[drats_users] Email Proposal

[Tom Carpenter]

I for one think it sounds great.  As d-star becomes more populated around 
the world it will be neccesary to have something that will replace winlink 
that will work on d-star.

Tom
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Smith" <dsmith at danplanet.com>
To: "Discussion of D-RATS" <drats_users at lists.danplanet.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 1:11 PM
Subject: [drats_users] Email Proposal


> Hi all,
>
> I've been pondering a general sort of email server for D-RATS users
> lately.  I've always resisted making D-RATS dependent on the Internet
> for any of its functions because I don't think it's a reasonable
> assumption that the Internet will be up at any given point.  However,
> things like WinLink are rather dependent on it and are still useful in a
> variety of cases, so perhaps it's something we should explore.
>
> I was thinking of something that would give anyone that wanted it a
> CALLSIGN at d-rats.com email address.  They could check it with POP3 and a
> normal email client if they desired, but I would also build something
> into D-RATS that would allow a remote station to request that an
> Internet-connected instance check its mail and convert any waiting
> messages into forms that could then be forwarded by the automated scheme
> currently available.
>
> It would go something like this:
>
> Station A is connected to the Internet and a radio.  He enables a
> configuration option that provides this email service to others.
>
> Station B is within RF range of Station A.  He right-clicks (for
> example) on Station A in his callsign list and chooses "check mail".
> This sends a request to Station A asking it to check for mail at
> STATIONA at d-rats.com.
>
> Station A finds two new messages on the server for Station B, downloads
> them, converts them to forms, and places them in the Outbox.  A few
> seconds later, Station A's message routing logic notices messages in the
> Outbox for Station B and initiates the send.
>
> There would also be some additional logic allowing the sending of an
> email to come from the @d-rats.com address instead of being masqueraded
> through another address, as is the current default with the mail stuff.
>
> How does that sound?  Does anyone have any comments about the usefulness
> of this scheme, design points that should be considered, etc?  We
> already have WinLink, is there any point in doing this?
>
> My argument for this over WinLink would really boil down to the following:
>
> 1. D-RATS runs on all platforms, WinLink/PacLink/AirMail does not
> 2. D-RATS can use D-STAR radios, TNCs, and the Internet
> 3. D-RATS doesn't depend on any legacy technology to do that (existing
>    packet infrastructure, etc).
> 4. I expect it will be a lot easier to set up (server and client) and
>    we can publish all the information instead of treating it like a big
>    secret club (sorry, couldn't resist).
>
> They're not incredibly compelling points, but they have some merit I
> guess.  Let me know what *you* think.
>
> -- 
> Dan Smith
> dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
> www.danplanet.com
> KK7DS
> _______________________________________________
> drats_users mailing list
> drats_users at lists.danplanet.com
> http://lists.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/drats_users


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