Francis Marion University Email Tutorial

What is Email?

Email stands for Electronic Mail.  It provides another way to communicate with others.  It is very much like the regular mail service, you must have an address to send or receive a message.  Post offices must deliver or route your mail to the address listed.  The email post office at Francis Marion University resides on a computer (an Alpha Server) called ALPHA1.FMARION.EDU.

What is my email address?

Your email address will be unique to you.  Your student email address consists of two parts - the Username and the Domain Name.   The Francis Marion Domain Name is FMARION.EDU.  Your Username will be the first four letters of your last name and the last four digits of your Social Security Number.  For example,  Bugs Bunny with an SSN# of 123-45-6789 will have a Username of BUNN6789.  His email address will be BUNN6789@FMARION.EDU.

Getting Started with Email on the ALPHA1

You will be required to sign on the ALPHA1 using your Username (not your email address).  After signing on to the ALPHA1, you will need to start the email program. There are several different ways you can get to the ALPHA1.  Two of the most common ways on campus are listed below.

IMPORTANT:  You will be assigned a default (initial) password of USER when your email account is set up.  You will be required to change your password the first time you sign on to the ALPHA1.  Your new password must consist of six or more letters and/or numbers.  Make sure it is easy to remember, but not obvious to others. You will be asked to verify the newpassword before the password will be changed.  If you forget you password, please come to the Computer Center Main Office with your Student ID for your email account to be reset.

A. Two Common Ways to get to the ALPHA1

I.  From Stanton Academic Computer Center:

·         Select Telnet to ALPHA1 icon                                            (select by double clicking on the icon)

·         Type your Username and press <ENTER>                     (Username is first 4 letters of last name and last 4 digits of SSN#)

·         Type your password and press <ENTER>                       (USER the first time your access your account)

II. From Stanton Academic Computer Center and Rogers Library:

·         Select  Netscape Communicator  icon

·         Select File

·         Select Open Page

·         type TELNET://ALPHA1.FMARION.EDU

·         Type your User Name and press <ENTER>               (Username is first 4 letters of last name and last 4 digits of SSN#)

·         Type your Password and press <ENTER>.                      (USER the first time your access your account)

B. Starting the email program

You will be using the Email program called PINE.  PINE is a text-based, menu-driven email program.  You can type  the letter or symbol of the command you want.  Certain features require the Ctrl key to be pressed along with the letter.  When you see ^ this means press the Ctrl key along with the letter following it to initiate the command.

After you sign on to the ALPHA1, you will see a $ prompt.

At the $ prompt type PINE and press <ENTER>

Note: First Time Users will be asked if they wish to receive a brief email document to help give move information about Pine.  You may press either Y (to receive the document) or N (to not receive the document). 

You will see the following menu

PINE 3.95   MAIN MENU                             Folder: INBOX  0  Messages

       ?     HELP                                         -  Get help using Pine

       C    COMPOSE MESSAGE                -  Compose and send a message

       I     FOLDER INDEX                        -  View messages in current folder

       L    FOLDER LIST                           -  Select a folder to view

       A    ADDRESS BOOK                                       -  Update address book

       S     SETUP                                       -  Configure or update Pine

       Q    QUIT                                         -  Exit the Pine program

    Copyright 1989-1996.  PINE is a trademark of the University of Washington.

                    [Folder "INBOX" opened with 0 messages]

? Help                     P PrevCmd                                        R RelNotes

O OTHER CMDS     L [ListFldrs]             N NextCmd         K KBLock
Composing and Sending Messages

Press C to compose a message. You will see the following screen.

PINE 3.95   COMPOSE MESSAGE                       Folder: INBOX  0 Messages

 To      :

Cc      :

Attchmnt:

Subject :

----- Message Text -----

 ^G Get Help  ^X Send       ^R Rich Hdr  ^Y PrvPg/Top  ^K Cut Line       ^O Postpone

^C Cancel      ^D Del Char  ^J Attach      ^V NxtPg/End  ^U UnDel Line  ^T To AddrBk

The following describes what each field represents.

To :                         This field contains the email address of the person to whom you are sending a message.

Cc:                          This field contains the email address of the person to whom you would like a copy to be sent.

Attchmnt:              This field is used for attaching  file(s) to be sent with a message.

Subject:                  This is a brief description of the contents of the message.

Message Text

                                This is where your message will be typed.

Note: Please be aware that you do not have to type something in every field.  Any field may be omitted.

Try the following example.  Please type what is in boldface.

To:          Helpdesk@fmarion.edu and Press <ENTER> 

This email address is the Computer Center Help Desk.  A good reference point if you are having computer related problems.

Cc:          type your instructors email address or your own email address and then press <ENTER>      

Attchmnt:              Press <ENTER>    (we will omit an attachment.)

Subject:  Tutorial Test and Press <ENTER>

Message Text

This is a sample message.  This is actually very easy.  I will enjoy being able to contact my friends all over the world.  I am going to look forward to being able to use the technology that is available on campus.  This will allow me to keep in contact with my friends.

When you are finished,

Press Ctrl x    (This will send your message to the HelpDesk and any other email address listed.)

Before the message is sent you will be prompted by  Send message? type  Y

Now try to send yourself a message.  Follow the steps above but instead type your email address in the To field.  You can omit the Cc and Attchmnt fields.  You determine the Subject field  or omit it.  Type a short message about any subject you like.   Remember to look at the screen if you can not remember a command.  (Hint: ^ represents the Ctrl key)

You have now mastered sending email messages.  You can now send any one whose email address you know a message.  Try sending a message to your instructor.

Reading  Messages

Mail is stored in “folders” in your account on the Alpha1.

Press L for a complete list of your mail folders.  Mail folders will contain your mail messages.  INBOX or NEWMAIL will contain unread new  messages.  MAIL will contain previously read mail messages. 

Please choose INBOX or NEWMAIL by highlighting the box and pressing <ENTER>.  You will now  see a list of any unread messages.  Highlight the message to be read and press <ENTER>. 

To view the next message on the list, press  N. 

To view the previous message in the list, type P. 

To delete a message, type D.

To print a message, type Y.  The message will print to the system printer located in the Computer Center Main Lab at the I/O desk.

NOTE:  Please remember to delete any messages not needed.  You are assigned a limited amount of space on the ALPHA1 for your messages.  You will NOT be able to send or receive messages if your library is full of old messages.  To delete messages, press D when the message is highlighted or being read. 

Exiting Pine and the ALPHA1

Press Q to quit the PINE mail program.  If you have deleted any message(s), you will be asked to confirm the deletion.  You may be asked if you would like any message(s) moved from one folder to another folder.  You will also be asked to confirm that you want to quit PINE by the message Really quit pine? type Y. 

The following are examples of possible questions which may be asked when you exit PINE and the normal response to take.

Really quit pine? type Y                                                      (This makes sure you wanted to exit PINE)

Save the read message in “MAIL”? type Y                     (This will move  message(s) from the INBOX folder to the MAIL folder)

Expunge deleted message from INBOX? type Y             (This confirms your deletion)

You will now need to “logoff” the ALPHA1.

At the $ prompt type  LOGOFF

IMPORTANT:   You must exit both PINE and the ALPHA1.  If you do not exit the ALPHA1, the next person at the computer could access your email messages.

Creating an Address Book

When you have addresses you would like to send frequent messages to you can enter them into an address book in PINE.  Make sure to add your instructor to this list.

Press A to create or modify your address book.

To add an address to your address book, press A again.  You will be asked to fill in the following information.  Please be aware you do not have to  type something in every field.  You must type something in the Address field.

                Nickname:              Should be short with no spaces in the name.

                Fullname:               Full name to associate with the address.  Can be in form the Last name, First name.

                Fcc:                         Normally omitted.  Where any copy will go.

                Comment:              A brief description to help you remember the address.

                Addresses:            The actual Email address.

An example

                Nickname:              HELPDESK and press <ENTER>

                Fullname:               ACS HELPDESK and press <ENTER>

                Fcc:                         press <ENTER>

                Comment:              Computer CENTER HelpDesk  - Provides Computer Related Help and press <ENTER>

                Address:                HELPDESK@FMARION.EDU  and press <ENTER>

When composing a message, press Ctrl T at the To field to see your address book.  Highlight the address and press <ENTER>. 

To delete any old addresses, press D on the highlighted address in the address book.