fxa@BOOMBOX.MICRO.UMN.EDU (Farhad Anklesaria) (07/10/90)
We are pleased to announce MailStop, a Macintosh mail-server application
that works with our POPmail software to provide SMTP E-mail services to Mac
and PC users. The POPmail client software requires some host machine to act
as a POP (Post Office Protocol) server to hold and forward SMTP mail. In the
past, the POP server machine was usually a Unix or VMS machine. With MailStop,
you no longer need to run a POP daemon on a large system to use POPmail.
Instead, you can use a Mac running MailStop to act as the POP2 server and
SMTP agent.
MailStop should be particularly attractive to sites where the large
systems do not support the POP2 protocol, or where non-technical users
want to be able to manage e-mail accounts without learning the quirks
of Unix. MailStop has a simple "Macintosh-style" user interface that makes
managing mail accounts simple... but you still have the SMTP e-mail
connectivity that Unix systems provide.
MailStop can be run on a dedicated Macintosh, in the background under
MultiFinder, or concurrently with AppleShare on an AppleShare file server.
We envision several scenarios for running different combinations of POPmail
and MailStop:
1. Macs running POPmail on a standalone LocalTalk network. One Mac acting
as a post office by running the MailStop server software.
This gives you e-mail for the Macs on the LAN. This scenario is an
inexpensive way to provide isolated clusters of Macs with a standalone
E-mail system; both MailStop and POPmail are free. POPmail supports
enclosure of Mac documents as well as sending text messages,
so this is a cheap, basic E-mail system. If the isolated network is
eventually connected to a campus-wide backbone network, the Macs are
already speaking SMTP, so you don't have to purchase new E-mail
software.
2. Macs running POPmail on LocalTalk and/or Macs and PCs running POPmail
on ethernet. One Mac acting as a post office by running the MailStop
server software (connected to either ethernet or localtalk). FastPath
or Gatorbox gateways connecting the LocalTalk and ethernet segments
together.
This scenario gives you SMTP mail service for Macs and PCs (on both
LocalTalk and ethernet) to any host reachable over the ethernet. If
the ethernet is your campus backbone, you can use POPmail and MailStop
to send SMTP mail to the Internet and BITNET as well as machines on your
campus.
3. Macs on LocalTalk running POPmail and/or Macs and PCs running POPmail
on ethernet. A Unix machine acting as a post office server by running
the POP2 daemon. FastPath or Gatorbox gateways connecting the LocalTalk
and ethernet segments together.
This scenario gives you the same connectivity as scenario 2, but
instead of using a Mac running MailStop to act as the post office, you
are using a Unix machine.
To run MailStop you need a Macintosh with at least 1 Mbyte of memory (2 Mbyte
if running concurrently with the AppleShare server software). To run the
POPmail software on a Mac requires HyperCard and 2 MB of memory. PCs running
POPmail need 640K of memory and a network interface card supported by the
Clarkson packet drivers. Both the Mac POPmail and MailStop software requires
Apple's MacTCP software.
The MailStop and POPmail software as well as a POP2 daemon for UNIX machines,
are available for anonymous ftp from boombox.micro.umn.edu
[128.101.95.95] in the ~ftp/pub/POPmail directory. You need the POPmail stack
version 1.6 to work with MailStop.
If you have questions or comments about POPmail or MailStop, you can
e-mail them to the POPmail project folks at:
popmail@boombox.micro.umn.edu