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READ THIS FIRST IF YOU ARE NOT USING YOUR STUDENT VAX ACCOUNT OR IF YOU ARE USING A FIRSTCLASS CAMPUS ACCOUNT: If you are sending mail from a home account and sidestepping your campus VAX account entirely, or if your campus account is already in FirstClass, please skip the tips below and follow your own e-mail program instructions. But remember, the group address (where you need to send your e-mail reports) is: soc#@academic.csubak.edu, where "#" is a group number from 1 to 10 you need to be assigned into by me; and my address (if you need to communicate with me privately) is: santos_class@csub.edu Dr. Santos |
Here, then, are some TIPS for people using the clumsy student account VAX e-mail system on our campus:
1. THE VERY FIRST THING YOU HAVE TO DO WHEN YOU ACCESS YOUR CAMPUS VAX ACCOUNT AND YOU SEE THE $ CURSOR IS TO ENTER THE COMMAND
$ SETMAIL
Do NOT forget to do this!!! This is done only ONCE - you never have to do it again, and it sets once and for all your e-mail system to function optimally.
2. From now on, after the $ sign appears, just enter the command
This sends you to the e-mail system in your account; you know you are "in it" when you see the following cursor:
MAIL>
3. Your e-mail account works as a mailbox with folders. All new (unread) messages are placed in a "folder" called NEWMAIL; if you have any new messages, whenever you open your e-mail you automatically go to this folder. To see how many new messages you have, enter
MAIL>DIR
TO SEE ANY MESSAGE, JUST ENTER THE NUMBER OF THE MESSAGE.
4. Whenever you read a message and later close your account without having deleting it, the message is placed in a "folder" called MAIL; if you have no new messages when you open your account next time, it will automatically send you to the MAIL folder; if you have neither new nor old messages, the computer tells you.
To see all OLD messages, enter the command
MAIL>DIR MAIL
To return to the NEW messages, enter the command
MAIL>DIR NEWMAIL
[Again, these directories are called "folders"]
5. You can tell in which folder you are in at all times by reading it on the upper right corner. To see all the folders you have, enter the command
MAIL>DIR/FOLDERS
6. To go to any folder and at the same time see what files you have there, enter the command
MAIL>DIR FOLDERNAME
(where "FOLDERNAME" is the name of the folder you want to go to.)
7. To move a message from your NEWMAIL or MAIL folder to another folder, say "FOLDERNAME", first get into the message itself, you have to be reading it; once you are in it, enter the command
MAIL>MOVE FOLDERNAME
If the folder "FOLDERNAME" has not yet been created, it will ask you if you want to create it, and if you enter "y" for yes, the computer will automatically create the new folder AND move your file into it, leaving you in the original folder you send the file from (in this case NEWMAIL), but now without the message you just moved. If you want to check it, enter the "DIR" command to confirm the message is gone, and a "DIR FOLDERNAME" command to confirm the message went there.
8. I strongly recommend you to store (move) all of the messages you send to your e-mail group in a folder called "MINE", including your replies; move those from Dr. Santos to a folder "SANTOS" and all other move them to a folder called "OTHER". This will allow you to clear your account for other uses, and to have proof of your work in my class, if need be.
9. To delete a file while reading it, go to the command line (see 6) and enter the command
MAIL>DEL
To delete a whole batch of files in a directory, go to the directory and enter the command
MAIL>DEL #-#
where #-# is the range of numbers (i.e., 1-10, or 3-6). Note: when you delete all the files in a folder, the folder itself is deleted.
10. To send messages to your group, address them as follows:
MAIL>SEND
to: MX%"SOC#"
subject: SOC# Reading Title
where # is the number of your group and "Reading Title" is some description of the web reading you are writing about.
[NOTE: Do NOT put SPACES between "SOC" and "#"].
Your SUBJECT heading needs to identify both your group and your reading title for me to place your messages in the proper folders when I get them. When you are done writing the message, press the two keys "CONTROL" and "Z" simultaneously to send it off.
11. To send me messages, address them as follows:
MAIL>SEND
to: MX%"santos_class@csub.edu"
subject: SOC# Personal Message to Dr. Santos
[NOTE: Do NOT put SPACES between "SOC" and "#"].
When you are done writing the message, press the two keys "CONTROL" and "Z" simultaneously to send it off.
12. To reply to someone's message that you are reading, enter
MAIL>REPLY
and a whole new window will appear, with the original text of the message you are replying to. You may proceed now: take out (delete) all parts of the message you do not wish to comment on, leave only the part you wish to respond to, and add your own text in a separate paragraph. When you are done writing the message, press the two keys "CONTROL" and "Z" simultaneously to send it off.
13. To cancel (abort) a message you do not wish to send, go to the command line (in Macs, press the * key on the right hand side) and enter the command
MAIL>QUIT
14. When you wish to close your account, always do TWO things:
(a) get off the MAIL> mode by entering the command
MAIL> EXIT
then, when you get back to the $ prompt, (b) enter the command
$ LO
to log off. If you do not do this, you'll leave your account open to anybody else to get into!
That's it! Good luck. As a test message, send a short biography of yourself as your first message to your group. If you've got a problem, let me know, my address is
santos_class@csub.edu
For those of you new to this, feel free to practice with "test" messages to your hear's content and don't worry about the clutter - just put "Testing" in your message subject heading so we can all delete you!
Dr. Santos