Introduction to the Elm and Mutt mailers

The basic commands used in both Elm and Mutt are essentially the same,
but because the screen layout is a bit different, only Elm is discussed
in detail; a short summary of Mutt features and differences is presented
as an appendix.  It might be a good idea to start with Elm, until
you are familiar with the basic functions described here.

The basic functions you need to know for any e-mail program are:  

1) Starting the program;
2) Addressing and composing a message;
3) Sending a message;
4) Reading an incoming message;
5) Replying to a message;
6) Saving messages;
7) Exiting the program.

Appendix:

A) Attachments
B) Online help
C) Mutt Features

1.  Elm  --  Elm is probably already in your path.
You can find out if it is by typing "elm" at the command prompt
and hitting enter.  (lower case letters, and no quotes).

If you are using the menus, you can find the program on the Mail Menu,
by entering "top,c,m" at any menu.

If you get an error message, such as "command not found", your PATH
is probably not configured correctly.  If you have a file called
.login it should have a statement like this:
set path=(/nyx/bin /usr/local/bin /usr/bin /usr/ucb)
If you have a file called .profile it should have a statement like:
export PATH=/nyx/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb

The very first time you start Elm, it will likely ask you if you
would like it to create a directory to store your personal
configuration.  You are not required to have such a directory, but Elm
will prompt you like this, at every startup, until you give in:

|Notice:
|This version of ELM requires the use of a .elm directory in your home
|directory to store your elmrc and alias files. Shall I create the
|directory .elm for you and set it up (y/n/q)? No.
|Very well. I won't create it.
|But, you may run into difficulties later.

This example is showing Elm's ominous response to being given "No" for
an answer, but eventually, you will probably want to create the directory.


If you have never tried any mail program before, you probably don't
have a subdirectory called "Mail", in which case Elm will prompt you
in a similar way, if you would like that directory created:

|Notice:
|ELM requires the use of a folders directory to store your mail folders in.
|Shall I create the directory /u/X/Y/XYZZZ/Mail for you (y/n/q)? Yes.
|Great! I'll do it now.

This directory isn't strictly required either, but for the example the
question was answered with "y".  (XYZZZ will be replaced by your username)

When Elm starts properly it will look like this:

[screen capture]

Elm uses single letter commands.  You can see a few of the most useful 
ones at the bottom of the screen (see sample above).  To see a longer 
list of commands, enter "?" at the command prompt. 

2.  To compose an e-mail message in Elm you enter "m".  Elm asks for the
e-mail address:

[screen capture]

It is a really good idea, to enter your own address, as you will get
immediate response from the experiment!  If you don't know your email
address, your user-name alone is enough.

In the menus, the Notes on the Mail Menu at "top,c,m,n" can aid in
composing email addresses for foreign systems.

Then Elm will ask for the subject.  After you enter the subject, Elm will 
invoke the editor.  Elm can use several different editors.  The editor I 
use is Pico which was originally written for Pine.

Once the mailer invokes the editor, you can proceed to enter the body of
the message.  The commands used are the commands of the editor.  When you 
have completed the message, then you exit the editor.  (Control X exits 
Pico.)  The mailer will ask you if you want to save the file to a 
temporary file used for e-mail.  

|	File Name to write : /usr/tmp/snd.6110 Hit enter to accept.

3.  Sending the message -- Elm will next ask:

|And now: s
|      e)dit message, h)eaders, c)opy, i)spell, !)shell, s)end, or f)orget

Hit enter again to accept the "s" for send offered.  Or hit "f" to forget
it if you have second thoughts or "e" to go back to editing.

	Once you hit "send" Elm will respond with:

|                                   Mail sent!

4.  Reading mail -- To read mail that you have received is even simpler.
You enter Elm the same way as before.  And Elm will list the messages in
your mailbox:


[screen capture]

The first message on the list will usually have a reverse video bar on it
indicating that that is where the "cursor" is.  You don't have to read the
first message first though.  Just enter the number of the message that you
would like to read first and Elm will move the bar there for you.  Once
the bar is on the message you would like to read, just hit enter and Elm
will open it for you to read.  At the bottom of the screen will be this
message:  "Command ('i' to return to index): " which reminds you that you
can enter "i" to return to the index.

5.  Replying -- You can also enter "r" to reply immediately or come back
and reply to messages after you have read all your mail.
When you enter "r", either from the index or from the message, Elm will
respond with:
|   "Command: Reply to message Copy message? (y/n) n ".  

If you respond "n", then you will be given a blank screen space to write
your message on.  If you respond "y", Elm will copy the words of the
message to you into the editor with a marker such as ">" to the left of
the copied lines to designate the copied text.  It is a good idea to trim
any irrelevant parts of the quoted material, though.  Elm will also ask
you if you want to keep the original subject.  You can either hit enter
to accept it or modify it.  Then you use the editor's commands to add
text, delete text, insert your text between the lines of the original
message or whatever else you want.  After you are done, exit and send
the message as before.

[screen capture]

6.  Saving and deleting -- After you are done reading and replying to
mail, you normally would clean out your mailbox.  Go back to the index.
To save a message to a file, make sure the reverse video bar is on the
message you want to save and enter "s". 

Elm will offer to save the message to a folder based on the userid of the 
e-mail address that the letter came from.  You can accept that by hitting 
enter or change the name.  The "=" sign means that it will go to your 
"Mail" subdirectory.  If you change the name to something without an "=" 
at the beginning it will go to your default directory.  It is called a 
"folder" because if you save additional messages from this person in the 
future they will be appended to the end of the message already saved.

Now Elm has saved the message and marked it to be deleted from the mailbox.
If you want to delete a message without saving it, just move the bar to 
that message and enter "d".  You can leave messages in your mailbox to 
respond to later, but I would not recommend doing so, because Nyx has
pretty tight restrictions on unread mail, and you run the risk losing
your mail, if you ignore the rules.

7.  Exiting -- Now to leave Elm, enter "q".  Elm will ask if you want to
delete messages that you have marked for deletion.  Hit enter.  If you
have left any mail behind which is not marked for deletion, Elm will ask
if you want to move the rest to the "received" folder.  Answer yes or no.
If you answer no it will leave the mail in your mailbox.  Then Elm will
return you to the command line or the menu that you came from.

A.  Attachments

If you receive attachments in your mail, Elm will let you know, by
suggesting to use "v" to view.  In the attachment menu, you can save
the attachment to a separate file, even if the content is "unknown",
by hitting "s".  If you ever want to re-send an attachment, you need
to re-attach the separately saved attachment.

If you receive image or sound files, they have to be transferred to
your own computer before you can view or hear them.  See the section xx
on FTP or Kermit to learn how.

If you want to send an attachment, you have to enter "a" to get to the
attachment menu, after you finished composing the text message.
In the attachment menu the "a" key adds an attachment.  Use "q" to
return to the sending menu.

B.  Online help

At most prompts, it is possible to get a summary of possible commands,
by entering "?" instead of a command.
Both Elm and Mutt have extensive online manuals available at Nyx,
that can be viewed with the commands "man elm" and "man mutt",
respectively.  As you learn to use a newsreader, [See section xx], you
can get further help in the newsgroups comp.mail.elm or comp.mail.mutt
as well as in nyx.help

C.  Mutt Features

Mutt offers a few features, not found in Elm, such as provisions for
postponing a message, and recall at a later time to complete and send.

The basic commands are identical, and the meaning of the various
prompts are the same, although phrased slightly different. Mutt is
started by typing "mutt" at the command prompt instead of "elm"
(only lower case letters in both cases, and no quotes).

A big difference in Mutt is, that when you have composed a message and
are ready to send, Mutt will not send until you enter "y", where Elm
accepts the enter key.  In Mutt, the enter key only reviews the message.
If you regret at this point, Mutt needs a "q" instead of Elm's "f", and
asks if you want to postpone the message, where Elm simply discards it.

Mutt's file-save and attachment menus lets you browse around your files,
navigate with the up/down keys, and select files or change directory
with the enter key.