Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA (Tom Perrine) (09/04/87)
I have a friend with an account on a VMS machine who has been told that they can send "arpanet mail" with a command called SEND. I thought that VMS couldn't do this, at least by itself? ALso, the instructions she received were not clear. She was told to: type "SEND" type "MAILER!<arpanet-address>" (without quotes, of course) Unfortunately, the SEND program just replies "Can't". Yes, thats right, a single word "error message", and not even one of those strange :-) VMS error codes, either. Can anyone shed any light on the subject? Please reply direct, as I can't always read this group... Tom Perrine (Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA) Logicon - Operating Systems Division, San Diego CA (619) 455-1330 x725 "There is a special place in Hell reserved for people who park in fire lanes."
leichter@VENUS.YCC.YALE.EDU ("Jerry Leichter") (09/04/87)
I have a friend with an account on a VMS machine who has been told that they can send "arpanet mail" with a command called SEND. I thought that VMS couldn't do this, at least by itself? You are correct; it can't ALso, the instructions she received were not clear. She was told to: type "SEND" type "MAILER!<arpanet-address>" (without quotes, of course) Unfortunately, the SEND program just replies "Can't". Yes, thats right, a single word "error message", and not even one of those strange :-) VMS error codes, either. Can anyone shed any light on the subject? There are a number of third-party products that provide access to different mail systems. What's confusing about your description is that it seems to correspond to a mixture of two different products: The syntax for the address, "MAILER!<arpanet-address>", is used by Wollongong's TCP/IP package, while the SEND command is used by Joiner's JNET Bitnet package (though it could easily be a local enhancement - the command name is obvious enough). The "Can't" error message sure sounds like Wollongong, which uses code ported over from Unix, where being concise often seems to be the only virtue - though I've never seen that particular message. Whatever the problem is, it's with locally-installed, probably locally-modi- fied software, and you'll have to get the answers from local system manager. However, if you do have Wollongong's software, you can use a mail address of the from given - "MAILER!<arpanet-address>" - from within normal VMS MAIL. -- Jerry ------
Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA (Tom Perrine) (09/04/87)
Thanks to all who responded (and are continuing to respond). All of the responses have increased my understanding of what VMS people have to do to talk to the Internet. The mystery has been solved. My friend was running MAIL first, then issuing the SEND command of MAIL. The address was entered in the "MAILER!" format for WIN/TCP mailer. Everything up to this point was OK. The problem was that she was connected via a TAC, which "knows" that the "@" character is magic. the TAC was sending the "Can't" when she put in the "@" of the address. This (correct) explanation was provided by gwalker@SPCA.BBN.COM. Many thanks to all who responded. Its sure is nice to be able to tap the "collective conciousness of the Internet" to get answers to these weird problems. Tom Perrine (Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA) Logicon - Operating Systems Division, San Diego CA (619) 455-1330 x725 "There is a special place in Hell reserved for people who park in fire lanes."
jv@mhres.mh.nl (Johan Vromans) (09/05/87)
In article <8709031532.634.Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA> Perrine@LOGICON.ARPA (Tom Perrine) writes: >I have a friend with an account on a VMS machine who has been told >that they can send "arpanet mail" with a command called SEND. > >type "SEND" >type "MAILER!<arpanet-address>" (without quotes, of course) > >Unfortunately, the SEND program just replies "Can't". Yes, thats right, Hmm. Looks like TCP/IP from Wollongong. She should type "MAIL" first: $ MAIL MAIL> SEND To: MAILER!<user@address> ... Provided the software is up and running, and the correct connections are there, you *CAN* send mail to a TCP/IP site. -- Johan Vromans | jv@mh.nl via European backbone Multihouse N.V., Gouda, the Netherlands | uucp: ..{?????!}mcvax!mh.nl!jv "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness"