[mythtv-users] Need for a real forum?

[Joseph A. Caputo]

On Thursday 11 December 2003 06:55, Jean-Rene Cormier wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 16:15, Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
> > On Wednesday 10 December 2003 14:44, Jean-Rene Cormier wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 15:13, Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
> > > > On Wednesday 10 December 2003 13:49, Graham Siener wrote:
> > > > > Hello,
> > > > > I've been a myth user for about 4 months now, and I'm very
> > > > > satisfied and impressed with MythTV.  Lately I've been trying
> > > > > to delve deeper by using MythMusic and MythGame, etc.  I know
> > > > > that a mailing list was the decided form of communication,
> > > > > but would anyone else out there prefer a real online forum?
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm perfectly willing (and mostly able) to host such a site,
> > > > > and I think it would be a much more productive affair
> > > > > considering how popular MythTV is getting these days.  I
> > > > > often use
> > > > > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/archive/MythTV_C2/Users_F11/
> > > > > instead of the mailing list, as it is much easier to read and
> > > > > search.
> > > >
> > > > Really?  I find it much easier & faster to search my mailbox. 
> > > > But you're right in that it would be nice not to have to keep
> > > > old messages around, not to mention having mailboxes scattered
> > > > around on different computers (work, home...).  Just now I
> > > > searched my mailbox for a message I *knew* I read in the last
> > > > couple of days, and couldn't find it.  After about 5 minutes of
> > > > searching I realized that I'd downloaded the message on my home
> > > > computer, so I ssh-VNC'd over there, and voila! there it was. 
> > > > A PITA, though.
> > >
> > > You should look into IMAP and maybe a webmail client to check
> > > your mail when you're not home. I check my mail from about 4
> > > different computers and I have all my mail accessible from each
> > > of them. And if I'm on someone else's computer, I can use the
> > > webmail.
> > >
> > > Jean-Rene Cormier
> >
> > That would be nice if I had control over my mail server.  Comcast
> > doesn't give me a choice -- POP3 only.  They have a webmail
> > interface, but I *hate* webmail.  I only use it when I'm on a
> > 'temporary' computer.  I use a real mail client on my 2 main PCs:
> > work & home.
>
> Like some people said, setup your computer at home with Postfix,
> Courier-IMAP, Fetchmail and SquirrelMail and store your mail there.
> From what you said, it's always online since you ssh-VNC on it from
> work. This way you'll have full control on your mail server so you
> can setup filters the way you want, I have a mailbox for each mailing
> list I'm in and it works great. Also no ISP is gonna give you 1Gb+
> mailboxes ;)
>
> Jean-Rene Cormier


Whew!  I certainly didn't expect such a deluge of replies!  Thanks to 
everyone who replied.

FWIW, I have considered setting myself up with a Fetchmail/IMAP solution 
in the past.  Several things have stopped me:

(1) I just haven't had the time to really fuss with it much

(2) Mail accesibility -- once fetchmail grabs my mail off of the 
Comcast's POP3 server, it's gone (well, I could tell it not to delete 
the mail, but what with all the MythTV traffic, my Comcast mailbox 
would then fill up pretty quick).  So, I would lose the ability to 
check my mail from any computer via webmail in an emergency.  "Aha!" 
you say, "you could just..." which brings me to...

(3) Yes, I know I could run my own webmail & IMAP servers on my 
semi-static Comcast IP.  However, I prefer not to have any ports open 
on my firewall other than 1 port for SSH.  This is a fine solution as 
long as I have access to a *nix box (Linux, Unix or Mac OS X).  
However, most WIndows boxes that I might encounter "in the wild" don't 
have an SSH client available to do tunneling or at least give me a 
shell.

If anyone can give me a clue (off-list, please... this thread is getting 
really O-T) as to how I could set up a system where my POP3 mail 
wouldn't be fetched until queried my IMAP server, that would be great.  
Then, if I was away from my computer(s), the mail wouldn't be 
auto-fetched, and so would be available on Comcast's webmail interface 
in a pinch.  I don't care about keeping old mail on their server, but I 
always want my unread/new mail available via a vanilla web browser.

TIA,

JAC