On TFN, We have a few choices for mail programs. This HelpLink File will assist the user in the use of the Mutt E-Mail program. In order to use Mutt, you must point it at your mailbox file. Users on TFN have thier mailbox files in thier home directory - It is called 'Mailbox' (The Capital M is significant) Once you do this, you should be able to read and manage mail using Mutt.

To start Mutt, from a shell prompt type (without the quotes and exactly as shown) the following:
'mutt -nz -f Mailbox'

Once you do this, you will see Mutt's main manu screen - You will also see a message in your Mailbox that says "Folder Internal Data DO NOT DELETE" Do not worry about this message, because it is generated by the mail system, and will reappear if deleted. You will notice that along the top of the screen, that there is a menu that has some options.

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q:Quit d:Del u:Undel s:Save m:Mail r:Reply g:Group ?:Help

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Using the above menu, simply select what you want to do. To send a message to someone, simply type 'm' to invoke the mailer - On the bottom of the screen, it will ask you to specify the address of the recipient and it will say "to:" You would then enter the address in the form of 'user@domain' or for freenet users, simply 'user'. Then it will ask you for a 'Subject:' which you enter if you wish.

You will then be thrown into the PICO editor, and if you have a .signature file in your home directory, it wil be appended to the message you will send. Now, simply type your mail message, and when done, press Control+X. Pico will ask you if you wish to save the message: Type 'y' for yes, and accept the name for the file by pressing enter. You will then see something like this:

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y:Send q:Abort t:To c:CC s:Subj a:Attach file d:Descrip ?:Help

From: "user"[null@]

To: "user" [null@]

Cc:

Bcc:

Subject: test3

Reply-To:

Fcc:

PGP: Clear

-- Attachments

- I 1 /tmp/mutt-freenet-11485-0 [text/plain, 7bit, us-ascii, 0.1K]

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If, when you get done typing the message in Mutt, you wish to add a person to the To: Line, press 't' and add the user. If you wish to add a person to the CC: line, press 'c' and add the user. To add subject lines, press 's' and add the subject. The other options there are pretty self explanitory. When you are ready to send the message, press 'y' to send the message. If you wish to abort, press 'a' and your message will be aborted, and you will return to Mutt's Main Screen.

Mutt Command Line Options Page is available locally at: The Mutt Command Line Reference Page
The Mutt Users Manual is available at http://www.mutt.org/doc/manual/manual.html#toc3