Using E-mail at Boston University
You may check your ACS e-mail with a UNIX-based e-mail program, a desktop (PC or Macintosh) e-mail client, or a Web-based client. You may also use any of these methods to read your ACS mail even when you are away from Boston University.
UNIX-based E-mail programs available on ACS:
Pine
- Pine is a menu-driven e-mail program for UNIX and IBM PCs and compatibles. The UNIX version is available on ACS. Features of Pine include a menu-driven interface; on-line, context-sensitive help; and an address book. To use Pine, type pine at the system prompt. To view online documentation, type man pine at the system prompt, or from within Pine type "?" or <Ctrl>-g (depending on which screen you are on). In addition, free, hands-on tutorials are offered each semester. For more information on using Pine, please see Using Pine and the UNIX, Pine and Emacs Quick Reference and/or Using Pine from a PC or Mac.
Elm- Elm has menus at the bottom of the screen to guide you. To use Elm, type elm at the system prompt. Elm has excellent documentation. To view on-line documentation and help, type man elm at the system prompt or "?" at the Elm Command prompt. To print a complete set of Elm documentation, type elmdoc at the system prompt. Handouts are also available at the Help Desk. For more information on using Elm, please see Using Elm
UNIX mail- This program is standard on all UNIX systems. The interface is fairly simple and powerful, but is not menu-driven. To use UNIX mail, type mail at the system prompt. To view on-line documentation and help, type man mail at the system prompt, "?" at the "&" mail prompt, or "~?" in the first column while composing a mail message.
Pine, Elm, and UNIX mail have the ability to call your choice of editor to compose messages. Some of the editors available are Emacs, vi and a relatively new editor, Pico. To run Pico type pico at an ACS prompt, or type man pico for information. Pico looks much like a very simple version of Emacs, with the commands appearing at the bottom of the screen. By default, Pine uses a version of Pico as its editor; Elm and UNIX mail can be configured to use Pico.
We have tried to configure Elm and Pine to
make it easy to switch back and forth between the two, so that
you can try both before making any decisions. If you previously
used UNIX mail and you decide to switch permanently to Elm or
Pine, you will probably want to make your old mail automatically
visible to Elm and Pine. You can do this by moving your mbox file,
which contains previously read mail, to your Mail subdirectory.
To do so, type: mv ~/mbox ~/Mail/mbox.
Accessing E-mail when away From Boston
University:
Incoming mail to BU is stored on a central mail server (usually
ACS). When you are traveling, or even just away from your regular
computer, you may find that familiarity with Pine
and/or our Web-based mail
program will be extremely helpful. More information on reading
mail when you are away from your regular computer is at www.bu.edu/pcsc/email/remote.
Help
If you have questions on Pine, Elm or UNIX mail or UNIX editors,
send mail to help@acs.bu.edu
or see a consultant at the Help Desk in the basement of 111 Cummington
Street.
Windows and Macintosh E-mail
Clients and Help:
OIT's Personal
Computing Support Center provides support for popular Windows
and Macintosh mail clients such as Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape
and OS X Mail. You can use any of these clients to access your
mail on ACS.
You can also access UNIX-based e-mail programs such as Pine from
a personal computer by following our on-line
instructions.
Help documentation on personal computer mail clients and a variety
of other topics is available on
the PCSC's E-mail page.
Send questions about PC or Macintosh e-mail programs to pcsc@bu.edu or call or visit the PCSC office at 617 353-7272 or 111 Cummington St., Rm. B19.
