E-Mail Instructions for the Mac Lab, USD

Because I have requested that you all acquire Sun/UNIX accounts, I am going to teach you how to use the mail application PINE, available only on Sun accounts and not on Charlie.

Today, we are going to change our passwords, send e-mail, read e-mail, reply to an e-mail message, and print out a message that we've received.

Preliminary steps

  1. Turn on the computer.
  2. Once you see the desktop, double-click on the Mac hard drive icon (the rectangle) in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
  3. A window will appear, showing folders contained on the hard drive. Double-click on the Internet folder.
  4. Double-click on the Telnet folder to open it.
  5. Select Sundance; do not select another one of the suns just now (we need Sundance to change your password).
  6. You've opened Sundance. Now you will be asked to type your user name. Type it, then hit the return key.
  7. Now type your password CAREFULLY. Then hit the return key. If you goof up, try again.
  8. You should now be in your Internet account.

Changing your password

  1. At the prompt, type password and hit the return key.
  2. The computer will now give you the option of changing your password. I advise you to do so. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully, and MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR NEW PASSWORD!!! The next time that you want to log on to your account, you will need to know this new password.
  3. If you are not already at the Sundance prompt, type Q for quit and hit the return key.
  4. At the Sundance prompt, type: PINE and hit the return key. For example: 
    	sundance% pine
  5. You are now in the Pine e-mail application. If you have never used Pine before, Pine may ask you if you would like to receive mail about using Pine. Type Y for yes.
  6. Next: there should be a menu in front of you with a number of choices. Select C for Compose Message.
  7. You are going to send a message to one of your classmates. Select the person directly ahead of you on the e-mail user name list I've given you.
  8. At the TO: prompt, type the person's user name. If you have typed it correctly, their complete name and e-mail address will pop up after you hit the return key.
  9. You could send a copy of this memo to someone else at the CC: prompt, but we won't today. We also won't use the attachment prompt. Skip down to the subject line and type in: Description. Then hit the return key again.
  10. Type the passage you wrote today in your journal.
  11. When you are done, look at the commands at the bottom of this composing screen. Select ^T (press down on control key and T at the same time) to spellcheck your message; it will highlight words it mights troublesome at the bottom of the screen. Correct the spelling for each word it highlights; if the word is already correct, just hit the return key to go to the next word or finish spellchecking.
  12. Select ^X (press down on control key and X at the same time) to send your message.Pine will ask you if you really want to send your message. Say Y for yes. Your message has been sent!

    Check your own mail to see what you have received.

    1. Pine automatically returns you to the Main Menu. Select I, the Folder Index.
    2. You should be looking at messages in your mail folder. (If you are not in your mail folder, you may need to change folders; return to M for Main Menu for and select L for folder list).
    3. Select your first message and hit the return key to open it and read it. The header at the top of the page will tell you who the message is from, when he/she sent it, and what the subject is.
    4. To reply to the message, consult the menu of commands at the bottom of the screen; select R for reply. Pine will ask you if you want to included the sender's original message in your reply; say yes if you think this could be useful.
    5. Answer their message; then type ^X (press down on the control key and hit X at the same time) to send it, same as before.
    6. Pine will return you to your original message. Let's say that you want to have a paper copy of this message. While you're viewing it, select E for export.
    7. Pine will tell you that it will save this message as a file in your home directory of your Internet account, and it will ask you what you want to name this file. You can call it anything you like, but for this exercise, type in Message and hit the return key. This message has now been saved in your home directory, with the name Message.
    8. Type Q to quit out of Pine.
    9. At the sundance prompt, type ls and hit the return key. You will be shown a list of folders and files that are in your home directory. You should see the file called Message. (If you don't, you need to go back into Pine, open that same message, and follow steps 6-8 above again.)
    10. Type: cat Message and hit the return key. Your message should appear. Make sure that you put a space in between cat and Message. (Any time you want to print out a message you've saved in your home directory, simply type: cat [name of file].)
    11. Use your mouse to highlight the message. Click with the mouse to put the cursor at the end of the message. Then, holding down the mouse, drag it up to the beginning of the message so that all of the message is highlighted.
    12. If you so desired, you could copy and paste this message into a word processing document. But we won't do that just now. With the text still highlighted, use the mouse to go to the file menu and select Print (or use the shortcut of holding down on the apple key and pressing P at the same time). A window will pop up; simply click the print button with your mouse or hit the return key.
    13. Your document should print in the laser printer by the door. Remember that several people may be trying to print at the same time. This can confuse the machine temporarily, so give it time to print. Follow the rest of these instructions while you're waiting.
    14. To delete this message stored in your home directory: at the sundance prompt, type: rm Message You will be asked if you want to remove this file; type Y for yes. The message will be deleted from your home directory.
    15. Return to Pine, the mail application, by typing Pine at the sundance prompt and hitting the return key.
    16. The menu should appear. Select I to return to the message that you previously saved in your home directory.
    17. You can delete this message if you wish by typing D (see commands at bottom of screen). Your next message from someone else will automatically pop up on screen. (If you don't want to delete the message, type N for next message.)
    18. When you are done, type M to go back to the main menu. You'll notice there's an address book; that's a great place to add e-mail addresses so you always have them handy. You might want to explore that at a later date.
    19. Type Q for quit to get out of Pine. Pine will ask you if you want to remove the message the messages you deleted; say Y for yes.
    20. If you're ready to get out of your account, at the sundance prompt, type lo for logout. You're done! Now go get that message you printed out....

    To send a file you composed in WordPerfect or another word-processing application:

    There are a number of ways you can do this. Here's one way.
    1. Open your file that you created.
    2. Copy the text. On a Mac, you hold down the apple key next to the space bar and hit the a key at the same time to highlight all of the text, then press down on the apple key again and hit c. This will copy your text. This "copy" will stay in the computer's memory until your turn the computer off. (Note: Click elsewhere on the page, so that your text is no longer highlighted.)
    3. Quit out of your word processing application and out of your document by holding down the apple key and pressing q at the same time.
    4. Log on to your account, following steps 1-7 and 11-13 on the first section of this handout.
    5. Fill in the header appropriately.
    6. In the main text area, paste in the text you saved previously. On a Mac, you hold down the APPLE key and press v at the same time to paste your saved text. This may take a minute.
    7. Use your arrow keys on the keyboard to go back up through your text and correct any odd looking characters. Pine or UNIX will not recognize certain characters; don't worry about it just now. Just make the necessary corrections. You can also do ^T (press down on the control key and press T at the same time) to do a very simple spell check that Pine provides.
    8. Ready to send your message? Type ^X (hold down on the control key and press X at the same time). Pine will ask you if you want to send it. Type Y for yes.
    9. You're done! Type Q to get out of Pine; then type lo to get out of your account.

    Additional Pine/E-mail Notes:

    ^ represents the control (ctrl) key on your keyboard.

    Your complete e-mail address consists of three parts: user name, domain, and trailing domain. 

    	jsmith@sunflowr.usd.edu
	jsmith@charlie.usd.edu
    jsmith = user name

    @sunflowr.usd (at Sunflowr, a UNIX computer at USD @charlie.usd (at charlie, a VAX computer at USD

    The trailing domain identifies the type of organization supporting the network-connected computer. Here are a few examples of trailing domains: 

    EDU - an educational institution                 @charlie.usd.edu

COM - a company or commercial institution        @prodigy.com

GOV - a government site                          @nasa.gov

MIL - a military site                            @af.mil

    Note: Off campus, people will need to know your complete e-mail address.

    Go to the Creative Writing page.