to pull-down a menu.  Hold the Alt key down while typing the 
letter corresponding to the first letter of the menu title you want (e.g., type Alt-G to pull-down 
the Group menu). The hot key to pull-down the  menu (called the system menu) is 
Alt-Spacebar.

Once the menu you want is pulled down, use the up-down arrow keys to highlight the 
command you want.  Then press <ENTER> to choose (perform) the highlighted command.  
(As a shortcut:  press the key corresponding to the highlighted letter of the desired command in 
order to choose that command.)

Once you choose (perform) a menu command, POPmail will do one of two things:  carry out 
the command directly or display a modal dialog box.

POPmail's Status Bar
POPmail's status bar is located across the bottom line of the screen.  The status bar looks like 
this:

	Alt-X  Exit     Alt-F2  Fetch    F3  Prev Msg     F4  Next Msg     F7  View    F8  Compose

The status bar contains "hot spots."  Hot spots are located wherever words occur in the status 
bar.  For example, "F3 Prev Msg" constitutes one hot spot.  Hot spots are separated from each 
other by more than one space.   When you click on a hot spot with a mouse, the indicated 
function will occur.  For example, when you click on the words "F4 Next Msg", POPmail 
allows you to view the next message stored in your mail database, and when you click on the 
words "F8 Compose", POPmail will display the Composer window, allowing you to compose 
an outgoing mail message.

To activate a hot spot without using a mouse, you type a hot-key.  For example, if you press 
the F8 function key, POPmail will display the Composer window; and, if you type Alt-X, you 
will exit the POPmail program.

The individual items under the pull-down menus are organized as follows.  Highlighted letters 
(shown here as capital letters) are used to perform the various short-cuts described in the 
previous section and elsewhere in this manual.

Note that the key (capital) letter associated with each command is not always the first letter of 
the command.  In addition, some menu commands are considered to be so important that they 
can be activated with a hot key alternative.  These hot keys are also shown below.


	Menu Title	Commands	Hot-key


	
		About...
		Calculator
		calenDar
		ascii Table

	Options
		pReferences...
		Configure...	Alt-C
		Print	Alt-P
		eXit	Alt-X

	Edit
		Undo
		----------
		cuT	Shift-Del
		Copy	Ctrl-Ins
		Paste	Shift-Ins
		----------
		Find...	Ctrl-QF
		Replace...	Ctrl-QA
		search Again	Ctrl-L
		----------
		cLear composer
		----------
		Show clipboard

	Group
		Make group...
		Select group...	F5

	Memo
		Change Dir...
		----------
		Open
		New
		Save	F2
		Save As...
	Window
		cLose	Alt-F3
		Resize/move	Ctrl-F5
		Next window	F6
		Zoom
		Tile
		cAscade
		----------
		Viewer	F7
		Composer	F8
		Show clipboard


Dialog boxes
Once you execute a menu command, POPmail will do one of two things:  either carry out the 
command immediately or display a dialog box.  If a menu command is followed by three 
periods, (e.g., Save As...), the command opens a modal dialog box.  A modal dialog box is 
essentially a question-and-answer session which requires you to select choices and fill in the 
blanks before POPmail will proceed.  Note that while a modal dialog box is displayed, the 
menus and status bar hot spots are inactive.

In order to set options in a dialog box, you use five basic on-screen gadgets.  These five 
gadgets or "controls" are:  radio buttons, check boxes, software buttons, list boxes, and input 
boxes.  Figure 2 shows a dialog box illustrating the five controls:

Figure 2: Modal Dialog Box
                                               

Software Buttons
With a mouse, you choose a software button by clicking on the button desired.  The modal 
dialog box shown in Figure 2 has two software buttons: Ok and Cancel.  If you choose Ok, the 
choices you select in the dialog box are instituted.  If you choose Cancel, nothing happens and 
the dialog box goes away without instituting any of your changes.  

If you don't have a mouse, use the keyboard command equivalents to choose and activate a 
button.  Press the <TAB> key consecutively to advance forward through the dialog box until 
the button you want becomes highlighted and then press the <ENTER> key to choose that 
software button.  (Press Shift-<TAB> to move backwards in a dialog box.)  When you have 
finished making your choices in a dialog box, type Alt-O (to activate the Ok button).  To 
cancel, type the ESC key.

Input Boxes
Input boxes let you enter text.  For example, in one of POPmail's dialog boxes, POPmail 
requires that you enter your full name in an input box. If you type in more text than will fit 
within the input box, the text will scroll automatically.

Check Boxes
Some dialog boxes also have check boxes.  An X inside a square indicates that that option is 
set ON.  An empty box indicates it's OFF.  You set a check box to the ON- or OFF-state by 
clicking on the square or by clicking on the text immediately to the right of the square.  (If you 
don't have a mouse, press the <TAB> key one or more times until the check box is highlighted 
and then press the Spacebar.  Alternatively, you can turn a check box ON or OFF (toggling) by 
holding the Alt key down while typing the highlighted letter (if one is provided).  Any number 
of check boxes can be checked ON at any one time.

If several check boxes are grouped together, pressing the <TAB> moves to the next group and 
once the group is selected, you can use the up-down arrow keys to highlight the check box you 
want within the group, and then press the Spacebar to turn the individual check box ON or 
OFF.  On monochrome monitors, POPMail indicates the highlighted check box or group of 
check boxes by placing a chevron symbol () next to it.  When you press <TAB>, the   
symbol moves to the next check box or group of check boxes.

Radio Buttons
Radio buttons work just like check boxes, except that one and only one radio button in a group 
is ON at any one time.  Since only one radio button in a group can be ON at a time, any other 
button in the group which was previously turned on is turned OFF automatically when you 
select another.   

List Box
A list box lets you scroll through a list of choices.  You activate a list box by clicking in it or by 
pressing the <TAB> until it's highlighted.  Once a list box is active, you can use the mouse to 
manipulate the scroll bar (or if you don't have a mouse, press the up-down arrow keys to move 
within the list).

(Note:  Inside a dialog box, any item with a highlighted letter indicates that that particular 
gadget can be accessed by holding the ALT key down while typing that highlighted letter.)

Editing Text in POPmail
POPmail contains basic word-processing features.  Anywhere in POPmail, the <DEL> key 
deletes text forward from the current cursor position, and the <backspace> key deletes text to 
the left of the cursor position.  Except within a modal dialog box, you can use the mouse to 
drag over (select) text to be cut or copied. Without a mouse, you select text by holding the Shift 
key down and using the arrow keys to expand the amount of text selected, starting with the 
current cursor position.  Once the text is selected (highlighted) you can cut the selected text, by 
selecting Cut from the Edit menu.  Likewise, to copy selected text, select Copy from the Edit 
menu.  Once selected text has been cut or copied, it is stored temporarily in POPmail's 
clipboard.  To paste the text contained in the clipboard, position the cursor in the desired 
location and then select Paste from the Edit menu.

POPmail does not support underlined, bold, or italic text.

The current version of POPmail does not support word-wrapping; therefore, when composing 
a message, always type the <ENTER> key at the end of each line of text.  However, POPmail 
will scroll text automatically within the message field.  Note: Users who are familiar with 
WordStar are advised that the POPmail editor also supports the WordStar Control Key 
sequences for cursor movement (Ctrl-E = Line Up; Ctrl-R = Page Up; Ctrl-F = Next Word; 
Ctrl-Y = Delete Line, etc.).



POPmail Installation

System Requirements
In order to run POPmail, your microcomputer must be connected to a local area network 
(LAN).  Usually, the LAN will be connected to the campus backbone network, allowing you 
to send and receive mail outside your local work group.

In order for your microcomputer to operate on the LAN, you must have a network adapter card 
installed in your microcomputer.  In order to run POPmail, your network adapter card must be 
one supported by the Clarkson packet drivers, mentioned in the "Configuring POPmail" 
section below.  (For a list of network adapter cards currently supported by the Clarkson Packet 
Drivers, please consult our accompanying documentation entitled "Installing the Clarkson 
Packet Drivers".)

POPmail runs under DOS version 3.0 or greater and requires 640K of RAM.  POPmail was 
designed to run on a wide range of IBM PCs and compatibles, including the earliest PCs which 
contained only a monochrome display adapter (no graphics support).

A Microsoft-compatible mouse is helpful but optional.  You must load mouse driver software 
into your system before running POPmail.  Note also that if your mouse contains more than 
one mouse button, you will be using only the left mouse button when running POPmail. 

How to Obtain POPmail
POPmail software consists of two components: a Clarkson Packet driver (matched to your 
microcomputer's network adapter card) and the POPmail program software itself.  All the 
software components and their manuals are included on the POPmail diskette, or they may be 
obtained on the internet through anonymous FTP from

	boombox.micro.umn.edu

(IP address 128.101.95.95).  Look in the UNIX directory called

	/pub/POPmail

Loading POPmail and the Clarkson Packet Driver
Each Clarkson packet driver is a specialized piece of software designed to talk to a specific type 
of network adapter card.  You install the appropriate Clarkson packet driver according to the 
installation instructions contained in the manual entitled "Installing the Clarkson Packet 
Drivers."

In order to run POPmail, the appropriate Clarkson packet driver must be loaded into RAM 
(random-access memory) each time you boot-up your computer.  To do this, you first run the 
appropriate packet driver by typing the packet driver name, followed by the necessary 
parameters, as described in our accompanying documentation entitled "Installing the Clarkson 
Packet Drivers".

After you have installed the appropriate packet driver, copy the POPMAIL.EXE file into a 
directory.  If you want to be able to run POPmail from any directory, modify the PATH 
statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the directory containing POPMAIL.EXE.  
Then, you can run the POPmail program by typing:  "POPMAIL" at the DOS prompt.

The following two command lines represent an example of the steps needed to load the packet 
driver and start POPmail (of course, the specific packet driver and parameters will depend on 
your configuration).  Type each line following the command prompt and end each line by 
pressing the <ENTER> key:

	3C523 0x60 0x3 0x300
	POPMAIL 

At this point you are running POPmail.  As long as you do not turn the power off to your 
computer, you can quit POPmail and do other things and then start POPmail again without re-
loading the Clarkson packet driver.  Also if you already have the packet driver loaded for other 
programs like FTP, Telnet, or tn3270, you do not need to re-load the packet driver before 
running POPmail.

Configuring POPmail
When you use POPmail for the first time, you need to set up POPmail parameters.  POPmail 
needs these configuration parameters in order to identify you and your computer on the 
network.  When you run POPmail for the first time, POPmail will display the "Configure" 
dialog box shown in Figure 3A, allowing you to enter the required parameters. You must enter 
all of the parameters, according to the instructions which follow.  (Consult your network 
administrator for the correct parameter information.)  Space for entering multiple name servers 
and gateways is provided, but only one of each is required.  You will not need to enter 
parameter information during subsequent POPmail sessions, because POPmail will 
permanently remember the parameters you have entered.  You can modify your configuration 
settings at any time by selecting Configure from the Options pull-down menu.



Figure 3A:  First Time Users
                                                          

Initially, the User Name line will be empty and highlighted.   Since it is already selected, you 
can simply type in your User Name.  To enter or edit Full name, Password, or any of the other 
parameters in the Configure dialog box, use the <TAB> key (or Up and Down arrow keys) to 
advance to the appropriate parameter field.  Then enter the appropriate parameter information. 
(As a short-cut you can select any of the parameter names by holding down the Alt key while 
typing the highlighted character in that parameter name, e.g., type Alt-P to select the Password 
parameter name.  Remember: In general, we use a capital letter to designate a highlighted letter 
within a dialog box.)

A brief description of each of the parameters follows:

User Name
Initially, the User Name line will be empty and highlighted.   Since it is already selected, you 
can simply type in your User Name.  This User Name corresponds to the User Name 
(sometimes called the account name) that has been assigned to you for use on the host mail 
server.  Generally, the host mail server will be a Unix machine, and by convention, Unix 
machines use all lower-case letters, so be careful not to capitalize letters in your user name 
when they shouldn't be.  

Full Name
This is your full name in real life, e.g. John A. Doe.

Password
The Password is the key word that the host mail server uses to validate your user name.  The 
person who sets up your account on the host mail server will assign you this password.  
Warning:  Be sure to type in your password exactly as it was assigned, (again, be careful of 
upper- and lower-case considerations).  Note that when you enter your password in the 
Configure dialog box, you will not see your actual password displayed on the screen.  This is a 
security feature of the POPmail program, since it prevents people from viewing your password 
as you enter it.  

Host Computer
This is the name or IP address of the computer you are using as a host mail server for running 
POPmail.  Every computer on the TCP/IP (world-wide) network has a unique numerical 
address called an IP address.  The IP address looks something like 128.101.63.1.  In much the 
same way as the post office uses home addresses to distinguish one residence from another, 
the network uses IP addresses to distinguish one computer from another when delivering 
electronic mail.  In addition to having an IP address, each computer on the network often has a 
name, e.g.  vx.acs.umn.edu.  Although both the IP address and name are unique for each 
computer, they don't have equal status.  Specifying the host mail server's IP address will 
always work to identify the host computer successfully, while specifying its name identifier 
may not always work.  You can use either the host computer name or IP address.  The 
advantage in using the name, although it is less reliable on the network, is that it's easier to 
remember a name than it is to remember a series of numbers.  If you use a name, the name will 
be converted to an IP address by a computer on the network called a name server.

Microcomputer IP address
This is the IP address of your individual microcomputer or workstation.  See your network 
administrator for a microcomputer IP address assignment.

Subdirectory for Mail
POPmail writes a copy of each message you receive to a file on your personal computer, one 
file per message.  This parameter specifies the drive and subdirectory for POPmail to use when 
saving your messages.  If this subdirectory does not exist on your disk, POPmail will ask you 
if you would like to create a new subdirectory when you exit the dialog box.  (Note: POPmail 
will also ask you if you would like to create the subdirectories called ENCL and ENCL\RSRC 
within your subdirectory.  See the section called "About Enclosures" for more details.)    

Gateways
A gateway is a device which gives your computer access to the outside world, by transferring 
information from one type of network to another.  If you want to use POPmail to send 
messages beyond your local area network (LAN), you must specify the IP address of one or 
more gateways to which your LAN has access.  If more than one gateway is available to you, it 
is to your advantage to enter more than one, increasing the chance that you will find one that is 
up and running when POPmail needs it.  A gateway moves your POPmail information off your 
LAN and routes it on to the outside world.  Contact your network administrator for the IP 
address of gateways accessible to your LAN.

Name Servers
As discussed earlier in the "Host Computer" section above, a name server converts a host mail 
server name into an IP address.  You type in the IP address of your name server in this 
parameter field (see your network administrator for the value to enter). If more than one name 
server is available to you, it is to your advantage to enter more than one IP address, increasing 
the chance that you will find a name server that is up and running when POPmail needs it.

Time Zone
Figure 3B shows the Time Zone List Box which pops up when Figure 3A's Time Zone 
software button is activated.  The Time Zone List Box allows you to indicate your time zone, if 
you are not located within the Central Standard Time zone of the United States, which is the 
default setting.  To indicate your time zone, use the scroll arrows or the up-down arrow keys, 
to select your time zone from the list.  Once your time zone is highlighted, type the <ENTER> 
key or click on the Ok button.

Figure 3B: Time Zone List Box
                  

When you have finished entering the parameters, click on the Ok button to have POPmail save 
your changes to the configuration.  If you decide you don't want your parameter changes to be 
saved, click on the Cancel button.

Advanced Configuration Parameters
Starting with Version 2.10, we have enhanced the Configure dialog box to provide network 
administrators with more advanced and specialized configuration parameters, in case they are 
needed to install POPmail on network environments which have unique or unusual 
requirements (see Figure 3C).  Network administrators can set these specialized parameters by 
activating the Advanced software button found within the Configure dialog box.  POPmail has 
appropriate default settings for these advanced parameters, which in our experience are suitable 
for most networks.  However, if you encounter problems in installing or using POPmail on 
your network, consult your network administrator to see whether it might be helpful to alter the 
Advanced configuration parameters.

When the Advanced... software button is activated, the following advanced configuration 
parameters are displayed:

Figure 3C:  Advanced Configuration Parameters

	a.	Net mask	255.255.255.0
	b.	Domain request timeout (sec)	20
	c.	Connect timeout (sec)	20
	d.	I/O timeout (sec)	20
	e.	Retransmit timeout in ticks	1
	f.	Max transmit unit in bytes: MTU	1024
	g.	Max segment we can receive: MAXSEG	1024
	h.	Most bytes we can receive without ACK	2048

	                                   



Net mask
The net mask parameter has to do with how your local area network is configured and 
connected to the backbone network at your work site.  See your network administrator for the 
correct value to enter here.  Most sites are configured to use a net mask of 255.255.255.0 (the 
default value). 

Domain request timeout  (sec)
This parameter sets the maximum number of seconds allowed for the name server on the 
network to convert your computer's host mail server name to an IP address.  The default value 
is set to 20 seconds.  If an error dialog box is displayed stating "Domain name request failed" 
when trying to send or fetch messages, try increasing this value.  

Connect timeout  (sec)
When POPmail attempts to connect to the host mail server, this parameter sets the maximum 
number of seconds POPmail will wait before the host mail server will acknowledge your 
attempt to connect.  The default value of 20 seconds is sufficient for most mail servers.  If an 
error dialog box is displayed stating "Open failed" when trying to send or fetch messages, try 
increasing this value. 

I/O timeout  (sec)
This parameter sets the maximum time allowed for POPmail to send and receive data from your 
computer to the host mail server.   With the default value of 20 seconds, POPmail will wait 20 
seconds for a response from the host mail server.  If a response does not come through within 
20 seconds, POPmail will present an error dialog box and abort the Send or Fetch operation in 
progress.  Again, if your host mail server is slow and frequently times out, you may need to 
increase this parameter value.

Retransmit timeout  in ticks
This parameter sets the length of time in sixtieths of a second POPmail will wait before 
retransmitting a packet whose earlier transmission was not acknowledged.

Max transmit unit in bytes:  MTU
This parameter specifies the maximum allowable packet size that POPmail will transmit in 
bytes.

Max segment we can receive:  MAXSEG
This parameter specifies the maximum size packet in bytes that a host mail server is allowed to 
transmit to POPmail.

Most bytes we can receive without ACK
This parameter sets the maximum send/receive TCP window size in bytes.



Using POPmail

Sending Mail to Other Users
Using POPmail to send an electronic mail message is easy.  Just follow these steps:

1.	Make the Composer window the active window.
2.	Specify the recipient of the message.
3.	Specify recipients of carbon copies.
4.	Specify the subject of the message.
5.	Type the message itself.
6.	Send the message.

Make the Composer window the active window
Press the F8 function key.  This will make the Composer window active.  (The active window 
always appears in front of all other windows.)

Specify Recipient
In order to send a letter to someone through the United States mail, you must know their name 
and address.  Likewise, to send an electronic mail message to someone, you need to know 
their electronic name and address.  This is commonly called their E-mail address.

You place the recipients E-mail address into the POPmail field labeled To.  (Initially, the 
cursor is positioned in the To field).  In order to move the cursor between fields, you press the 
<TAB> key or simply click in the desired field with your mouse and then type the recipient's e-
mail address.  Figure 5 shows a sample message in the Composer window.

Figure 5:  POPmail screen with the Composer window visible
          Options   Edit    Group   Memo   Window
                                                           
            Alt-X  Exit     Alt-F2  Fetch     F3  Prev Msg     F4  Next Msg      F7  View     F8  Compose

In this example, the message is being sent simultaneously to two people.  One recipient is 
someone whose E-Mail address is:

	kathy@boombox.micro.umn.edu

(This address is read: kathy at boombox dot micro dot umn dot edu.  The address denotes a 
person whose E-mail user-name is kathy.  Kathy gets mail at a computer called 
boombox.micro.umn.edu on the Internet.)

To send the same message to more than one person, enter additional E-mail addresses 
separated one from the other by one or more spaces (a comma is optional).  The message in 
Figure 5 is also being sent to:

	ellen@UMNMOR.BITNET

(a recipient named ellen who gets her mail at a computer called UMNMOR on BITNET).  You 
can send the same message simultaneously to as many recipients as you wish.

Specify Carbon Copies
With POPmail you can send a message directly to some people and as a carbon copy to others.  
After specifying the primary recipients of your message in the To field, press the <TAB> key 
once to enter the CC field where you can enter E-mail addresses of the people who are to 
receive carbon copies of the message.  To send carbon copies to more than one person, enter 
additional E-mail addresses separated by one or more spaces (a comma is optional).  Those 
who receive messages see E-mail addresses of both the primary and the carbon copy recipients 
of the message.  If you dont want to send carbon copies of your message, you may leave the 
CC field blank.

Specify Subject
You must fill in the Subject field.  To move to this field, press the <TAB> key.  Once your 
cursor is in the field, type a succinct one-line description of your message.  Be courteous and 
wise; use this field to describe the contents of your message briefly but clearly.  The subject of 
our sample message is Next Committee Meeting.

Type the Message
The big field just below the Subject field is the Message field.  This is where you will enter the 
body of your message.  To move the cursor to this field, press the <TAB> key again.  Once 
your cursor is in the field, type your message.  Editing text here is easy.  You can use the 
arrow keys to move around in the text and use the <backspace> and <DEL> keys to delete text.  
You can also use the WordStar control key sequences for cursor movement.  POPmail uses a 
simple version of a word processor and has some limitations.  For example, you cannot make 
text bold, italic or underlined and you must type <ENTER> at the end of each line of text.

Send Mail
When you are done typing your message click on the Send button (alternatively, type Alt-S;  or 
press the <TAB> key until the Send button is highlighted and then press <ENTER>).  The 
message will be sent to the recipients you specified in the To and CC fields.  When the 
message has been sent to the mail-server, a confirmation dialog box is displayed.

Sending Mail to a Group
Sending POPmail to a group is as easy as sending a message to one person.  With POPmail 
you can keep group lists.  A group is simply a list of recipients (E-mail addresses) that have 
been given a one-word alias (identifier).  For example, you could create a group called Marx 
composed of these three E-mail addresses:

	harpo@squeezebox.circus.umn.edu
	groucho@cigarbox.opera.umn.edu
	chico@bandbox.hollywood.umn.edu

To create a group alias name, select the "Make Group..." menu item from the Group pull down 
menu.  An edit box with scroll bars will appear to allow you to enter the desired alias name and 
the recipients you want to include in the group.  When you define a Group, you must type the 
group name first.  In our example, shown in Figure 6 below, committee1 and committee2 are 
group names.  The group names are followed by the user names of the members of the group.  
Within a group, each user name is separated from the next by one or more spaces (commas are 
optional).  When you are finished entering the user names for one group, type the <ENTER> 
key twice before entering information to define another group.  (Groups must be separated by a 
blank line.)

Figure 6:  Making Groups
                                                             

When you have finished making groups, click on the Ok button to save your changes.

Selecting a Predefined Group
To send mail to a group you have already defined, select the "Select Group..." menu item from 
the "Group" pull down menu.  A list box with a vertical scroll bar will appear, giving you a list 
of all your group alias names, as shown in Figure 7.  Select the group name by typing the up 
and down arrow keys until the desired group name becomes highlighted.  Then click on the 
Select button to select that group.  The "To" field of the Composer window will be filled in 
automatically with the full E-mail addresses of the members of the group; the group alias name 
itself does not appear in the To box.

Figure 7:  Select  a Predefined Group 
                                    


About Enclosures
POPmail allows you to enclose files, such as an Excel chart or worksheet, or a memo created 
with Microsoft Word, with each mail message.  Each recipient of your message receives an 
exact copy of the enclosed files.  (Of course, to receive an enclosure from POPmail, the 
recipient must be running POPmail/PC or POPMail/Macintosh.)  Enclosed files appear on the 
recipient's disk with their original contents.  Your recipient can peruse and modify the file and, 
if desired, return it to you as another POPmail enclosure.

When the POPmail program receives a message with an enclosed file, the document is stored 
on your disk.  POPmail automatically stores the enclosure in a subdirectory named ENCL of 
the directory you specify for mail (see Configuring POPmail).  For example, if you specify the 
C:\POPMAIL\MAIL directory for incoming mail, POPmail places your enclosures in the 
directory C:\POPMAIL\MAIL\ENCL.

Since enclosures are regular files, you can treat them as you would any other file; that is, if 
someone sends you an enclosure containing an executable program, you can run the program 
on your machine as well. In addition, an IBM enclosure containing graphics, italic or bold 
characters, or spreadsheets, will retain all its original characteristics.  In short, sending IBM 
files as enclosures is really no different than transferring files from one machine to another 
using a diskette.

Receiving Enclosures from a Macintosh
Macintosh files are somewhat more complicated than IBM files.  First, Macintosh files can 
have longer and more complicated file names, so if necessary, POPmail/PC will alter the 
original Macintosh file name in order to comply with DOS file name requirements.  Second, 
Macintosh files are divided into one or two forks (parts).  Part One, called the "data fork," is 
completely equivalent to a data file on a DOS computer. Part Two, if present, is called the 
"resource fork."  The resource fork contains special Macintosh-only information.  If an 
enclosure is coming from a Macintosh, POPmail will store the data fork of the document in the 
subdirectory called ENCL.  If the document also contains a resource fork, the resource fork 
portion of the document will be stored in a subdirectory of ENCL called RSRC.  For example, 
if someone sends you a Macintosh HyperCard stack called "French," POPMail/PC will divide 
this incoming Macintosh document into two parts.  Part One the data fork, would have the 
name: 

	C:\POPMAIL\MAIL\ENCL\FRENCH

Part 2 (the resource fork), would have the name:

	C:\POPMAIL\MAIL\ENCL\RSRC\FRENCH

Actually, the information contained in the resource fork is useless to the IBM user; however, if 
someone sends you a HyperCard stack, you may want to pass it on to another Macintosh user 
without losing any information.  That is why POPmail saves the resource information on the 
PC even though PCs don't have any way of using Macintosh-style resources.

Sending Enclosures to a Macintosh
It is possible to send enclosure files to a Macintosh, as well as receive them.  In fact, many of 
the newer applications, such as Microsoft Excel, have compatible data formats.  They achieve 
this by using only the data fork on the Macintosh and storing the data in compatible formats.

In general, if you are creating files on the IBM for later transmission to a Macintosh via 
POPmail, you must be careful to assign the correct file extension to your file name.  The 
Macintosh then will be able to assign the proper system icon, etc. to the IBM file when 
received.  For example, if you are using Excel on an IBM and want to send the Excel 
spreadsheet to a Macintosh user, your file name must have a .XLS file extension.  The 
recipient will be able to receive and modify the spreadsheet with no problem, and then send the 
modified spreadsheet back to you.

Here are other important file extensions to employ when sending IBM files to a Macintosh:

      EXT      Application          Document type
      ====     =========            ===========
     .XLS      MS Excel 2.2         spreadsheed
     .WKS      MS Excel 2.2         spreadsheed
     .WK1      MS Excel 2.2         spreadsheed
     .PAS      Turbo Pascal 1.1     program source
     .TXT      MacWrite II          ASCII text
     .BAT      MacWrite II          ASCII text
     .C        MS Word 4.0          ASCII text
     .CPP      MS Word 4.0          ASCII text
     .DOC      MS Word 4.0          internal
     .RTF      MS Word 4.0          RTF

Exchanging Documents:  Caveats
Those who exchange documents with others (via POPmail or even floppy disk) using different 
versions of the same software soon learn that they cannot always save, open, read, or retrieve 
documents in the usual manner.  New versions of the software can usually open or read 
documents created with older versions, but older versions do not recognize documents created 
with newer versions.  However, newer versions of the software usually are backwardly 
compatible in that they contain an option for reading and writing documents in the old 
(obsolete) formats.

Exchanging computer documents is generally straightforward when you and the recipient use 
exactly the same version of the same software; for example, when you both use WordPerfect 
5.1.  However, even in this scenario, if the recipient does not have the font you used to create 
the document, they probably will not be able to see the document as you intend it to be 
reproduced - either on the screen or on a printer.

Whenever Microsoft Word users want to exchange documents but are unsure of the recipient's 
software, they should save the document as an RTF (rich text format) document.  Documents 
saved in this manner are compatible with all versions of Word on the IBM and the Mac, as well 
as with some other word processing programs.  Word 5.0 users will see the RTF document's 
name show up in the Transfer/Load menu if the document's name ends in .DOC.  If the 
document's name does not end in .DOC, Word 5.0 users must type in its name to load the 
document.  The newer Word 5.5 is more flexible; it has an option that lets you view a list of all 
documents regardless of their names.

Some software comes with built-in file converters.  For example, Microsoft Word for 
Windows 1.1 includes converters for several word processing packages, such as Word for 
DOS, Word for Macintosh, Windows Write, WordPerfect 5.1, and WordPerfect 4.2.  When 
you install Word for Windows this conversion feature is automatically copied to your working 
disk.  Not all software makes using its conversion features so easy to use.  Some software 
requires that you follow special installation instructions to use their converters.

Finally, keep in mind that when you E-mail large documents or multiple enclosures, you can 
bog down a network.  To avoid congestion, consider these strategies: send only one enclosure 
per mail message; break up large documents into smaller documents; and mail your documents 
during off-peak hours.

As you can see, enclosing E-mail documents is not always straightforward.  The less you 
know about the recipient's hardware and software setup, the more likely you are to run into 
unforeseen problems.

Sending Enclosures
When sending a message, it is often desirable to enclose another file within your message.  For 
example, you may want to send a message notifying others of an upcoming committee 
meeting, and enclose a copy of a map indicating directions to the meeting site.  If you push the 
"Enclose..." button in the Composer window shown in Figure 8, POPmail will display the 
following modal dialog box:

Figure 8: Choose  file to enclose  Dialog Box
                                           

The list displayed in Figure 8 is simply a list of all the files contained on your disk.  The 
information at the bottom is provided to give you further information about the file you are 
proposing to select as an enclosure.  This helpful information includes: drive, path, and file 
name information, the file size in bytes, and the date and time the file was last modified.  To 
select a document to be sent with the current outgoing message, click on the file name desired 
and then click on the Ok button.  At this point, POPmail returns you to the Composer window.  
The enclosure file name will be displayed on the bottom of the Composer window (on the 
window frame) to remind you that you have selected an enclosure.

If you hold down the shift key when you invoke this dialog box (figure 8) the dialog box will 
be titled as "Choose TEXT file to add to message".  You can then choose an ASCII text file 
that will be appended to your message body when the message is sent.  You can use this 
feature to send enclosures to others who are not using POPmail and cannot accept BINHEXed 
enclosures (the normal method POPmail uses to send enclosures).

Sending multiple enclosures
If you select the Enclose... button from the Composer window after you have already selected 
one enclosure, you will see the following dialog box:

Figure 9: Add/Remove Enclosures Dialog Box
                                      

To add additional files to POPmail's enclosure list for the current outgoing message, click on 
the "Add..." button.  Then POPmail will display the modal dialog box called "Choose file to 
enclose" (Figure 8) on top of the Add/Remove Enclosures dialog box:

For each enclosure you wish to send, repeat this sequence, choosing one file at a time, until 
you have chosen all the desired enclosures. If you find that you have selected an incorrect file, 
you can click on (highlight) the incorrect file name in the list and then delete it by clicking on 
the Remove button.  When your list of enclosures is complete and correct, click on the OK 
button in the Add/Remove Enclosures dialog box, and POPmail will return you to the 
Composer window.

Fetch Incoming Mail
Your incoming mail is held for you at the post-office server until you fetch it. When you fetch 
incoming mail, each message is moved from the mail server to the POPmail subdirectory you 
have specified.  Incoming messages remain in your database until you explicitly discard them.

To retrieve your new messages, click the Fetch button on the Viewer window (Figure 11 
below).  (No matter which window is currently active, you can type Alt-F to make the Viewer 
window active and Fetch your mail.)  POPmail will present you with a dialog box to inform 
you whether or not you have mail.  Then POPmail will display the first new message in the 
Viewer window. 


Figure 11: POPmail screen with the Viewer window visible
           Options   Edit    Group   Memo   Window
                                                              
            Alt-X  Exit     Alt-F2  Fetch     F3  Prev Msg     F4  Next Msg      F7  View     F8  Compose

If you are connected to a printer, you can print the message by selecting Print from the File pull 
down menu.  If you want to delete the message click on the Delete button in the Viewer 
window.  If you dont delete the message, it will remain in the database.

Paging through the Database
Messages are stored in the database in the order they were received.  Each new message is 
stacked on top of its predecessor, just like file cards on a stack.  To move backwards in the 
database (view the previous message), press the F3 function key.  To move to the next 
message in the stack, press the F4 function key.

If you save a copy of your outgoing messages (specified in the Preferences dialog box shown 
in Figure 12) from the Options pull-down menu, each outgoing message will be stored in order 
at the end of your POPmail database.

Each incoming message is saved to a file on your disk in the subdirectory you specify in the 
Configure dialog box (see Figure 3A). The name of each file is stored near the end of the To: 
field along with the complete SMTP header.  (More advanced users may wish to scroll down 
the To: field to view or retrieve this optional information.  This feature is useful because 
POPmail will only display the first 45K of the message body.  If the message is larger than 
45K in size, you would want to know the file name of the message so that you could retrieve it 
from disk and view it with some other word-processing program capable of reading arbitrarily 
large files.)


Reply to Incoming Mail
One important difference between the Viewer window and the Composer window shown 
earlier in Figure 5 is that the Viewer window includes a REPLY button.  The Reply button 
allows you to respond to an incoming message quickly, since POPmail automatically takes the 
Subject field and From field information from the original message and fills it into the Subject 
field and To field in the Composer window for your reply.  When you are finished typing your 
reply, you click the Send button to send your message.

If you hold down the shift key when you select Reply, the function of the Reply button is 
altered to function as a Forwarding feature to forward an original unaltered message on to 
another person.  The Composer will be filled in as follows: the subject field will be prefixed 
with the text "Forwarded->" and the text in the body will be prefixed by a line indicating who 
wrote and sent the original message.

Setting Program Preferences
POPmail is designed so that you can customize the program to meet your needs.  To customize 
POPmail, select "Preferences..." from the File pull-down menu.  The Preferences dialog box 
shown in Figure 12 will appear.  Use the mouse to click in the little box to the left of each 
option in order to toggle the preference ON or OFF (when an X appears in the box to the left of 
preference, it is turned ON).  (Using the keyboard you can toggle a preference by pressing the 
Alt key together with the letter that is highlighted for the preference in question; or, press the 
<TAB> key repeatedly until the desired preference is selected [highlighted] and then press the 
Spacebar to toggle that preference ON or OFF.)  The default values are pre-set by POPmail to 
the values shown in Figure 12.  If you don't like these default values, you are free to change 
them at any time.  POPmail permanently remembers your settings.

Figure 12: Preferences Dialog Box
                                            

The first preference option is "Include incoming message in Reply".  This feature is used in 
conjunction with the Reply button in the Viewer window (see Fig. 11). When there is a check 
in the square to the left of this preference, POPmail will collect the text in the incoming 
message and include it for reference as a preface to the reply you will formulate to the message 
while using the Reply feature on the Viewer window.  The text collected from the incoming 
message will appear before your reply, with a leader line stating, " On [such and such a date] 
[so and so] writes: ".  In addition, to further differentiate the incoming message from your 
reply which will follow in the message field,  POPmail places a greater than (>) symbol before 
each line of the incoming message.  You then type your reply following this reference text.  
This feature is useful because it allows each recipient of your reply to consider your reply in the 
context of the original incoming message.

The second preference option is "Display POPmail's copyright screen".  When there is a check 
in the square to the left of this preference, POPmail will display the POPmail copyright dialog 
box (POPmail's initial screen) whenever you start up POPmail.

The third preference option is "Add signature to outgoing mail."  When there is a check in the 
square to the left of this preference, POPmail will automatically end each of your outgoing 
messages with a signature block of your choice, as shown in the John Doe example in Figure 
12.

The fourth preference option is "Save copy of outgoing mail."  When there is a check in the 
square to the left of this preference, POPmail will automatically place a copy of each outgoing 
message into your POPmail database.  This convenient feature saves you a record of every 
message you send.

The fifth preference option is "Prompt for password."  When there is a check in the square to 
the left of this preference, POPmail will require you to enter your password every time you 
start POPmail.  The password will not be stored in the configuration file.

The sixth preference option is "43/50 line mode as default."  When there is a check in the 
square to the left of this preference, POPmail will start with the program in the highest 
resolution mode allowed by your computer's video display adapter.  You can always use 
POPmail's Video mode command under the  (system) menu to switch to low resolution mode 
(25 line mode) and back again as often as you wish.

Other Features

Moving a Window
You can move the Viewer and Composer windows, as well as dialog boxes, by using a mouse 
or the keyboard.  Using a mouse, place the mouse cursor on the top bar of the window frame, 
press the left mouse button, and continue to hold the mouse button down while dragging the 
window to a new location, then release the mouse button.  Using the keyboard, press Ctrl-F5 
(or select "Resize/Move" from the Window pull-down menu and use the four arrow keys to 
move the window.  Press <ENTER> when done.)

Resizing a Window
The Clipboard window (you can view the clipboard by selecting "Show Clipboard" from the 
Edit menu) and the Trace Window (see the "Trace Facility" below) can be resized as well as 
moved.  To resize a window using the mouse, grab the lower right corner of the frame and 
press the left mouse button, dragging the mouse until the desired size is achieved; or, using the 
keyboard, select "Resize/Move" from the Window menu and use the arrow keys while holding 
the Shift key down.  Press <ENTER> when done.  Note: The Composer window, the Viewer 
window, and dialog boxes cannot be resized.

Trace Facility
POPmail has a built-in trace facility to assist network administrators in trouble-shooting when 
POPmail fails to Fetch or Send properly.  When tracing is turned ON, POPmail will write a 
detailed log of the transactions between the PC and the host mail server when messages are 
fetched or sent.  Then your network administrator can use this log to help locate the source of 
the problem.  You press Alt-F10 to display the Trace Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 
13.

Figure 13:  Trace Options Dialog Box
                                        

By default tracing is turned off.  You turn tracing on by selecting a trace destination, either the 
trace window or a file.

You can direct the trace output to a Trace window by choosing the "..to trace window" radio 
button and then clicking on the Ok button.  Then a movable and resizable Trace window is 
made visible and active.  You can scroll back through this window to see earlier messages.  
(The Trace window has an 8k buffer).  All new messages are always added to the bottom of 
the window.  If the Trace window gets covered by the Viewer or Composer windows, you can 
bring it to the front by successively pressing F6 (Next Window) until the Trace window 
appears on top of all other windows.  You can close the Trace window by clicking in the close 
box in the upper left-hand corner of the window or by pressing the <ESC> key.  Even if the 
Trace window is closed, transactions will still be recorded to the trace window, you just won't 
be aware of them.  Remember, if you have closed the Trace window, you can make it visible 
again by pressing Alt-F10.

You can direct Trace output to a file by selecting the "..tofile" radio button and typing the 
name of the file in the input box just to the right of this radio button and then clicking on the Ok 
button.  By default, POPmail uses the file name "POPTRACE.TXT".  If you enter PRN for 
the filename, the trace output will go to your printer.  If your network administrator is 
unsuccessful in trouble-shooting the problem, we can be more helpful if he or she sends us 
trace output.

The values you enter into the Trace dialog box are transient.  They are forgotten once you quit 
the POPmail program.  The Trace dialog box initial (default) settings are shown in Figure13.

Program Switches
The POPmail program has two advanced optional parameters called program switches.  They 
are the /P and /BATCH options.

Using the /P switch allows multiple users to run a single copy of POPmail on a network, each 
user with his own POPmail configuration file (as well as making it possible for each user to 
choose among multiple sets of POPmail configuration files by specifying the path (location) of 
the desired configuration file).

Using the /BATCH option allows you to find out how many incoming messages are waiting to 
be read.  When you use the /BATCH option, POPmail runs in a batch file in a non-interactive 
mode; that is, POPmail simply reports the number of messages waiting for you and then quits.  
POPmail sets ErrorLevel to the number of messages waiting.  In batch mode, you can also 
redirect the output.

For example, to have POPmail use the configuration file in directory C:\POP77 and run in a 
batch file so POPmail will report the number of messages waiting, you would use the 
following command at the DOS prompt when starting POPmail:

          POPMAIL  /BATCH  /PC:\POP77

This sample batch file runs POPmail in interactive mode only if there are messages waiting:

          @POPMAIL   /BATCH   >NUL
          @IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO :QUITNOW
          @POPMAIL
          :QUITNOW

Overloaded keys
Shift-Send will cause POPmail to make a copy of your outgoing message regardless of the 
setting chosen in the Preferences dialog box.

Shift-Reply will forward a message.

Shift-Discard will discard a message whithout prompting.


Summary and Cautions
POPmail is designed to give networked microcomputer users an easy to use E-mail system 
with wide connectivity.  While other Post Office Protocol software for the PC already exists, 
POPmail/PCs user interface mirrors the Macintosh POPmail user interface.  This consistency 
helps simplify training for departments that have mixed Macintosh and PC computing 
environments.

Since there are many details to be considered in establishing a connection to the campus 
backbone network, we strongly advise that you consult the staff at the Microcomputer 
HelpLine before you plan your network or purchase any hardware.

If you want to discuss POPmail (or other E-mail systems), call or visit the Microcomputer 
HelpLine.  If you visit the HelpLine, our consultants can demonstrate POPmail for you.  If 
your department decides to run POPmail, we would be happy to help you set things up.


Acknowledgments
We wish to extend our thanks to Borland International of  Scotts Valley, California, for 
continued excellence in the enhancement of their Turbo Pascal product. We developed POPmail 
Version 2.0 using Borland's TurboVision, an object-oriented library of special-purpose 
routines provided with Borland's newest release of Turbo Pascal, Version 6.0.

For the use of the Clarkson Packet Drivers, the foundation on which our network products are 
based, we gratefully acknowledge Clarkson College of Potsdam, New York.

Using POPmail with Novell
Version 9.x of the Clarkson packet drivers will work with Novell NetWare.  

First, you must configure Novell NetWare by using a special IPX.  It requires
that you SHGEN a new one using the driver from BYU to create the interface
between the packet driver and NET3/4/5.  The BYU_IPX is a generic IPX that works with any 
of the boards that use the packet driver, so if you have a mixture of 3COM, Novell Ethernet, 
and other boards you just need the appropriate packet drivers and the BYU version of the IPX.

Second, to configure the packet driver to work with Novell NetWare, simply add the -n switch 
to the command line immediately after the command to invoke the driver, before any other 
parameters.  For example, to invoke the packet driver for the 3COM 503 board, allowing for 
use with TCP/IP and Novell NetWare, you would use the following command line:  
        c503.com -n 0x60 3 0x300


Using POPmail with Microsoft Windows 3.0
Version 9.x of the Clarkson packet drivers will work with Microsoft Windows 3.0.  To 
configure the packet driver to work with Windows 3.0 or greater, add the -w switch to the 
command line immediately after the command to invoke the driver, before any other 
parameters.  This allows you to use Windows to invoke POPmail, Telnet, ftp, or tn3270 
directly.  For example, to invoke the packet driver for the 3COM 503 board, allowing for use 
with TCP/IP and to work with Windows 3.0, you would use the following command:
	3c503.COM -w 0x60 3 0x300

If you want to use Windows and Novell NetWare together, your command lines would look 
like this:
        BYU_IPX.COM
        3c503.COM -n -w 0x60 3 0x300

In addition, you will need to set up a separate Windows .PIF file for each of the applications 
(POPmail, Telnet, ftp, and tn3270) with the following options so that Windows can run these 
packet-driver-dependent applications correctly:

   Full screen                      ON
   Background execution             ON
   Close Window on Exit             ON

   Under "Advanced...":
         Background priority       100
         Detect Idle Time          OFF
         Lock Application Memory    ON
         Video Memory             TEXT
         Monitor Ports              OFF (i.e., all boxes off)
         Retain Video Memory        ON

The .PIF file should point to the .EXE files for each of these programs.     



POPmail Q & A
This section presents frequently-asked questions about POPmail/PC.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Does POPmail PC have a "find message" feature?

A.  We are currently working on a message search, organizing, and archiving facility.  Right 
now the "database"-like features are modest.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q. What can I do if POPmail says there is not enough memory
to run POPmail?

A. The current version of POPMail needs at least 512K of memory.  If you have a lot of TSRs 
or your network software has a large resident portion, then POPMail will have trouble running.  
Do a "chkdsk" or "mem" command to see how much free memory is left for applications.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q. How do I define a group in the "Edit Groups" window?

A. Groups are defined by listing a group name, followed by one or more spaces, followed by a 
group member's mail address, followed by one or more spaces, followed by another group 
member's mail address, etc. Put a blank line after the group to separate it from the other groups 
you have defined.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Is there a way to include a full name in the group listing so that they can be more easily 
identified?
For example: am  am@finsandfur.fw.umn.edu (Alan McClure) 

A.  We suggest that you define the alias as the guy's name. Then you can easily remember who 
it is when selecting it from the list displayed by the "group" button. So, I suggest that you 
define the alias like this:
      Alan_McClure  am@finsandfur.fw.umn.edu
By doing this, you can select  Alan_McClure off the list of groups rather than trying to 
remember who "am" is.
Spaces are separator characters; that is, they mark the end of names. Use the underline 
character for making long names look pretty. For instance, define a group called 
AIS_CSO_Nameserver_Dude like this:
     AIS_CSO_Nameserver_Dude  j-kuch@vm1.spcs.umn.edu


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  We are running a POP3 server on port 999.  Can we use POPmail with this POP port?

A.  Yes.  To have POPmail use a port other than the default 109 port, simply put the port 
number after the "Host computer:" field in the configure dialog box.  For example:
                  boombox.micro.umn.edu   999




-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  I just FTP'd POPmail/PC and tried to run the program. I get the error message "TCP 
Driver did not load".  What is wrong?

A.  The other possible problem is that POPMAIL.EXE is being truncated in the ftp process.  
This can happen if you forget to specify binary mode when doing the ftp.  Sometimes we also 
see this problem if there are too many gateway hops, resulting in the file getting mysteriously 
truncated along the way.  For some reason, we've seen this problem frequently when people 
ftp POPmail from Canada. Other than forgetting to specify binary mode, we still do not know 
why this phenomenon occurs. Often subsequent attempts will succeed where the first try 
failed.  After you ftp, just make sure that you have the complete file by checking to make sure 
that you received the correct number of bytes as shown by the directory command (ls). (FYI: 
The TCP driver is an overlay embedded in the POPMAIL.EXE file.) 

If all else fails, many people with this problem have had success when they ftp the compressed 
file version of POPMAIL.EXE (popmail.exe.Z).


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  In what format is the POPmail/PC manual?

A.  The manual is in 3 formats: (1) man.hqx is in binhex format for Microsoft Word 4.0 on the 
Macintosh;  (2) man.rtf is in RTF (rich text) format, so you should be able to download and 
read this file with any version of Microsoft Word for the IBM; and (3)  man.txt is a straight-
ASCII version of the manual.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  I have a friend who gave me his access numbers on various computer services including 
CompuServe, Prodigy, PC link, and Genie.  Can I use POPmail to send him mail?  

A.  For Prodigy, PC Link, and Genie we are not aware of any procedure that would work.  
Contact those services directly and ask them how to send/receive mail to the TCP/IP internet. 
(When you are using POPmail what you are really doing is sending TCP/IP internet e-mail).

	For CompuServe, you are in luck.
	 From internet to Compuserve:
	Compuserve addresses are of the form  nnnnn,nnnn  where n is 0 to 9.  For example, 
72555,3235.  Change the comma to a period and append @compuserve.com and you've got it.  
For example, to send to 72555,3235 you would address your mail to
		72555.3235@compuserve.com
	 From Compuserve to internet:
	Preface the internet address with >INTERNET: and you're done.  For example, to send 
mail to a user name fred with an account on an internet mail server named 
boombox.micro.umn.edu from Compuserve you would address mail to
		>INTERNET:fred@boombox.micro.umn.edu


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Does POPmail support BOOTP?

A.  We do support automatic configuration through BOOTP.  BOOTP is a protocol that lets 
you define all the paramaters, IP address, gateways, name servers, at one central server.  
POPmail/PC interrogates the BOOTP server if the microcomputer IP address is 0.0.0.0.  In 
this way new users can just start up POPMail with not knowning any IP numbers and 
POPMail will configure itself.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  We have more than one Packet Driver loaded.  POPmail can't seem to find the correct 
packet driver. What's going on?

A.  Popmail uses the first packet driver it finds.  Make sure the packet driver POPmail needs 
has the lowest interrupt number. You can ensure success by assigning it the lowest possible 
interrupt number:  0x60.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Does POPmail/PC work on an AppleTalk network?
A.  We have tested POPmail with token ring and ethernet cards. POPmail does not currently 
support LocalTalk.

LocalTalk support is an important future product direction, but we are not yet working on it.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  When I tried to use the 3C503 packet driver I was required to change the jumpers on the 
3C503 to allow shared memory.  This allowed me to run POPMAIL which looks like a real 
good product.  However when I reconfigured the PC to boot with PC-NFS it wouldn't work 
unless I set the jumpers on the 3C503 back to "memory disable" (note: I didn't try to load 
3C503 packet driver).

A.  The packet driver for this particular hardware requires memory sharing, while PC-NFS 
disallows it.  This is an unfortunate incompatibility and there is no solution to this problem at 
present.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Can you run PC NFS and POPmail together?

A.  No, they can't both be running at the same time. PC-NFS and POPMail each have their 
own TCP protocol code.  They end up confusing each other.  The ideal solution would be for 
IBM to mandate *one* TCP driver that all applications must use, just as the packet-drivers are 
common low-level drivers all net applications use.

Unfortunately, there is no simple common TCP driver that we know of and that all TCP 
programs accept as a standard.

You'll have to set up some way of switching autoexec.bat files to selectively load PC-NFS or 
POPMail, but not both at the same time.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  What language is POPmail written in?

A.  Turbo C version 1.5, Turbo Assembler 1.0, and Turbo Pascal 6.0


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  How is the software in POPmail/PC layered?

A.  It is arranged like this:

       POPmail main program (user interface)
             |
             |
       net mail (same code for Macs and IBMs)
             |
             |
       ibm tcp
             |
             |
       seg (all written in C and ASM)
             |
             |
       packet driver

The SEG code is really a C program that is loaded into a segment by the Pascal program, in 
this case POPmail.  The Pascal program then transfers control to the C program (written in the 
small memory model so it fits into one segment).  The C program then hooks an interrupt and 
returns control to the Pascal program.  When the Pascal program wants a TCP function it calls 
a routine in ibmtcp that then calls the C program via an interrupt.

SEG provides simple functions like open, close, read write.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Can you make POPmail a TSR?

A.  A POPmail TSR would be nice in theory, but it would take up about 80k of RAM.  Most 
users don't want to or can't lose 80k without wreaking havoc upon their main applications.  So 
while it would be an interesting exercise in programming, it's not too practical on DOS 
machines. However, POPmail does have a batch mode that you can use to have POPmail 
report the number of messages waiting for you on the server (see the manual for further 
information).

-------------------------------------------------------------
Q. Where are the POP2 protocols described?

A. The description of the POP2 protocol is in RFC937.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  Does POPmail use password encryption?

A.  We added DES encryption to the login sequence.  Our POP2 server makes up a random 
key and sends it to the client.  The client encrypts the password with the key and sends it to the 
server.  The server can then unencrypt the password and check it. By choosing the right 
defaults, we can keep the server and clients interoperable, i.e., the client can recognize our 
"extended" POP2 server by the presence of a key in the server's welcome message. Therefore 
the client sends encrypted passwords to extended servers, and regular clear passwords to plain 
pop2 servers.  Similarly, our server accepts both encrypted and clear passwords 
interchangeably.  Therefore you can mix and match.  Our clients can talk to a standard POP2 or 
POP3 server, and other clients such as Eudora can talk to our server.  As another level of 
security, if our client determines that it is talking to a standard pop2 server, and must send the 
password in the clear form, it sends the password 1 character per packet with long random 
delays between packets, instead of sending it all in 1 packet.  This disguises the password from 
all but the most knowledgeable of network peekers.  You can get our extended POP2 server by 
anonymous FTP from boombox.micro.umn.edu.  It is in /pub/POPmail/unix.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Q.  We are using POPmail/PC and when sending a file attachment to a Macintosh client that is 
using Eudora, the Macintosh client gets info stating the file needs to be bindHex.  Why?

A.  There is a slight incompatibility between Eudora and POPMail's method of sending 
attachments.  Eudora will sometimes complain that there may be extra characters at the end of 
the attachment, or some similar message.  You can ignore the message as the attachment is 
okay.  It is just that POPMail send one harmless extra character in certain cases.  This triggers 
an error message from Eudora.



