What Runs Where on Athena: Communication

alpine/pine

Description: text-based mail client featuring automatic incorporation of users' mail, IMAP support and basic rendering of message bodies that are in HTML format. alpine is the successor to pine and is largely compatible with it; it is currently the standard text-mode mail reader on Athena

TO RUN:

athena% alpine

There is alpine documentation on the Web, pine documentation on the Web, Pine on Athena

See also: evolution, gpg

Note: ez-pine-gpg is also available. Documentation is here. This is a set of scripts that allows users to use gpg with alpine. To use it, type

athena% add outland

and append /mit/outland/share/ez-pine-gpg/pine-config to your .pinerc file. When verifying messages, you'll need to import the sender's public key outside of alpine

chpobox

Description: allows mail sent to one address to be forwarded or copied to a different address

TO RUN:

athena% chpobox -s user@host (to forward your mail to address user@host)

athena% chpobox -S user@host (to send an additional copy of your mail to address user@host)

athena% chpobox -p (to restore your mail service to its original Athena default)

Can also be used to tell if your mail is on the Exchange or the IMAP mail server

See also: from, lastupd, rblanche

evolution

Description: GUI-based, IMAP and Exchange aware mail reader that can interpret multiple formats including HTML. Incorporates a built-in calendar/task list and address book. This is the currently recommended multimedia-enabled mail reader on Athena

TO RUN:

From Ubuntu Dash: type evolution in Search box

From command line:

athena% evolution &

There is a user guide

See also: alpine/pine, mailusage, mitmail utilities, Outlook Web App, WebMail

from

Description: utility that tells where mail was sent from, without actually retrieving it from a Post Office server

TO RUN:

athena% from

See also: chpobox, mailusage, mitmail utilities

Note: Designed for IMAP. May break or require reconfiguration if you use Exchange mail

mailquota, mailusage

Description: utilities that tell your mail storage quota (mailquota), how much disk space your mail is using (mailusage) on your Post Office server

TO RUN:

athena% mailquota

athena% mailusage

See also: alpine/pine, evolution, from, mitmail utilities,

Note: Designed for IMAP. May break or require reconfiguration if you use Exchange mail

mitmail utilities

Description: set of utilities that allow users to manipulate and display mail messages on IMAP servers. Unless otherwise specified in command line options, the default folder the commands act on is the user's INBOX. See man pages for option details

TO RUN:

athena% mitmailscan options (lists mail message sequence numbers, date, from and subject fields)

athena% mitmailshow options msg(s) (prints message with sequence number msg - at least one must be specified)

athena% mitmaildel options msg(s) (marks message with sequence number msg for deletion- at least one must be specified)

athena% mitmailundel options msg(s) (removes deletion mark from message msg previously marked for deletion)

athena% mitmailexp options (expunges all messages previously marked for deletion from the IMAP server)

mitmaildel does not actually delete messages, but just marks them for future deletion (which is reversible with mitmailundel). mitmailexp actually deletes them from the server. These commands do not incorporate your mail, and it stays on the server in the folder it was in, except for the action of mitmailexp (which deletes the specified messages)

See also: alpine/pine ,evolution, mailusage

Note: Designed for IMAP. May break or require reconfiguration if you use Exchange mail

mutt

Description: text-mode Mail User agent, descended from elm

TO RUN:

athena% mutt

There is documentation on the Web

See also: alpine/pine

Outlook Web App

Description: Web-based Exchange mail system that can securely access your mail through almost any Web browser, anywhere in the world

TO RUN:

For Exchange mail users only; IMAP mail users should use WebMail. The entry point is here and there is documentation

See also: evolution, WebMail

thunderbird

Description: fast, efficient mail and newsgroup reader based on those in Mozilla

TO RUN:

athena% thunderbird &

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browsers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: firefox

tnef

Description: decodes MS winmail winmail.dat files; can optionally output message text in rtf files, but those are most likely unreadable on UNIX systems- most useful for its ability to decode attachments in various formats

TO RUN:

athena% tnef -f winmail.dat

WebMail

Description: Web-based IMAP mail system that can securely access your mail through almost any Web browser, anywhere in the world

TO RUN:

For IMAP mail users only; Exchange mail users should use Outlook Web App. The entry point is here

See also: evolution, Outlook Web App

discuss, xdsc

Description: Athena-specific networked online conferencing system where users can post transactions to "meetings" about various subjects. Similar to computer BBS "conferences"

TO RUN:

athena% discuss (for a text interface)

followed by an appropriate keyword at the discuss: prompt (typing help gives useful information)

athena% xdsc & (for an X interface)

There is a Web gateway

See also: DISCUSS-e, dsgrep

DISCUSS-e

Description: emacs-based interface to discuss

TO RUN:

M-x discuss (from within emacs)

See also: discuss

GNUS-e

Description: emacs-based interface to Net newsgroups

TO RUN:

M-x gnus (from within emacs)

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browsers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: pan, thunderbird

Google Groups

Description: hyperlinked newsgroup listings on the Web

Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: pan, thunderbird

pan

Description: lightweight newsgroup reader

TO RUN:

athena% pan &

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browsers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: GNUS-e, Google Groups, thunderbird

thunderbird

Description: fast, efficient mail and newsgroup reader based on those in Mozilla

TO RUN:

athena% thunderbird &

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will directly invoke newsreaders in Web browsers. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

See also: GNUS-e, Google Groups, pan

ftp

Description: UNIX standard file transfer protocol. Used to transfer files between hosts

Please be aware of security concerns: standard ftp will send your password and data in clear across the network by default. Consider secure file transfer methods such as kerberized ftp, and scp (part of the ssh package) instead of the standard ftp program. Additional information about secure file transfer is here

TO RUN:

athena% ftp -x hostname

athena% ftp -x IP_address

(for internal commands, type ftp, followed by ? at the ftp> prompt)

See also: kermit, rlogin, shellinabox, ssh, uuencode, Zmodem

Note: The -x switch above attempts to negotiate an encrypted connection which is strongly recommended, To be sure you have an encrypted connection, look for the words: GSSAPI authentication succeeded and 200 Data channel protection level set to private when the connection is made

kermit

Description: commonly used file transfer program that allows file transfer between machines of many different types and architectures

TO RUN:

athena% kermit

There is a Kermit home page

See also: Zmodem, ftp, uuencode

openconnect

Description: Virtual Private Network (VPN) application; can be used to obtain an MIT I.P. address for a machine that is located off-campus. This allows you to run applications, typically controlled by a license server, that are restricted to run on machines with MIT I.P. addresses. You can also use the VPN to access other resources and services that are restricted to machines with MIT I.P. addresses

TO RUN:

sudo to root in a terminal window, and enter a command line as follows:

root@bullie:~# openconnect -s /etc/vpnc/vpnc-script https://vpn.mit.edu

and log in with your athena username and password. Hit return when you see the message "please hit the continue button..." (the button does not display in a text-mode terminal window). When you see the message Established DTLS connection your VPN connection is established. You will need to leave this terminal session running for the duration of your VPN session. Typing control-C in the terminal window will break the connection and terminate your session

Note: this application is not installed; you can install it from the openconnect Ubuntu package using aptitude or synaptic

rlogin, telnet

Description: standard UNIX applications allowing a user to log into a remote host

Please be aware of security concerns: standard rlogin and telnet will send your password and data in clear across the network by default. Consider kerberized telnet or ssh instead of the standard versions of these programs

TO RUN:

athena% rlogin -x hostname

athena% telnet -x hostname

athena% telnet -x IP_address

See also: ftp, shellinabox, ssh, x3270

Note: The -x switch above attempts to negotiate an encrypted connection which is strongly recommended, To be sure you have an encrypted connection, look for the words: What you type is protected by encryption when the connection is made. If you get connection refused use ssh instead

shellinabox

Description: application that allows secure remote non-graphical login to Athena dialups on Web browsers

TO RUN:

Start from here, which will get you to an Athena login screen on one of the Athena dialup host; home page

See also: ftp, ssh, telnet, x3270

Note: This application replaces the former Mindterm Applet that performed a similar function

ssh

Description: allows secure remote logins and file transfer using a variety of authentication and encryption methods, including RSA, DES and others. Can act as a replacement for rlogin, telnet, ftp and rcp. ssh will automatically secure and encrypt an X session. Many command-line parameters and configuration settings exist. Read the man page (man ssh) and see the OpenSSH home page for more information; there is also a local Web page and ssh on Athena dialups

TO RUN:

athena% ssh options hostname (for secure shell)

athena% ssh -Y hostname (for graphical X-session)

athena% scp options sourcehost:source file desthost:destination file (for secure file copy)

See also: ftp, gpg, pgp, rlogin, shellinabox, telnet, vinagre

uuencode, uudecode

Description: converts a binary file into an ASCII encoded representation that can be sent via mail. It encodes the contents of source_file into an ASCII file encoded_file which can be inserted in a text mail message. The file_label argument is required, and is included in encoded_file 's header as the name into which uudecode places the binary decoded data

TO RUN:

athena% uuencode source_file file_label >encoded_file

athena% uudecode encoded_file (some versions can work with encoded_file embedded in mail; others may require separating it out)

See also: ftp, kermit, Zmodem

x3270

Description: IBM 3270 terminal emulator, used to access remote IBM mainframes

TO RUN:

athena% x3270 hostname

See also: shellinabox, telnet

Zmodem (rz, sz)

Description: error-correcting protocol for serial port data transfer between machines of various architectures

TO RUN:

athena% add sipb

athena% rz file (to receive a file from a remote host)

athena% sz file (to send a file to a remote host)

See also: kermit, ftp, Mtools, uuencode

BarnOwl

Description: customizable curses-based instant messaging client that supports a variety of built-in tools; supports Zephyr, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Jabber protocols

TO RUN:

athena% add barnowl

athena% barnowl

Type h after starting BarnOwl to see available commands; see also the BarnOwl home page

See also: pidgin, Zephyr

pidgin

Description: multi-protocol messaging client allowing communication with users of MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, AIM, ICQ, Jabber and others

TO RUN:

athena% pidgin &

There is information on the Web, information on configuring pidgin to access MIT's Jabber server

See also: BarnOwl, xlite, Zephyr

Note: On Athena, many users use Zephyr.

xlite

Description: VoIP phone client recommended for use with MIT VoIP (SIP) accounts. Information about getting a SIP account is here (MIT only)

TO RUN:

athena% add outland

athena% xlite &

See also: pidgin, Zephyr

Note: Currently broken on 64 bit debathena machines.

On first use, xlite may offer you audio tuning parameters and will require information about your account and network connectivity. Please make the following entries:

display name: anything

authuser: your Athena username

outbound proxy: outgoing-sip-proxy.mit.edu

domain/realm: mit.edu

Currently, connectivity is limited to the MIT campus. The computer you are using will need to have a microphone and speakers or headphones

Zephyr

Description: Athena-specific instant messaging system. Allows creation of groups, called "instances", to which messages can be sent

TO RUN:

athena% zwrite user (sends a message to a given user)

athena% zwrite -i instance (sends a message to members of instance)

athena% zctl (set instance lists and other Zephyr attributes)

athena% zlocate user (finds out where user is logged in (if not hidden))

There is online documentation, also a Web interface; also Inessential Zephyr and Zephyr Answers

See also: BarnOwl, pidgin, xlite