What Runs Where on Athena: Communication

Title and description:

alpine
Description: text-based mail client featuring automatic incorporation of users' mail, IMAP support and basic rendering of message bodies that are in HTML format. alpine is the successor to pine and is largely compatible with it

To run:

athena% alpine

There is documentation on the Web

See also: gpg, pine

Note:

ez-pine-gpg is also available. Documentation is here. This is a set of scripts that allows users to use gpg with alpine. To use it, type

athena% add outland

and append /mit/outland/share/ez-pine-gpg/pine-config to your .pinerc file. When verifying messages, you'll need to import the sender's public key outside of alpine

Title and description:

chpobox
Description: allows mail sent to one address to be forwarded or copied to a different address

To run:

athena% chpobox -s user@host (to forward your mail to address user@host)

athena% chpobox -S user@host (to send an additional copy of your mail to address user@host)

athena% chpobox -p (to restore your mail service to its original Athena default)

See also: exmh, from, lastupd, Mh, xmh, rblanche

Title and description:

dist
Description: allows forwarding mail while preserving mime enclosures

To run:

athena% dist message

See also: metamail, Mh, xmh

Title and description:

evolution
Description: GUI-based, IMAP aware mail reader that can interpret multiple formats including HTML. Incorporates a built-in calendar/task list and address book. This is the currently recommended multimedia-enabled mail reader on Athena

To run:

athena% evolution & (or click on Mail button on Gnome applet bar if evolution is configured as your mail application)

There is a user guide, local information about MIME attachments

See also: mailusage, Mh, xmh, mitmail utilities, pine

Title and description:

exmh
Description: graphical interface to the standard Athena MH mail system, with many customizable features and built-in MIME support. Helper-applications can be invoked to read MIME enclosures at the click of a button

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% exmh &

There is information on the Web, local information about MIME attachments

See also: chpobox, metamail, Mh, xmh

Title and description:

from
Description: utility that tells where mail was sent from, without actually retrieving it from a Post Office server

To run:

athena% from

See also: chpobox, mailusage, Mh, xmh, mitmail utilities

Title and description:

mailquota, mailusage
Description: utilities that tell your mail storage quota (mailquota), how much disk space your mail is using (mailusage) on your Post Office server

To run:

athena% mailquota

athena% mailusage

See also: evolution, from, mitmail utilities, pine

Title and description:

metamail
Description: mail reading program with the capability of decoding multiple enclosure formats

To run:

athena% add mime

athena% metamail mailfile

There is information about Athena MIME resources and local information about MIME attachments

See also: dist, exmh, mutt, pine, Mh, xmh, ytnef

Title and description:

MH (nmh), xmh
Description: MH is a modular mail handling program, allowing users to send, receive and organize messages. The individual MH commands below use a command-line text interface. xmh combines the commands within an X interface

To run:

athena% comp (opens editor window for composing a message)

athena% folder +path_to_mail_group (switches from current mail group to another)

athena% inc (incorporates incoming mail from P.O. server)

athena% mhstore (extracts and saves attachments from current mail message)

athena% next (displays next message in current group)

athena% prev (displays previous message in current group)

athena% refile + path_to_mail_group (refiles current message in another group)

athena% repl (send a reply to the current message)

athena% rmm message (deletes message in current group)

athena% scan (displays message headers for current group)

athena% show (displays current message)

athena% xmh & (for an X interface)

There is local information about MIME attachments

See also: chpobox, dist, evolution, exmh, from, metamail, MH-e, mitmail utilities, mutt, pine, pmail, RMAIL, WebMail

Note:

to decode non-ASCII mail enclosures, a method that frequently works is to pipe the mail message to metamail in the mime locker. to do this, do: add -f mime; show xx | metamail -w, where xx is the number of the mail message. metamail will attempt to decode enclosures, and if successful, will output them as files whose name is encoded as part of the message

Note:

MH on Athena has been upgraded to nmh, which works in the same way but adds capabilities for decoding MIME attachments; some information is here

Title and description:

MH-e
Description: emacs-based interface to MH

To run:

M-x mh-rmail (from within emacs)

or, to start a new emacs buffer running only mh:

athena% emacs -f mh-rmail &

There is local information about MIME attachments

See also: MH, RMAIL, WebMail

Title and description:

mitmail utilities
Description: set of utilities that allow users to manipulate and display mail messages on IMAP servers. Unless otherwise specified in command line options, the default folder the commands act on is the user's INBOX. See man pages for option details

To run:

athena% mitmailscan options (lists mail message sequence numbers, date, from and subject fields)

athena% mitmailshow options msg(s) (prints message with sequence number msg - at least one must be specified)

athena% mitmaildel options msg(s) (marks message with sequence number msg for deletion- at least one must be specified)

athena% mitmailundel options msg(s) (removes deletion mark from message msg previously marked for deletion)

athena% mitmailexp options (expunges all messages previously marked for deletion from the IMAP server)

Note:

mitmaildel does not actually delete messages, but just marks them for future deletion (which is reversible with mitmailundel). mitmailexp actually deletes them from the server. These commands do not incorporate your mail, and it stays on the server in the folder it was in, except for the action of mitmailexp (which deletes the specified messages)

See also: evolution, mailusage, MH, xmh, pine

Title and description:

mutt
Description: text-mode Mail User agent, descended from elm

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% mutt

There is documentation on the Web

See also: metamail, MH, xmh, pine, pmail

Title and description:

pine
Description: text-based mail client featuring automatic incorporation of users' mail, IMAP support and basic rendering of message bodies that are in HTML format. Currently the recommended text-only mail client on Athena

To run:

athena% pine

There is documentation on the Web, Pine on Athena

See also: alpine, evolution, gpg, mailusage, metamail, mitmail utilities, mozilla, mutt, MH, xmh, pmail,RMAIL, WebMail

Note:

ez-pine-gpg is also available. Documentation is here. This is a set of scripts that allows users to use gpg with pine. To use it, type

athena% add outland

and append /mit/outland/share/ez-pine-gpg/pine-config to your .pinerc file. When verifying messages, you'll need to import the sender's public key outside of pine

an older version of pine has been available in the sipb locker

Title and description:

pmail
Description: POP version of UCB mail, the interface familiar to many BSD-style UNIX users

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% pmail

See also: mutt, pine, RMAIL, MH, WebMail

Title and description:

RMAIL
Description: emacs-based mail system, compatible with pmail

To run:

athena% M-x rmail (from within emacs)

See also: MH, MH-e, pine, pmail

Title and description:

thunderbird
Description: fast, efficient mail and newsgroup reader based on those in Mozilla

To run:

athena% add thunderbird

athena% thunderbird &

See also: firefox, mozilla

Title and description:

WebMail
Description: Web-based mail system that can securely access your email through almost any Web browser, anywhere in the world

To run:

See instructions

See also: MH, MH-e, pine, pmail

Title and description:

ytnef
Description: decodes MS winmail winmail.dat files; can optionally output message text in rtf files, but those are most likely unreadable on UNIX systems- most useful for its ability to decode attachments in various formats

To run:

athena% add outland

athena% ytnef -f . winmail.dat

See also: metamail

Note:

metamail can be used to extract the winmail.dat file from the original message

Title and description:

discuss, xdsc
Description: Athena-specific networked online conferencing system where users can post transactions to "meetings" about various subjects. Similar to computer BBS "conferences"

To run:

athena% discuss (for a text interface)

followed by an appropriate keyword at the discuss: prompt (typing help gives useful information)

athena% xdsc & (for an X interface)

There is online documentation; also a Web gateway

See also: DISCUSS-e, dsgrep

Title and description:

DISCUSS-e
Description: emacs-based interface to discuss

To run:

M-x discuss (from within emacs)

See also: discuss

Title and description:

GNUS-e
Description: emacs-based interface to Net newsgroups

To run:

M-x gnus (from within emacs)

There is local online documentation. There are also newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: Mozilla Newsgroups, thunderbird, tin, trn

Title and description:

Mozilla Newsgroups
Description: Newsgroup reader incorporated in mozilla Web browser

To run:

athena% mozilla &

followed by Window -> Mail & Newsgroups

See also: GNUS-e, thunderbird, tin, trn

Title and description:

thunderbird
Description: fast, efficient mail and newsgroup reader based on those in Mozilla

To run:

athena% add thunderbird

athena% thunderbird &

See also: Mozilla Newsgroups, GNUS-e, tin, trn

Title and description:

tin
Description: full-featured newsgroup browser with an intuitive interface

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% tin

There is local online documentation. There are also newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: GNUS-e, Mozilla Newsgroups, netscape, thunderbird, trn

Title and description:

trn, xrn
Description: newsgroup reader

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% trn (for a text interface, Lnx, Sun)

athena% xrn & (for an X interface)

There is local online documentation. There are also newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: GNUS-e, Mozilla Newsgroups, tin, netscape, thunderbird

Title and description:

ftp
Description: UNIX standard file transfer protocol. Used to transfer files between hosts

Please be aware of security concerns: standard ftp will send your password and data in clear across the network. Consider secure file transfer methods such as kerberized ftp, and scp (part of the ssh package) instead of the standard ftp program. Additional information about secure file transfer is here

To run:

athena% ftp hostname

athena% ftp IP_address

(for internal commands, type ftp, followed by ? at the ftp> prompt)

See also: kermit, MindTerm applet, rlogin, ssh, uuencode, Zmodem

Note:

Athena machines are now configured to use secure kerberized ftp by default. This only applies to machines where both ends of the connection are running a kerberized ftp. To be sure you have an encrypted connection, look for words like: GSSAPI authentication succeeded and 200 Data channel protection level set to private when the connection is made

Title and description:

kermit
Description: commonly used file transfer program that allows file transfer between machines of many different types and architectures

To run:

athena% kermit

There is a Kermit home page

See also: Zmodem, ftp, uuencode

Title and description:

MindTerm applet (remote Athena login via Web)
Description: Java applet that allows secure remote non-GUI login to Athena dialups via ssh on Web browsers

To run:

Start from here, which will get you to an Athena login screen on one of the Athena dialup hosts. These machines are currently all Suns so the software you wish to run must be available on Suns

See also: ftp, ssh, telnet, x3270

Title and description:

rlogin, telnet
Description: standard UNIX applications allowing a user to log into a remote host

Please be aware of security concerns: standard rlogin and telnet will send your password and data in clear across the network. Consider kerberized telnet or ssh instead of the standard versions of these programs

To run:

athena% rlogin hostname

athena% telnet hostname

athena% telnet IP_address

See also: ftp, MindTerm applet, ssh, x3270

Note:

Athena machines are now configured to use secure kerberized telnet by default. This only applies to machines where both ends of the connection are running a kerberized telnet. To be sure you have an encrypted connection, look for the words: What you type is protected by encryption when the connection is made

Title and description:

ssh
Description: allows secure remote logins and file transfer using a variety of authentication and encryption methods, including RSA, DES and others. Can act as a replacement for rlogin, telnet, ftp and rcp. ssh will automatically secure and encrypt an X session. Many command-line parameters and configuration settings exist. Read the man page (man ssh) and see the OpenSSH home page for more information; there is also a local Web page and ssh on Athena dialups

To run:

athena% ssh options hostname (for secure shell)

athena% scp options sourcehost:source file desthost:destination file (for secure file copy)

See also: ftp, gpg, pgp, MindTerm applet, rlogin, telnet

Title and description:

uuencode, uudecode
Description: converts a binary file into an ASCII encoded representation that can be sent via mail. It encodes the contents of source_file into an ASCII file encoded_file which can be inserted in a text mail message. The file_label argument is required, and is included in encoded_file 's header as the name into which uudecode places the binary decoded data

To run:

athena% uuencode source_file file_label >encoded_file

athena% uudecode encoded_file (some versions can work with encoded_file embedded in mail; others may require separating it out)

See also: ftp, kermit, Zmodem

Title and description:

x3270
Description: IBM 3270 terminal emulator, used to access remote IBM mainframes

To run:

athena% x3270 hostname

See also: MindTerm applet, telnet

Title and description:

Zmodem (rz, sz)
Description: error-correcting protocol for serial port data transfer between machines of various architectures

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% rz file (to receive a file from a remote host)

athena% sz file (to send a file to a remote host)

See also: kermit, ftp, Mtools, uuencode

Title and description:

gaim
Description: multi-protocol messaging client allowing communication with users of MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, AIM, ICQ, Jabber and others

To run:

athena% gaim &

There is information on the Web, information on configuring gaim to access MIT's Jabber server

See also: jwrite, owl, write, xlite, Zephyr

Note:

on Athena, many users use Zephyr. gaim has recently been renamed pidgin but the version on Athena still goes by the former name

Title and description:

jwrite
Description: command-line instant messaging client for users with Jabber accounts

To run:

athena% jwrite user (sends a message to a given user)

See also: gaim, owl, write, xlite, Zephyr

Note:

to use jwrite, you need to have jwgc running first. To start it if it's not already running, type jwgc at the athena% prompt

gaim is the preferred Jabber client on Athena

Title and description:

owl
Description: text-based instant messaging client that supports a variety of built-in message editing and handling tools; supports both Zephyr and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) protocols

To run:

athena% add ktools

athena% owl

Type h after starting owl to see available commands; see also the ktools home page

See also: gaim, jwrite, Zephyr

Title and description:

talk
Description: UNIX communication program which copies lines typed in at your terminal to another terminal. When you make a talk request, the other user must respond to establish a link. Then the parties may type simultaneously, with their respective output appearing in separate halves of the window. The alert to the other user usually appears in the console window

To run:

athena% talk user@hostname

See also: write, xlite, Zephyr

Note:

on Athena, many users use Zephyr

Title and description:

write
Description: UNIX communication program which copies lines typed in at your terminal to another terminal. On Athena, the text usually appears in the recipient's console window

To run:

athena% write user@hostname

See also: gaim, jwrite, talk, Zephyr

Note:

on Athena, many users use Zephyr

Title and description:

xlite
Description: VoIP phone client recommended for use with MIT VoIP (SIP) accounts. Information about getting a SIP account is here (MIT only)

To run:

athena% add outland

athena% xlite &

See also: jwrite, gaim, talk, Zephyr

Note:

on first use, xlite may offer you audio tuning parameters and will require information about your account and network connectivity. Please make the following entries:

display name: anything

authuser: your Athena username

outbound proxy: outgoing-sip-proxy.mit.edu

domain/realm: mit.edu

currently, connectivity is limited to the MIT campus. The computer you are using will need to have a microphone and speakers or headphones

Title and description:

xzewd, xzul
Description: xzewd puts a GUI wrapper around Zephyr, allowing various message attributes to be set easily. It also allows users to keep track of "buddy lists" of selected other users who are online and Zephyrable.To do the latter, the usernames of the "buddies" should be entered in a text file .anyone in the user's home directory, one per line. xzul is simpler, and only performs the "buddy list" tracking function, using the same .anyone file

To run:

athena% add outland

athena% xzewd &

athena% xzul &

See also: Zephyr

Title and description:

Zephyr (zwrite, zlocate, zctl)
Description: Athena-specific messaging system allowing users to send near real-time messages to each other. Allows creation of groups, called "instances", to which messages can be sent

To run:

athena% zwrite user (sends a message to a given user)

athena% zwrite -i instance (sends a message to members of instance)

athena% zctl (set instance lists and other Zephyr attributes)

athena% zlocate user (finds out where user is logged in (if not hidden))

There is online documentation, also a Web interface; also Inessential Zephyr and Zephyr Answers

See also: jwrite, gaim, owl, tac, talk, tik, write , xlite, xzewd, xzul