Pine vs. Elm: The big debate...

The College Computer Center is supporting Pine (Program for Internet News and Email) as our recommended UNIX electronic mailer. According to Pine developers, "the guiding principles for Pine's user-interface were: careful limitation of features, one-character mnemonic commands, always-present command menus, immediate user feedback, and high tolerance for user mistakes." We highly recommend Elm users switch to using Pine since Elm is known for losing mail messages and is no longer a program that is supported with updates. We also offer short training classes on using Pine. Check out the training web pages for class dates/times http://www.wpi.edu/~training.

For more information on Pine check out the site http://www.washington.edu/pine. There you will find a wealth of information on it's features, configuration and even it's history. Pine developers originally began using Elm code when they started developing this program!

Here are some features they list on their web site:

• Online help specific to each screen and context.

• Message index showing a message summary which includes the status, sender, size, date and subject of messages.

• Commands to view and process messages: Forward, Reply, Save, Export, Print, Delete, capture address, and search.

• Message composer with easy-to-use editor and spelling checker. The message composer also assists entering and formatting addresses and provides direct access to the address book.

• Address book for saving long complex addresses and personal distribution lists under a nickname.

• Message attachments via the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) specification. MIME allows sending/receiving non-text objects, such as binary files, spreadsheets, graphics, and sound.

• Folder management commands for creating, deleting, listing, or renaming message folders. Folders may be local or on remote hosts.

• Access to remote message folders and archives via the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) as defined in RFC-1176 and revisions.

• Internet news support via either NNTP or IMAP.

• Aggregate operations, e.g. saving a selected set of messages at once. For further information, send email to pine@cac. washington.edu. Pine and Pico are trademarks of the University of Washington.

Updates:

For example: For student access enter - username.student. For faculty access enter: username. faculty. For staff access enter - username.boynton.

Remember, the trailing period is important to enter.

NEW

These workshops will be 1 hour lecture/practice sessions about a new computer topic each week. Classes are on a walk-in basis which means that there's no need to pre-register. All you need to do is show up at class time. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis so try to get there early. The door will be shut when there are no more computers available. We may be adding to this schedule so keep watching the training web pages. Full descriptions for the workshops will be available on the web pages as well.

Topics for B-Term Include:

• Email Netiquette and Expressions

• Windows95 Basics

• Using a POP Email Client under Windows*

• Downloading from the Internet*

• Computer Virus control and safety on the Network*

All classes will be held on Thursdays at 4:30 unless otherwise noted. Classes marked by an asterisk (*) require that you have a general understanding of Windows95 File basics in order for the class to be productive for you.

Questions may be sent directly to the training account (training@wpi.edu) and we are always open to new suggestions and topic ideas!

Directions to the training room:

Please refer to the CCC InfoPages for a copy of this article as well as copies of previous articles at http://www.wpi.edu/~training/News/newsletter.html