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In article <8904241822.AA01574@ares.bsd.uchicago.edu> martin@ares.bsd.uchicago.edu (Martin Starr) writes:
>Readers,
>
>Staff members on our sole AppleTalk LAN, which is connected to a Sun
>host via a FastPath 4, would like to be able to receive e-mail without
>Telneting to the host. Any suggestions on how this might be easily
>accomplished? It would be nice if the mail program on the Mac side
>would provide notification of new mail.
>
>Thanks for any and all assistance.
>

At Lund University Computing Center we are working on a mail system for
Macs. The text below is from the most recent issue of Wheels Europe.

-----

Electronic mail project
Lund University Computing Center, Box 783, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden
    
This project intends to integrate Macintosh personal computers with 
existing electronic mail systems at Lund University. In the near future 
all employees will have electronic mail addresses and in connection with
this it is desirable that those with a Macintosh can read and write mail
using their own computers.

The goal with the project is to implement a utility to interchange
information such as messages or files between Macintoshes and other 
systems. The project consists of two parts, a mailserver and an user 
agent. The mailserver is the link between Macintoshes and the rest of 
the world. The user agent is used to send and receive mail.


The mailserver

The Macintosh mailserver (a Macintosh II with an EtherCard) is connected 
to Ethernet and manages mail from and to all Macs at the university. It 
also stores mail for Mac users not currently reachable.

To communicate with other systems (Unix, VAX/VMS, PC, I) the mailserver 
uses SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is a flexible and 
general solution. All mail not addressed to Macs at the university is 
simply forwarded to the general mail server, which kindly delivers it 
all around the globe. Ordinary AppleTalk protocols are used between the
mailserver and the user Macs.

Internally in the mailserver there are several applications running as
processes under MultiFinder and communicating via mailboxes.


The user agent

At power-on the user Macintosh runs a startup document which installs a
listener as a background task and then notifies the Macintosh 
mailserver. The listener vill alert the user when a mail arrives to the
mailserver.

The user agent is easy to use and implemented in ordinary Macintosh 
style to make the Macintosh user feel at ease.


-- 
Roland Mansson, Lund University Computing Center, Box 783, S220 07 Lund, Sweden
Phone: +46-46107436   Fax: +46-46138225   Bitnet: roland_m@seldc52
Internet: roland_m@ldc.lu.se   or   roland_m%ldc.lu.se@uunet.uu.net
UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!enea!ldc.lu.se!roland_m    AppleLink: SW0022