Documentation Quickstart

Quickstart

This chapter is meant to be a step-by-step guide to the way YAM works. It is assumed that you already have YAM installed on your system and that you're using Miami as your TCP/IP software.

If you have used YAM before, you probably can skip this chapter.

1. Get the following information from your Internet provider:

   • Your e-mail address
   • The Internet address of the mail server (so called POP- or SMTP server)
   • Your password, required to log in on the mail server As an example here's the setup for a fictitious user named 'John Doe' living in Britain. His e-mail address is '[email protected]' and the address of his mail server is 'mail.example.com'. His password is 'nguz56'.

2. Start YAM by double-clicking its icon. After the copyright window has closed, the main window should open with two listings (folder list & message list) and a row of buttons.

3. The program must be configured before you can do anything else. Choose 'Configuration' from the 'Menus#FixMainSettings' menu or simply click the button to open the configuration window. The sheet which then appears is called 'Configuration#FixFirstSteps', and this is where you must enter the information needed for data transfer. Following our example this is:

   Real Name: John Doe
   Email address: [email protected]
   Mail server: mail.example.com
   Password: nguz56
   Time zone: GMT For security reasons the password textfield only shows stars, one for each character you type. If daylight saving time applies to you at the time of installation, switch on the adjustment for it (right beneath the time zone).

4. YAM allows you to define a text passage which will be appended to all of your e-mail as a complimentary closing phrase. To define it you have to click on 'Configuration#FixWrite' in the list on the left hand side of the configuration window. On the page appearing now select the text field 'Welcome phrase', delete the original text by hitting RAmiga-X and insert something such as:

   Kind regards,\n Joe The control string \n forces a new line after the word 'regards'.

5. Save the settings now by clicking on Save. YAM now has sufficient data to allow you to write your first message.

6. After saving the settings you're back in the main window. Click the button 'Write' or choose 'New' from the 'Message' menu. The Windows/Writewindow will open. Insert the e-mail address of the recipient into the 'To' textfield (e.g. '[email protected]'). Normally of course you would put someone else's address, but right now you want to test the system, so put your own address instead. Insert two or three words to indicate the subject into the 'Subject' text field ('test' will do nicely for this one!). Now click in the large blank area and type the actual message.

   If you were using YAM in a normal way, and wished to send copies (including hidden copies) to anyone, this could be done by clicking on 'Options', thus activating the third of the three sheets (Message, Attachments, Options) in the Write window.

7. Assuming you are not currently online (Miami is not running), click on [Send later]. This sends the message to the 'Outgoing' folder as opposed to transmitting the message right away [Send now].

8. Now start Miami and connect to the Internet. Open the 'Outgoing' folder by clicking on 'Outgoing' in the folder list contained in the main window. Send the message by clicking the 'Send' button . The transfer status window will appear and report progress as YAM logs in on the mail server and sends the message.

9. As you've probably noticed the mail has vanished from the 'Outgoing' folder. Don't panic! It has been moved to the 'Sent' folder. The letter symbol in the list has a little stamp on it now , which means that the message has been sent successfully.

10. When you double-click the message, the Windows/Readwindow will open. You should be able to recognize the text written by you. The lines in the upper part of the message have been inserted by YAM and contain data needed for mail transfer (the so-called "headers").

11. Since you've written the mail to yourself you should start looking for new mail now. Click the read window to the background or close it, then click on the 'Get' button .

12. The transfer status window you saw before opens again and you can watch how YAM downloads your mail from the mail server. Provided that everything runs as it should, a requester will open up with the message that you have received new mail. You can read the mail in the 'Incoming' folder.

If you've made it this far without major problems, you now know the essential functions of YAM. For further explanations and more detailed information on single topics, please read the following chapters.