[NBLUG/talk] Remote mail access

[Eric T. Landerville]

I had an idea about a domain and squirrel mail but I don't think that 
would be the easiest way to go, or do it without the domain using fetch 
mail and dyndns, still not the easiest. 
Have you thought of any of the usb flash drive portable email clients, 
the only one that I have seen mentioned anywhere is 
'portablethunderbird' 
http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_thunderbird/.  I haven't look 
into using it myself, I run the above mentioned domain/squirrel mail, 
but this might be what you are looking for.  It is thunderbird that runs 
totally off of your flash drive, it never touches the computer, it will 
run on multiple OS's and I think, *think*, that it will sync with your 
home computer.  I though I read that in a review but I could be wrong.
If you are going to be doing this for any amount of time you might want 
to think of a more permanent solution, like running a squirrel mail type 
web based application for your email.  Domains are cheap you know $7 a 
year or so, I spend more then that on a burrito from Mi Pueblo a week.

Good luck

Eric

Lincoln Peters wrote:

>(One more thing I'd like to figure out while I'm trying to figure out 
>everything that's suddenly piled up on me...)
>
>During the coming semester, I expect to be spending a lot of time away from my 
>home computer, so I'd like to find a way to access it remotely.  In 
>particular, I'm interested in remotely accessing my SBC e-mail (SBC's 
>web-based e-mail access doesn't play well with POP mail clients).
>
>My current setup is:
>* My primary computer, running Debian/Etch.
>* Several other desktop computers I don't care about for this project.
>* A LinkSys router/firewall that connects my LAN to the Internet.
>* A MacBook Pro (don't ask), due to arrive some time next month.
>
>My idea for remotely accessing my e-mail consists of:
>1. Set up fetchmail so that my SBC mail is "fetched" to a local mailbox.
>2. Set up a secure IMAP server to provide access to fetched mail.
>3. Enable port forwarding on the router, so I can access the IMAPS server over 
>the Internet.  Maybe also enable port forwarding for SSH while I'm at it.
>4. Set up DynDNS, so I don't have to keep track of my IP address manually.
>5. (Optional) Configure eGroupware to access that same IMAPS service.
>
>If this all works, I could then use the Mail application on my laptop to 
>access my e-mail no matter where I am.  And in case I find myself stranded 
>without my laptop but with access to a public terminal (e.g. a library 
>computer), I could use eGroupware (currently installed but not configured) on 
>the primary computer to access my e-mail via a web browser.  Furthermore, I 
>could SSH from my laptop into the desktop computer at any time and from 
>anywhere.
>
>
>What would be the EASIEST* way to do all of this that doesn't compromise on 
>security?
>
>
>* Why is easy so important?  Because I'm signed up for 19 units at SSU!
>
>  
>