Under host, type in harper.uchicago.edu, and you should face a login screen. This is the harper prompt. Nearly everything you do with your account will be a command typed to the right of this prompt. Currently, the University is in the process of converting its online access protocol to a more secure format known as Kerberos. Once you're done using your account, type logout.
Most people use their harper accounts for email and little else.
That's a definite shame, but we have to defer to popularity here and talk about email first. The text-based system is fast, versatile, convenient, powerful, relatively easy, and is available from every campus computer. But, Eudora does use a graphical interface, so if a user feels like he will never be able to figure out how to use a text-based email program, Eudora is the way to go. Eudora, since it stores mail on the local machine, is a major hassle unless the user plans on checking email from the same computer every time. The text-based mail program used most by students is called pine.