Hold it,,,,

I just downloaded w32-461.exe   and ran setup.

What's this I'm reading about the memory stick ?  Running it from that stick on any machine  and getting identical behavior ?

That could really solve a lot of problems really fast.

Where do I read more before I go any further ?

Internet is becoming too  expensive here; may need to  disconnect it.

Plans then would be to get E-mail  via various WI-FI  hot spots; easily and happily provided by many places here in  town.

I'd like to use the small  hand-book  computer  to get the files from the hot spot, take it home,  transfer to the better computer at home, read/write/respond/etc.,  transfer back to small computer, and then return to another hot spot the next day.

Not really high-tech, but money is difficult these days

Advice from others who have succeeded and failed at this idea is welcome

> Just one problem to do that: to send messages you'll need to use a smtp server and usually the WiFi hot spots don't offer this kind of
> service and if you have no more ISP you won't have any smtp server which will accept your connection. Furthermore the port used by smtp
> servers is usually blocked on hot spots.

Sure they support SMTP.  ;-) They may block port 25 but they do not block port 587 or the SSL ports.  He'd need to get a GMail (or other free service)  account and use the GMail POP3 and SMTP accounts to get and send mail.  In addition, I've connected to my Mercury systems for mail from all sorts of places all over the world.

That said in my area I have a least 5 neighbors where their WiFi signal comes in pretty strong, he might want to ask them if he could use their service, maybe for a small fee in a Win-Win situation.  Conversely, he might even get a antenna for his WiFi and provide access to offset the cost of his internet access.

And finally, even if he does drop his high speed internet services there are still some very inexpensive dial-up type connections that work quite well with POP3/SMTP.  Of course my experience in buying access is in the USA and having lived in Europe for a few years I understand how expensive some of the European telephone systems can be so this may not be an option.

So how would I get the messages ?....

-A- From my host to the small handbook computer

-B- From the small computer to the desktop computer

-C- (The completed responses) From the desktop computer back to the small computer

-D- (The temporarily stored outgoing messages) from the small computer back out to the internet

Pegasus is formatting the return addresses properly.

I am using about 100 or 150 forwarding addresses; mainly to identify quasi-spam where a single given originally designated address was appropriated for a second purpose. These are overwhelmingly incoming-only addresses. 

I think I have about 5 or 10 different "From" addresses that are used for outgoing E-mail, and generally use only one or two of them in a given month.

So, anyway, with that in context, where do I read about Port 25, port 587, the SSL ports,  and whatever else I need to learn to do ?

Regarding the comments around...

"...for a small fee in a Win-Win situation. Conversely, he might even get a antenna for his WiFi and provide access to offset the cost of his internet access...."

The ISP I'm using has a specific and direct contractual clause which forbids exactly that. Who can blame them ?

Regarding "...inexpensive dial-up type connections..."

Unfortunately, I am in frequent contact with people who haven't discovered Free temporary large-file hosting, and they believe that it's simply fine to attach large files (like a megabyte; maybe two or three, hey, why not ten or twenty ? That's their thinking) to E-mail messages with a single sentence of text.

Two or three years ago I tried a company called LocalNet.  My experience with attempting to terminate the service was sufficient to dissuade me from ever wanting to deal with LocalNet again.

I will be most happy to post URLs here directing others to customer reviews of LocalNet, in hopes that any such person thinking about a backup system will not make the mistake I made.

Do a websearch on the phrase "localnet reviews" and you'll see my exact same story told by five hundred others.  They keep billing after you discontinue service.

Anyway, the other low-cost dial-up services would be doing a great service to their own industry, as LocalNet has placed such a horrible experience in my mind that I honestly don't want to deal with any simple low-cost dial-up service ever again. They are, honestly, that bad. They are chasing customers away from the entire industry.

I wonder if they are really funded by the high-speed cable companies to make people think like I'm thinking right now; i.e., "Yuck ! No Way ! I'm not going back down that route again !"

> Regarding "...inexpensive dial-up type connections..."
>
>
> Unfortunately, I am in frequent contact with people who haven't discovered Free temporary large-file hosting, and they believe that
> it's simply fine to attach large files (like a megabyte; maybe two or three, hey, why not ten or twenty ? That's their thinking) to
> E-mail messages with a single sentence of text.

Non-problema with Pegasus Mail and POP3, just limit the POP3 download size to that you are comfortable with on a dial-up connection.  You can then use the "Selective mail download" to checkout what remains on the POP3 host to determine whether you want to download it later with a high-speed connection or delete it on the derver.
>
>
> Two or three years ago I tried a company called LocalNet.  My experience with attempting to terminate the service was sufficient
> to dissuade me from ever wanting to deal with LocalNet again I will be most happy to post URLs here directing others to customer
> reviews of LocalNet, in hopes that any such person thinking about a backup system will not make the mistake I made. Do a
> websearch on the phrase "localnet reviews" and you'll see my exact same story told by five hundred others. 
> They keep billing after you discontinue service.

I lived with a fairly inexpensive dial-up for years until DSL and Cable finally reached me, you just have to be selective about who to go to for service.  If the person you talk to does not have a clue about the terms POP3, TCP/IP and fixed IP address you do not want to do business with them.  You have go to look for them and the ones with a local address are generally a lot better than those you pick off the internet.  Walking in the door and talking to the people is always a good idea.

Of course if someone here would not stop my service when I provided written notification I have the e-mail address of the local district attorney's place of business and here they are very happy to go to bat for you.   There are huge fines paid by a number of companies around here who thought that they did not have to pay attention to the California customer protections laws.  

> So how would I get the messages ?....

> -A- From my host to the small handbook computer

With Pegasus Mail you would go to the HOME mail directory on the computer and copy the outbound queued mail, *.PMX and *.PMW files, to the home mail directory on the laptop.


> -B- From the small computer to the desktop computer

Copy the New mail messages (*.CNM files) to the new mail directory on the desktop.

> -C- (The completed responses) From the desktop computer back to the
> small computer

Copy the PMW& PMW files back to the laptop.

> -D- (The temporarily stored outgoing messages) from the small
> computer back out to the internet

Not sure what you mean here.  If Pegasus Mail is on both systems it will be the mail client to be used to send and receive the mail.

>
>
> Pegasus is formatting the return addresses properly.
> I am using about 100 or 150 forwarding addresses; mainly to identify
> quasi-spam where a single given originally designated address was
> appropriated for a second purpose. These are overwhelmingly
> incoming-only addresses.

I have no idea what you are talking about here.

> I think I have about 5 or 10 different "From" addresses that are
> used for outgoing E-mail, and generally use only one or two of them
> in a given month.

Use identities in PMail each with their own setup.  The laptop and desktop would use the same setup.  If you are using a GMail account to send the mail all of the from addresses must be registered as authorized sender is GMail.

> So, anyway, with that in context, where do I read about Port 25,
> port 587, the SSL ports,  

Probably there is an E-mail for Dummies that will point you to the answers to these questions.  All of the others are fairly expensive that go so deep into the SSL/TLS, SMTP and POP3 protocols, far deeper that you really need just to use an e-mail client via a Wireless connections.

Port 25 is the default mail transmission agent (SMTP) sending/receiving port for server to server mail.  There may be a SSL or TLS type connection but normally there is not.  When a e-mail client sends via an SMTP server via port 25 that would nowadays be using SMTP authentication and/or STARTTLS.  Port 25 is blocked outbound on most ISPs, many also block this port inbound.

Port 587 is the default mail submission agent (SMTP) port used by mail clients when sending mail without SSL

Port 465 is the default SMTP sending port for a mail client using SSL.

Port 110 is the default POP3 port with receiving mail.

Port 995 is the default POP3 receiving port for a mail client using SSL

Port 143 is the default IMAP4 port.

Port 993 is the default IMAP4 receiving port for a mail client using SSL.

All ports other than port 25 can be set to almost anything by mutual agreement between the client and server.

"...I have no idea what you are talking about here...."

Dorky on my part, sorry.

Here's what I'm doing...

My hosting service provides 100 E-mail addresses per domain name. I have a bunch of them. They have this E-mail forwarding thing; not really sure of the details of exactly what they are doing.

So anyway,

-- I sign up on Ultra_Great_Deals.com to receive E-mail notifications.  I give them an E-mail address, something like, "Ultra_Great_Deals.com.001@SomeDomainName.com"

-- I give my stock broker an address, something like, "Gopher_Brokers.001@SomeDomainName.com"

-- I give the grocery store website an address, something like, "Randalls_Grocery.001@SomeDomainName.com"

-- I give the dentist an address, something like, "Dr_Brushenfloss.001@SomeDomainName.com"

Each one of those E-mail addresses is forwarded (ultimately) to a single address on the E-mail machine, from which I retrieve the messages. Pegasus is configured to retrieve the messages from that final forwarding point.

The result of all this is two-fold...

-1- I get all the messages from all the senders in one place

-2- When someone gets ahold of my address for spam purposes, I can quite quickly identify the one he used.

Hope that clarifies things somewhat.

The result of all this is two-fold...

-1- I get all the messages from all the senders in one place

-2- When someone gets ahold of my address for spam purposes, I can quite quickly identify the one he used.

 Ok, I understand, I do the same thing as well with my Mercury server.  In fact that might be some sort of solution for use.  Network the laptop and the desktop with Mercury, Pegasus Mail and the mailboxes on the laptop.  You could then run WinPMail using a shortcut from the desktop sending and receiving mail and then take the laptop to the Wi-Fi location to send and receive mail using MercuryC to send via a relay host like Yahoo or GMail and MercuryD to receive the mail via the same source via POP3.

 1.  Install WinPmail in the multiuser mode on the "server", in your case the laptop.  Use c:\pmail for the program; c:\pmail\mail for the mail directories.

2.  Run PCONFIG.exe from the WinPMail program directory and change the HOME and NEW mail directory specification to the \\server\vol\pmail\mail\~8
    format. This takes the drive letter mapping out of the equation.

3.  Go to the desktop and install a shortcut to the common program.

Ok, now you have the basic mail system setup.  You can send and receive mail on the desktop from mail directories on the laptop.

4.  Install Mercury/32 on this same server pointing to the Pegasus Mail directory structure.  Use MercuryD, MercuryS, MercuryC at least. Use
    \\server\vol\mercury\queue for the mail spool directory. WinPMail will send the mail using the Mercury User Defined Gateway to put the mail in this queue.

5.  Point MercuryD at all of your POP3 mailboxes to download the mail to your Pegasus Mail user directories.

You now can send and receive Internet mail via Pegasus Mail.  The mail is delivered to the Pegasus Mail directories automatically.  You send mail simply but putting the output files into the Mercury/32 mail spool directory.  This is accomplished automatically with a Pegasus Mail User Defined Gateway.  

6.  If you want to maintain other POP3/IMAP4 clients, point the client at the at your Mercury/32 host as a POP3 and SMTP host using the Pegasus
    Mail username and password to pickup the mail.

All you need to do now is take the laptop to the Wi-Fi location turn on Mercury to both send and receive mail.   You then take the laptop back home, connect it to the local LAN and run WinPMail on the desktop. BTW, when I'm on a cruise ship I find myself doing this all the time when there is no Wi-Fi in the stateroom.  Since WinPMail is installed on the laptop I answer immediate mail when connected and the rest back in the stateroom.