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Roadmap to MAIL Services

   

What are my choices at CERN?

The main criteria you should use when choosing your preferred MAIL service are:

• the combination Desktop/Operating System with which you feel most comfortable;
• the need to process your mail from more than one location, including from outside CERN if necessary on occasions.

The following is a summary of the current choices at CERN, with their corresponding association to centrally provided services.

Currently recommended options

1 -

Unix Mail Agent - MailServer

This is the Internet-based solution. The currently recommended Unix Mail Agents matching this service are pine and Netscape.

You can:

-

connect to the service remotely and process your mail from both inside and outside CERN;

-

forward your mail to another destination;

-

work over low speed lines (using pine) as well as over the internal CERN network (with both pine and Netscape assuming you have a graphical terminal, or using pine only if you have only a simple ``dumb'' terminal).

2 -

Microsoft Mail (MS Mail) - NICE

This is the PC-based option (later to be replaced by Microsoft Exchange). It provides standard mail facilities, except that you cannot:

-

connect remotely and look at your mail;

-

forward your mail to other destinations.

3 -

QuickMail 3.5 - Mac environment provided by AS Division

This again provides the standard mail functions, but you have to buy a licence (180 CHF).

You can:

-

connect to the CERN Appletalk network (including external access through CARA) from any Mac to process your mail;

-

forward your mail to another computer.

but you cannot:

-

even with a MAC, connect to QuickMail from offsite without MODEM access to the CARA Service.

How do I select one of them?

Now that you know what you can expect from each service, it should be much easier for you to match your choice to your needs. Many people will fall in one of these two situations.

I only care about my mail when at CERN

You are generally not directly involved in the research activities but require to use electronic mail as a means of communication with colleagues, e.g. administrative or technical support staff.

In this case your main consideration should be what you have on your desk: a PC, Macintosh, a Unix box (workstation or X-Terminal) or a Falco terminal would naturally determine your choice.

I would like also to process my mail from outside CERN

You are probably a physicist, engineer or manager involved in the research activities of the Laboratory. There are two acceptable choices.

• TCP/IP Network

  This is the case when you use connectivity tools such as telnet from another computer elsewhere.

  Appletalk is a different network protocol so QuickMail drops out, and so does MS Mail. Only the MailServer solution remains.

• MODEM

  This is the case if you use standard telephone lines to request a connection(from your home, or your portable computer while away from CERN).

  You may use QuickMail only if you have a Mac (portable or at home) and have registered on the CARA Service.

  Otherwise you are left with the MailServer option.

A more detailed description of the technical differences between the various mail services can be found in the UCO Reference Card 50, ``Cross-Reference for Mail Services at CERN'', which is also available at the URL http://consult.cern.ch/writeup/refcard50