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MAIL Frequently-Asked Questions

Contents

  1. How do I get started?
  2. How do I send a mail message to a user on TTUMIS?
  3. How do I find someone's e-mail address?
  4. I've got missing new mail messages I can't read.
  5. How can I send a mail message to everyone in my class?
  6. I received a message that looks like gibberish. How can I read it?
  7. How can I automatically forward my mail to another account?

1. How do I get started?

Basic information about sending, reading and deleting messages, managing your mail, printing messages, and so forth may be found in the handout Getting Started with VMS MAIL, which is available on-line and in the computer labs in Clement Hall 215 and 313.

2. How do I send mail to a user on TTUMIS?

From Gemini, to send a message to a user on TTUMIS, preface the username with 'TTUMIS::'. 

    Example:
     MAIL> send
     To:   ttumis::JUser

3. How do I find someone's e-mail address?

Other Users on Gemini

To send e-mail to another user on Gemini, you will need to know his or her username. To find someone's username, use the finger command. 

    Example:

     $ finger daniel

     GEMINI VAX/VMS, Monday, 14-Feb-1994 11:13

     ADaniels     - Alice L Daniels
     BDanielso    - Barry C Danielson
     DDD8971      - Daniel C Defoe

Users on TTUMIS

To find the e-mail address of someone on TTUMIS, use the on-line faculty-staff e-mail directory. This will return that person's Internet e-mail address, which consists of his username followed by @tntech.edu.

Users Elsewhere on the Internet

There is no universal lookup service available for e-mail addresses on the Internet. Your best bet is to contact that person by telephone or snail mail to obtain his or her address.

If that is not convenient, you might try a lookup service such as Yahoo's People Search. Also, many universites have on-line student and staff directories on their Web sites.

4. The VAX says I have 3 new messages, but when I go into MAIL and look for them, I can't find anything but old ones. What's going on?

This problem occurs when, for various reasons, the NEWMAIL counter gets out of sync. To reset the NEWMAIL counter, do the following:

  1. Enter MAIL
  2. Type read/new
  3. Exit MAIL

5. How can I send a mail message to everyone in my class?

Use a distribution list if you need to send mail frequently to a group of users. Instructions on creating and using a distribution list are available in the handout Getting Started with VMS MAIL.

Instructors with accounts on TTUMIS can generate class distribution lists by following instructions given in a previous issue of the Computing Connection.

6. I received a message that looks like gibberish. How do I read it?

Most likely you've received a MIME-encoded mail message. Check out this article from the Computing Connection to see how to read it.

7. How can I have my mail automatically forwarded to an account I have on another system?

You can set up mail forwarding to another account with the set forward command. For example:

To forward your mail to an account on TTUMIS with username JUser: 

    MAIL> set forward ttumis::JUser

To forward your mail to an internet account jdoe@foo.moo.com: 

    MAIL> set forward "in%""jdoe@foo.moo.com"""
   (Make sure you get the right number and position of quotes).

To cancel mail forwarding, type set noforward at the MAIL> prompt.

This page maintained by: Jim Johnson
For additional information, contact Jim Johnson, JJohnson@tntech.edu
Last updated: December 14, 1998