morrison@accuvax.nwu.edu (Vance Morrison ) (01/11/89)
To: Hock Koon Lim <lim@cwlim.cwru.edu>
To: Michael Helm <mike@quench.lbl.gov>
To: Steve Maddocks <munnari!mail.cut.oz.au!CSTEVE%VAX3@uunet.uu.net>
To: "Shawn R. Campbell" <srcampb@anagld.uucp>
To: George Bray <munnari!ditsyda.oz.au!gbray@uunet.uu.net>
To: Richard Caasi <sdsu!caasi@ucsd.edu>
Hello All,
This is a summary of the responces I got on my question on
connecting Local area networks of PCs (apple and IBM) to
internet mail services (SMTP).
I would like to thank all the respondents for their help.
Suggestions for connecting IBM PC's to the internet:
Action Technologies 'Coordinator' package:
I am personally familiar with this packages and I have
nothing good to say about it. We bought it with the high
hopes of connecting it to our external net, but so far
nothing has materialized. I also think this package tries
to to far to much, and in doing so is very confusing (even
for me, not to mention a poor secretary), very large (512K minimum,
640K better), and slow.
Richard Kinoshita <kinoshir@ccmail.orst.edu>
Vance Morrison <morrison@accuvax.nwu.edu>
CC:MAIL
This Novell based mail package is said to have a very nice
user interface. It does not come with a internet mail gateway,
but it does come with an IMPORT and EXPORT program that allows
users to build their own. By dedicating a PC on the LAN to
talk to the internet (either by UUCP or Ethernet TCP/IP)
you can achieve the gatewaying function. At least two groups
have developed the software needed to do the gatewaying function.
If you are interested in this solution you should contact for
references to the code and installation details.
Mike Morse -- mmorse@note.nsf.gov
Al Marshall -- acm@Proteon.com
X.400 solution
Novell is supposed to release soon an X.400 mail product.
Using this product it should be possible to get the mail to
a minicomputer talking X.400, and then gatewaying to SMTP.
At present I know of noone who has implemented such a solution,
but I personally see this as the long term solution to the
PC lan (and other) mail connectivity problems. Too bad it
isn't here today. (or is it??)
"Ralph A. Shaw" <ras@rayssdb.ray.com>
Micom Interlan
Micom Interlan sells a gateway card that will connect a novell
lan to a TCP/IP Ethernet. It is expensive ($4000). This
product has Telnet and FTP, and supposedly a SMTP based mail
program. I have personal experience with this product, and
we have found the throughtput on Telnet VERY bad (quasi 300 baud)
but acceptable on bulk transfers (FTP and hopefully SMTP). We
bought this product early when it did not have any SMTP support.
Anyone out there know more on this?
Vance Morrison <morrison@accuvax.nwu.edu>
"Ralph A. Shaw" <ras@rayssdb.ray.com>
Homegrown Mail
People at BYU have developed a mail package of their own for
Novell lans, and by dedicating a PC to be a TCP/IP bridge
their mail is gatewayed to the internet. This software is
available by anonymous FTP from dcsprod.byu.edu (128.187.7.3).
There is a subdirectory called PROGRAMS and in it, a text file
called DIR.TXT which describes the programs and documentation.
Eric Henderson <eric@dcsprod.byu.edu>
Stanford's PC/IP
Stanford has a mail package that implements a version of POP
(post office protocol) that will provide internet capability
for PC's connected to an TCP/IP ethernet (which could also
be running Novell). This package also include FTP and Telent.
It is also quite cheap ($100 for a site licence). The PC version
is a set of commands that run from dos to do the mail functions.
For that reason, you may need to encapsulate the commands in
a menuing utility that makes it 'friendly' for people who do not
like command line interfaces. Information on this package is
available from macip@jessica.stanford.edu.
Vance Morrison <morrison@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Suggestions for The MAC include:
Quickmail and Mail*Link
Starline has a mail product called Mail*Link that is supposed
to achieve the UNIX-MAC mail bridge for CE Software's Quickmail
package. I have been told Quickmail has a nice interface.
Mark Lottor <MKL@sri-nic.arpa>
Michael Helm <mike@quench.lbl.gov>
Steve Maddocks <munnari!mail.cut.oz.au!CSTEVE%VAX3@uunet.uu.net>
Stanford's PC/IP
Stanford has a mail package that implements a version of POP
(post office protocol) that will provide internet capability
for Macs connected to an TCP/IP ethernet or a localtalk network
that is bridged to an Ethernet running special gateway box.
The Box is available from Kinetics or Gater-Box for $2000-3000.
This package also include FTP and Telent. It is also quite cheap
($100 for a site licence). We use this package here at NU and
are quite pleased with it. Information on this package is
available from macip@jessica.stanford.edu.
Vance Morrison <morrison@accuvax.nwu.edu>
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Personal Comments:
Here at NU I am pushing the Stanford Solution. The reason for
this is that it is cheap, it also provides FTP and Telnet,
and frankly because all the other solutions are grafts.
Unfortuately, the Stanford solution only works on Ethernet
for IBM PC's (For macs it works on ethernet or localtalk, which
is about all there is). Thus this may not be good for everyone
The second comment I will make is that it is unlikely that
vendors will come along with SMTP solutions but VERY likely
for them to come up with X.400 solutions. Since X.400 is
'the E-mail of the future', I recommend pushing for that solution
for you lan, and then gateway X.400 to SMTP (which is already
being done)
Once again thanks for all the input of the responders.
Vance Morrison
Northwestern University.