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Everything You Need to
Know to Get Started in PINE

Running Pine in EA

Using Pine is an easy way to send, read and store electronic mail. There are several ways to get to your EA Account. From many machines on campus, you may double click on the EA icon. Or you may telnet to the host ea.nacs.uci.edu, log in and either type pine at the ea prompt (ea>) or from the Electronic Access Menu system, select option 1 - "Use electronic mail via Pine." This will start the program and bring up the Pine Main Menu (Fig. 1), where there are 7 menu choices.

In all Pine menus there is Help available for more information on a particular command or screen in Pine.

Pine Main Menu
Fig. 1 - Pine Main Menu Screen

 

Writing Messages in Pine
The privacy of an email message cannot be guaranteed. An email message may be forwarded, printed, or permanently stored by any recipient. email can be misdirected, even when you are careful. Do not put something in an email message that you would not want read by everybody.

  1. At the Main Menu in Pine, type C (Compose) to compose a new message (Fig. 2).

Compose Message Screen
Fig. 2 - A Pine Compose Message Screen

  1. In the To: field, type the email address and press <Return>.
    If you type in only the user name (the login name, or in other words, the part of the email address before @uci.edu) of your recipient, the Pine program assumes that the "right hand part" of your recipient's address is the same as yours (e.g. ea.nacs.uci.edu), unless you explicitly enter a different one. Multiple email addresses, separated by commas, can be entered.
  2. In the Cc: field, press <Return>
    (This line is for any additional people you wish to send the message to).
  3. In the Attachment: field press <Return> (unless you wish to add an attachment).
  4. In the Subject: field, type the subject of your message and press <Return>.
    In the subject field, enter a one-line description of your message. A short pertinent description is appreciated by the recipients, since this is what they see when they scan their email index.
  5. Below the Message Text line, type your message.

Compose Message
Fig. 3 - A Pine Compose Message Screen

Notice the menu in Fig. 3. The ^ character is used to indicate the Control key. This means you must hold down the Control key while you press the letter for each command. For example, to cancel a message, hold down the Control key while you press the letter C.

  1. To send your message, press <Control> X (Send).
    Pine will ask you: "Send message?" Type Y (yes) or press <Return>. Anytime you see an option in brackets [], pressing <Return> will be the same as pressing that option. The message is sent, and a copy is saved to your sent-mail folder. (If you type N (no) the message is not sent, and you can continue to work on it.)

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Reading Your Messages

  1. At the Pine Main Menu, type I (Folder Index).
    Pine stores messages sent to you in your Inbox folder (Fig. 4). You can type I while reading a message to return to the folder index.
  2. To view the message, press <Return>.

Pine Folder
Fig. 4 - A Pine Folder Index Screen

  1. If you have more than one message, use the up and down arrow keys to select the message you want to read, then press <Return> to view the message. Messages are automatically moved to the read-msgs folder after you have looked at them. Be sure to delete messages from your read-msgs folder periodically. Your account has a limited amount of storage space,(3 megabytes), and you are responsible for keeping your account under quota. For more on quotas, see below.

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Replying to a Message
Email does not show the subtleties of voice or body language. Avoid attempts at irony or sarcasm. The most effective email is short, clear, and relevant. If you receive a message that makes you upset, do not respond immediately, and in any case, avoid"flaming," that is, sending an angry or rude message. Also, email replies may go to more people than you realize. When replying to a message, be sure to look at the list of recipients.

  1. Type R (Reply).
    When Pine asks if you want to include the original message, type Y (yes) or N (no). Then choose if you wish to reply to all or just he sender of the message. Replying to a message is similar to composing a message. Pine will automatically put the address of the person to whom you are replying to in the To: field. Write an appropriate response to the sender's original email message.

Forwarding Messages
Email is easily forwarded to someone else. Although this is convenient, it is not always appropriate. If you are unsure, ask the sender before you forward a message. Email can be junk mail, so avoid unnecessary forwarding of messages (especially chain messages!!)

  1. Type F (Forward) to forward a message you received.
    A copy of the message opens and the To: field is highlighted. Enter the email address of the person to whom you wish to forward the message.

Saving a Message to a Folder You Specify

  1. At the Message Index screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to save.
  2. Type S (Save) to save a message.
  3. You are asked if you want to save it to the saved-messages folder or another folder:
    SAVE to folder [saved-messages]:
  4. Type a folder name and press <Return>.
    For example, to save a message to a folder named "friends," type friends and press <Return>. If this is the first time you have named this folder, you see the message:
    Folder "friends" doesn't exist. Create?
  5. Type Y or press <Return> to create the folder.
    Once you have created the folder, or whenever you type the name of a folder that already exists, you see a message like this one:
    [Message "#" copied to folder "friends" and marked deleted]

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Deleting a Message
When a message is no longer needed, you should delete it to save space in your email account. There are two steps to deleting a message; marking it for deletion, then expunging it.

To mark a message for deletion:

  1. From the index screen, use the arrow key to highlight the message you wish to mark for deletion.
  2. Type D (Delete).
    If you are looking at the Folder Index screen when you mark a message for deletion, a "D" appears in the left-hand column of the message line; if you are looking at the Message Text screen when you mark a message for deletion, a "DEL" appears in the upper right corner of your screen and the next message, if there is one, appears.
  3. Repeat this process to mark additional messages for deletion.

To expunge messages:
The messages will not actually be deleted until you quit using Pine or expunge them from the Message Index page.

  1. Type X to eXpunge.
  2. Pine will ask you if you really want to expunge the marked message;
  3. Type Y to confirm.

Undeleting a Message
If you change your mind about a message you have marked for deletion, use the U (Undelete) command to remove the deletion mark any time before you expunge a message.

  1. Highlight the marked message in the Message Index screen
  2. Type U, for undelete.
    WARNING: After you expunge a message, Pine cannot get it back.

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Using the Address Book
As you use email, you will build a list of email correspondents. Some of their addresses may be difficult to type or remember. You can use the Pine Address Book to store email addresses for individuals or groups to create easily remembered "nicknames" for these addressees, and to quickly retrieve an email address when you are composing a message. See Fig. 5 below for a sample page from an Address Book.

There are two ways to set up an individual address in your Address Book; you can add an address manually or take it from an incoming message. With either method, you specify nicknames for your correspondents.

Address Book
Fig. 5 - A Pine Address Book Screen

Adding an Individual Address
First, be sure you have correctly written down the address.

  1. Type M (Main Menu) to return to Pine's Main Menu.
  2. At the Pine Main Menu, type A (Address Book).
  3. Type A (Add) to add an address, then enter the necessary information for which you are prompted.
  4. To use the address book, compose a new message and type the nicknames in the To: field and the corresponding email address will be automatically inserted.

Taking an Individual Address from an Incoming Message

  1. Read the message of the address you would like to take.
  2. Type T (Take Address).
    The T command is not visible on your screen unless you type O (Other Commands), but you need not see it to use it.
  3. Pine will lead you through a series of instructions.
  4. You will be asked to add a nickname for the address, check the name of the addressee and check the email address.
  5. Follow the instructions.

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Quitting Pine and Logging Out

To quit Pine:

  1. Type Q (Quit).
  2. You are asked:
    Do you really want to quit PINE?
  3. Type Y or press <Return>.
    Then, if you have messages marked for deletion, you are asked: Do you want to expunge messages from your INBOX?
  4. If you want to delete (that is, get rid of for all eternity) the messages you selected for deletion, type Y (Yes) or press <Return>. This will not only delete marked messages, but also move all other messages to the "read-messages" folder.
  5. If you want more time to think about deleting the messages, type N (No).
  6. To logout, type logout at the ea prompt (ea>logout) or push Q at the menu and then type logout.

It is very important that you type logout at the ea> prompt, or another person could use your account in a malicious or irresponsible way, for which you could be held responsible.

Getting Help in Pine
To read the on-line help, use the Help command at the bottom of each screen. For example, at the Main Menu screen, type ?(Help). Because the help text is context sensitive, you will only see the part that relates to the Pine feature you are using. To exit the on-line help, type E(Exit Help).

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Checking Your Quota
On your EA account, you have a total allotted space of 3 megabytes. This is called your "quota" on EA. When you surpass 3 megabytes of information on your EA account, you will find yourself unable to receive email messages. If you have not received new email for a few days, this may be a sign that you are over your quota.

  1. To check your quota, exit out of Pine and out of the menu so that you are at the EA prompt.
  2. Then, type quota -v and hit <Return>. See Fig. 6 for a sample of a quota entry.

Telnet Window
Fig. 6 - A Quota Check

  1. The line that says "/ea" indicates how much space you have left in your home directory of your EA account. The line that says "/var/mail" indicates how much space you have left in your Inbox.
  2. Your Inbox has a 3 megabyte limit and your home directory has a 20 megabyte limit.

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Finding and Removing Files from Your Account

  1. To find files and emails that are taking up space in your EA account, go the to EA prompt.
  2. Then type dir and hit <Return>. This command will show you all of the files in your home directory. See Fig. 7 for a sample output.

Directory Listing
Fig. 7 - A "dir" Listing

  1. The fifth column is the size of the files. The second file in Fig. 7, TRICKO~1.EXE is a large file, taking up a significant amount of the quota of this account.
  2. To delete a file, type rm then the name of the file; for instance, rm TRICK0~1.EXE, and hit <Return>.
  3. When you are prompted to: remove <filename> (yes/no)?, type yes and hit <Return>.
    WARNING: After you delete a file, IT IS GONE!
  4. You may also have large emails that are taking up valuable space. To find these, type cd mail and hit <Return>. This will take you into your mail directory. Again, type dir and hit <Return> to list the files in your mail directory. See Fig. 8 for a sample output.

Directory Listing
Fig. 8 - A "dir" Listing in the Mail Directory

  1. Now that you have seen which directories are large, for instance, "friends", "new", "sent-mail" and "sent-mail-nov-1999" in Fig. 8, we can enter Pine by typing pine to fix them.
  2. Once inside Pine, hit <Return> twice, which will take you to a list of all of your mail subdirectories. See Fig. 9 for a sample output.

Telnet Window
Fig. 9 - Another Folder Listing

  1. Highlight the folder using the arrow keys and hit <Return> to enter it.
  2. Once inside the directory, type $ then Z to sort messages by size. Look for messages that are large, then delete them if possible by scrolling over them and pushing D to have them marked for deletion.
  3. Type X to expunge and delete all of the marked messages.

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When Someone You Send email to is Over Quota
If you receive an email that looks like Fig. 10, then you have sent mail to someone that is over their quota. This means that they have NOT received your message and NEVER WILL; they have no space to write into their Inbox. If it is an urgent matter, contact them in another manner if possible.

Over Quota Return Message
Fig. 10 - Over Quota Return Message

email Rights and Responsibilities and Staying out of Trouble
Email is a unique medium of communication. It is fun and easy to use but it is also easy to misuse. Improper use of email can result in termination of your EA account at the very least. It is up to you to read the Computer and Network Use Policy and to follow it responsibly.

A copy of the Computer and Network Use Policy is located on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.policies.uci.edu/adm/pols/714-18.html

"Everything You Need to Know to Get Started in Pine" : copyright © 1996, University of Washington UWired Program. Adapted for UCI, 1997. Distributed and revised by the Network & Academic Computing Services, 2000.

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