From: dongray@cdclu1.genrad.com
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Processing mail of a PC?
Date: 14 Sep 92 13:55:35 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet

I asked...
>
>Does anyone know of a software package or packages which could be used to
>process mail (VMSmail and/or ALL-IN-1 messages) from Vax/VMS on a PC running
>MSDOS when the PC is disconnected from the Vax?
>
>The scenario is a number of people with PC's and modems who will need to
>contact to the Vax to exchange information. Obviously they could just use some
>kind of terminal emulation and run up large phone bills, but I'd like to use
>some method similar to those found on PC BBS's (e.g. Silver eXpress) or
>Compuserve's CIM or TAPCIS.
>
>For those that don't know, these packages allow the user to log in and run a
>program which collects any new mail, packages it up, and downloads it to the
>PC. The user can then log off and read messages and prepare answers or new
>messages at their leisure. When ready, the user logs in again and uploads new
>messages for processing. Usually, in a single session, the user will both
>upload and download messages to save time.
>
>Note that the interface should be with either VMSmail or ALL-IN-1; it doesn't
>much matter which. I don't think that a bulletin board setup would be
>appropriate since it is private mail we are considering. There will be few (if
>any) public messages.
>
>Thanks in advance. I'll summarize if there's any interest.
>
>Derek.

Several people suggested "Mobilizer for ALL-IN-1" from DEC; particularly...

	Ta Fuh Chiam		chiam@vulcan.cba.ohiou.edu
	Jeff			(no net-address in text)
	(plus a couple of others with no mail address

I am currently following up on this. It has one drawback at the moment, in that
it's only supported for ALL-IN1 V2.3 and V2.4; we are running V3.0. Our local
DEC office has said "it will work, but it's untested and may be unsupported".

Another DEC product is "ALL-IN-1 Desktop". This uses a client-server (the same
as the above) but seems to need a 'permanent' network connection. It also
suffers from the same version restriction as Mobilizer. This was suggested by...

	Sanjay Kapur		Sanjay.Kapur@sunysb.edu
	Joe Engargeau		JENGARGEAU@itmv02.ail.com

UUCP was suggested by ...

	Matt Gilbert		cmatt@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu
	Jerry C. Hudgins	jerry%marin.uucp@seq.uncwil.edu
	Dick Munroe		munroe@dmc.com

I suspect this may be overkill for our needs. Also we don't have anything
running UUCP on site at the moment so it might take a lot of setting up.

A product called Mail Call (producer phone number: 800-262-4522?) was suggested
by ...
	chris_kindschi@sematech.org

Unfortunately, I'm in the UK so an 800-number's not very much use. (OK, so I
'could' use USA-Direct, but ...)

A completely manual method of using VMSmail's extract/all and transferring the
resultant text file was suggested by ...

	Jay E. Morris		morris@patrick-pims.af.mil

Unfortunately, we have a preference for an ALL-IN-1 solution. Also I am looking
for somehting that's fairly idiot proof. The users of this will mainly be
salespeople.

Finally (and interestingly)...

>Derek,
>
>	There is a utility around called DELIVER, which uses the
>	foreign protocol hooks in VMSmail.. It can be set up to
>	do several wonderful things, one of which is append all
>	messages received to a text file.  You could probably split
>	this file into multiple messages on the PC side after
>	they have been downloaded.. Just an idea..  Getting the
>	emails back onto the VAX would not be a difficult thing either.
>	have a command procedure on VAX that parses each mail file and
>	then sends the reply on..
>
>					Stevo...
>--
>DIGITAL Telephone Support, Sydney AUSTRALIA   *   Ph: +61 2 5615675 (BH)
>Email: ollis@redbck.enet.dec.com            *  *      +61 2 6268533 (AH)
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>   Terra Australis Espirito Santo - The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit

How come the only DEC employee to respond did *not* suggest a DEC product? :-)
(BTW, I already have DELIVER and MX).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : Derek Dongray, Systems Manager, GenRad Ltd.
Phone : 061 486 1511 ext 166
PSS : 234261600119::Dongray                 UKnet : Derek.Dongray@GenRad.co.uk
InterNet : Dongray@cdclu1.GenRad.com        CompuServe : 70374,2745
Address : Monmouth House, Monmouth Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, SK8 7AY, UK.