UNIX For Dummies [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Kool! It’s KMail

If the command-line mail clients aren’t doing it for you, you might want to give KMail a try. It’s a fairly standard e-mail client, which means that you can take a two-year degree in configuring it. Setting KMail up is a lot like setting up Mozilla, except that you have to do everything yourself; it won’t prompt you. Here are the steps.

Start KMail.
It’s probably one of the icons at the bottom of the screen — look for an envelope with an E next to it.

Choose SettingsConfigure KMail.


The Configure KMail window appears.

If an identity is in the list area in the window, select the Modify option; otherwise, select the New option.


Enter your name, organization, and e-mail address and click OK.
Many people put funny things in the Organization field; if you’re like us, put None, or Fairly cluttered.

Tip You may want to come back here later and add a signature (something attached to every message you send). This is also where you specify a Reply-To header, but most people don’t need one.


Click the Network icon in the left side of the window.


Select the Add option on the Sending tab.


Enter the name of your outgoing mail server.
Just like with Mozilla, if you aren’t sure, ask your ISP. You can try smtp and mail , both of which are likely guesses. Just put the host name in the Host field.

Click the Receiving tab. Specify the name of the host.
Before you’re allowed to enter settings for a host, you’re asked what kind of account it is; select the POP option from the list.

Your ISP should be able to tell you. Remember, your POP server is the same thing as your incoming mail server. It’s more likely mail , pop , or pop3 .

Type your username and password.
Your username is whatever your ISP told you to use to get your mail. Generally, the username is the same as the part before the @ in your e-mail address.

You can check your mail, send replies, and everything else. If it didn’t work, good luck — you have to call your ISP’s tech support. They may not know how to use KMail, but the instructions they give you should work. Just remember that you get to all of these settings by choosing SettingsConfigure KMail. If you’re having trouble checking your mail, everything you need to do is on the Receiving tab. If you’re having trouble sending mail, check the Sending tab.

The MH e-mail client (or NMH, an updated version that’s more actively maintained) is what all the cool kids use. It’s arcane, complicated, and completely scriptable. Instead of being a single program, it’s a set of programs, which you glue together yourself. Hard to use, but it can do anything.

Want to sort your mail, preprocess it, and set up autoresponders? You’re looking for procmail. A bit tricky to figure out, but very flexible. Some good information about it is written by our friend Nancy McGough at www.ii.com/internet/robots/ procmail/ .

Sick of spam? A wonderful program, called SpamAssassin, can identify a lot of it and throw it out for you. Most people who use SpamAssassin have it as a plug-in to procmail.

You can play with a lot of the other settings. One setting you shouldn’t touch is the HTML mail setting. By default, KMail plays nice and sends plain text e-mail. We like plain text e-mail. It’s got words in it. You can configure KMail to send HTML mail, with the same problems HTML mail always has. Just don’t go there!

KMail’s toolbar may be confusing at first. Just hover the mouse over a button, and you get an actual description of what it does. For instance, the button that looks like a dog-eared sheet of paper with an envelope in front of it is the New Message button. Using KMail is otherwise a lot like using any other mail program.