[plug] Simplest POP dial-in sequence ?

[The Thought Assassin]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2000, Mike wrote:
> At 01:18 PM 21/12/2000 +0800, you wrote:
> >You don't want to do tcp/ip in this situation. Make sure your dialup
> >account goes to a terminal server that will let you log in to a unix shell
> >server with the "mail" command, or lacking that some kind of command
> >prompt with a telnet program, then telnet to the appropriate smtp port.
> Tah Greg, thats something I'm not acquainted with - doubtless iinet could
> help me there.
They ought to know what is listening on their modem lines. :)
In general, there are three possibilities:
A) The dialin servers speak PPP-only
B) The dialin servers will give you a limited command interface on some
   kind of proprietary equipment
C) The dialin servers will give you a proper Unix prompt

In situation A, convince your ISP to offer non-PPP or switch ISPs.
In situation B, the command interface will almost certainly have a telnet
command. In situation C, phone your mother's brother and ask "hey Bob,
what do you know about /bin/mail?".

If you answered B, then you will need to telnet to the smtp port of your
ISP's mail server. (probably "telnet mail smtp" but dependent on telnet
implementation and ISP setup) You will then be talking to an SMTP server.
RFC 821 tells you how to do this, but the only excerpt you are likely to
need is this:

>         This SMTP example shows mail sent by Smith at host Alpha.ARPA,
>         to Jones, Green, and Brown at host Beta.ARPA.  Here we assume
>         that host Alpha contacts host Beta directly.
>
>            S: MAIL FROM:<Smith at Alpha.ARPA>
>            R: 250 OK
>
>            S: RCPT TO:<Jones at Beta.ARPA>
>            R: 250 OK
>
>            S: RCPT TO:<Green at Beta.ARPA>
>            R: 550 No such user here
>
>            S: RCPT TO:<Brown at Beta.ARPA>
>            R: 250 OK
>
>            S: DATA
>            R: 354 Start mail input; end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
>            S: Blah blah blah...
>            S: ...etc. etc. etc.
>            S: <CRLF>.<CRLF>
>            R: 250 OK

Try to send some mail manually this way to get the hang of it. You might
also like to read RFC822 if you want to do anything complicated with mail
headers. In fact, everyone should read RFC822 this instant, and possibly
have it tattooed somewhere convenient on their personage. :)

Ending the telnet session prior to logging out is again dependent on the
telnet implementation, but it will be by means of an escape character.

> Ideally I'd like to ue the existing iinet dialin server and not have to
> set up a special access mode - then I could use it normally for my own
> account etc,
Most ISPs (and all dialin systems) let you do either, and the software is
clever enough to work out which you are doing.

> >The hard part will be handling the serial device and modem
> Thats all done thankfully, as i/we currently receive/dialin to PET/TAP,
Great.

> Any links you know of to cover familiarity/background for the first
> part above re Unix/SMtp, telent etc ?
To summarise:
man mail
or if you can't use "mail", look at RFC821 and talk SMTP through telnet.

-Greg Mildenhall