LINUX AND EMAIL

What is the Best Email Program for Linux?

Pine is an email handler that is much friendlier than the plain ol' mail command. Pine sport s a full-screen interface and a context-sensitive list of commands on each screen. Even though it's text-based (no GUI) it's very easy to use and has enough features to satisfy almost any user. I personally recommend Pine and use it in a Linux environment, even though I access the Internet from a Windows machine. In case you're wondering why an email system would be named after a tree, here's the scoop. Pine was originally based on another email program called Elm (short for "ELectronic Mail"), written by Internet pioneer Dave Taylor. The name Pine was first an acronym for "Pine Is Not Elm," but today the official title is Program for Internet News and Email. (Revisionists: 1, Geeks: 0¾film at 11.)

Starting Pine

To fire up the Pine program, use the following command, and you'll see the Pine main menu screen:

% pine

PINE 4.10 MAIN MENU Folder: INBOX 3 Messages ? HELP - Get help using Pine C COMPOSE MESSAGE - Compose and send/post a message I MESSAGE INDEX - View messages in current folder L FOLDER LIST - Select a folder OR news group to view A ADDRESS BOOK - Update address book S SETUP - Configure or update Pine Q QUIT - Exit the Pine program Copyright 1989-1999. PINE is a trademark of the U. of Washington ? Help       P PrevCmd     R RelNotes O OTHER CMDS > [ListFldrs] N NextCmd   K KBLock

Typically, I press I to jump right into my INBOX, but Pine also offers several options: pressing C to send a message, L to see a list of my saved mail folders, or A to manage my address book. (We'll touch on those options later.)

If you want to bypass this opening screen, you can add the -i flag to your pine command and go directly to the INBOX screen.

For more information on the pine command, see the pine manual.

Previous Lesson: Other Mail Commands
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Copyright © by Bob Rankin
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