lauren@rand-unix.arpa (04/02/87)
Hi. As the distributer of UULINK, we have a pretty good feel for the ease of installation/use that different users have reported back to us for the package. Our primary assumption is that in most situations, the person doing the installation of the package on a given machine will already be at least somewhat knowledgeable about what is involved in setting up a UUCP site. It is important to remember that the package provides a lot of functionality, so issues like setting up the sitename, remote system info/dialing files, polling schedules for the cron mechanism, aliases, distribution lists, user file, domain routing info, etc. (in other words, the same sorts of things you would do on a "big" machine) can enter into the picture, so setting up the configuration is most easily done by someone who has dealt with similar issues previously. Of course, an inexperienced user can do the actual installation if someone with more experience "pre-configures" the various tables/files for them or is available to help them. In fact, so long as an inexperienced person doesn't need to actually do the "nitty-gritty" of the initial configuration all by themselves, things go well. We have done our utmost to assure that we only take orders from individuals and/or organizations where sufficient experience exists for a knowledgeable person to successfully install (or help or pre-configure for someone without experience to install) the package. From the user standpoint, the main UULINK functionalities are quite straightforward to use. For example, the mail sending/reading programs have built in help and operate in a logical manner that is easily understood by inexperienced persons. The only routine maintenance usually required is to truncate the transaction logs occasionally if logging has been enabled. How sophisticated the user needs to be in their overall knowledge of network addressing, etc. varies with the situation. The mail reading program includes commands for generating replies automatically that can handle the vast majority of UUCP and Internet 822 headers. Of course, the UULINK alias tables can be configured to simplify the entering of addresses even further, and the domain table can be used to provide "@"-type addressing translations in appropriate environments when desired. Judging from the comments to date, it appears that both experienced and inexperienced users are quite happily using the package for a wide variety of purposes. --Lauren--
brunner@sri-spam.UUCP (04/07/87)
In article <6649@brl-adm.ARPA> vortex!lauren@rand-unix.arpa (Lauren Weinstein) writes: >Hi. and some 55 lines of remarks on a package, it use and so forth... >--Lauren-- Lauren, is this in response to some question from a real user? Reading this I thought I'd stumbled into the product announcements column.