[techtalk] X Mail client recommendations

[Telsa Gwynne]

On Thu, Feb 17, 2000 at 11:47:01PM -0500 or thereabouts, Dan McGarry wrote:
> Up till now, I've stayed with MS Outlook Express because of laziness (and
> several hundred MB of stored messages). Some recent problems with it have
> sent me looking for a decent X-based mail client. I'm looking for:

I have never used Windows (except for the first time, the other day,
when I played freecell on it :)). So I've never really been clear on
what Windows mailers are like. I have only had X available as a routine
for a year. For the past <mumblemumble> years, I have used text-based
mailers: mailx, mh, something called rand, elm, and mutt. I've never
used Netscape's mailer.

What, if anything, am I missing? Currently I use mutt, running in a
gnome-terminal in GNOME. Does this count as an X-based mail client? :)

>     * Something that isn't netscape mail.
>     * Supports multiple user accounts on multiple servers.
>     * Supports kill-files, or has a scripting interface that allows
> spam-blocking.
>     * Allows channeling of incoming traffic into multiple folders.
>     * And, for bonus points, is threaded.

Used in conjunction with procmail, it fits all of those and a whole
load more. I've sure people have seen my "why mutt is cool" rants
before, so I'll spare you. 

It's also very fast: it reads in mailboxes of 2000 large multi-part
messages within seconds, and managed a mailbox of 26000 or so without
complaining -- although I think forgetting to unset "sort by thread"
may have been a mistake there :)

I love it. But when looking about for new mailers, so many people ask
"X-based" that I wonder: what am I missing? The ability for pictures
to be displayed inside emails (as opposed to next to them, in mutt,
sometimes)? A little diagram of my inbox with icons? What?

> Can anyone recommend a package that fits that bill?
> FWIW, I'm running RH 6.1 w/ GNOME/Enlightenment.

GNOME mailers in various stages of production:
	Balsa: I compiled the tarball of this a while ago and ran into
    errors which I gather the RPMs don't have. Haven't installed it yet.
	Spruce: I think there's RPMs of this, too. Dunno it.
	Something else I forget.
	You will hear about Evolution, too. This is made by Helixcode,
    and is nowhere near complete. The last I heard was pretty much,
    "Well, _parts_ of it compile". :)

Dunno about KDE programs for email, and I dunno of non-GNOME, non-KDE,
"X-based" mailers. I suppose xemacs might count as a mailer? :)

I am very curious to know what X-based mailers have that console
mailers don't. Note that I can view URLs and display pictures in mutt
when I run it in X, so that doesn't count!

Telsa

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