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What Runs Where on Athena - Communication Software

Electronic Email

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

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, Outlook Web App, thunderbird

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:
The entry point is here and there is documentation
See also: evolution

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: ***evolution, *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

Conferencing/NetNews

discuss

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)
There is a Web gateway
See also: dsgrep

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: *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: *Google Groups, pan

Dialup/File Transfer

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: uuencode

Mosh

Description: secure remote login terminal application that offers numerous enhancements to ssh, including roaming, support for intermittent connectivity, intelligent local echo and line editing of user keystrokes. The setup instructions below will configure access to a *mosh-server *on the remote connection that has additional code for forwarding Kerberos tickets and AFS tokens so you don't need to authenticate twice; this presumes you are connecting from one Athena machine to another Athena machine
TO RUN:
add the following line to your ~/.bash_environment file (create the file if it does not exist already)
add mosh_project
This only needs to be done once, but if you don't log out and back in again before you launch mosh for the first time, you will need to type:
athena% add mosh_project
athena% mosh options _hostname_ (to log in to hostname)
athena% mosh (to get usage information)
There is a home page
See also: shellinabox, ssh, vinagre
Note: mosh does not support X11 forwarding and thus cannot be used for graphical applications

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 *(if not using Duo authentication)
root@bullie:~# *openconnect -s /etc/vpnc/vpnc-script https://vpn.mit.edu/duo *(if using Duo authentication)
and log in with your athena username and password. If you are using Duo you will get a second password prompt which you should respond to with the type of second factor authentication you're using, such as phone. 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 temporarily (on a debathena-cluster machine) or permanently (on a debathena-workstation or non-Athena Ubuntu machine) but not on the Athena dialups by doing the following:
sudo to root and install from the openconnect Ubuntu package using aptitude or synaptic

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 hosts; home page
See also: Mosh, ssh, 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: gpg, Mosh, pgp, shellinabox, 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: kermit

x3270

Description: IBM 3270 terminal emulator, used to access remote IBM mainframes
TO RUN:
athena% x3270 hostname
See also: shellinabox

Real-Time Communication

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 Inessential Zephyr and Zephyr overview

IS&T Contributions

Documentation and information provided by IS&T staff members


Last Modified:

March 24, 2021

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