Re: How to develop even better explanations, ever better explanations not so opaque blocking the passage of the radiant energy and the light to understanding the lisp coding a novice would insert to setup mail in gnus.

[B. T. Raven]

"Don Saklad" <dsaklad@gnu.org> wrote in message
5ipsg5tq41.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org">news:5ipsg5tq41.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org...
> What is the appropriate mail system to use for setting up
> mail in gnus for this system on this machine?...

Which system? Which machine?

Mutatis mutandis (use your own name and isp info of course), put the
following into .emacs

(setq user-full-name "B.T. Raven")
(setq user-mail-address "ecinmn@alcisp.com")

(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "mail.alcisp.com")
(setq smtpmail-local-domain nil)
(setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)

(load-library "smtpmail")

(setenv "MAILHOST" "mail.alcisp.com")
(setq rmail-primary-inbox-list
 '("ecinmn@alcisp.com") rmail-pop-password-required t)
(setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.alcisp.com"))
(setq gnus-check-new-newsgroups nil)
(load-library "message")
(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)

Save the .emacs file. Exit Emacs. Start emacs. Type: M-x gnus (Alt and x
simultaneously, or Esc and then x). By the way, I just tried this and it
locked up Emacs, but I had forgotten to get out of Outlook Express first.
Emacs should probably degrade more gracefully in this pathological case.
Otherwise it should work. (This was run on msw98 and emacs 21.3) You will
have to type in your user name and password each time. There are ways of
getting around this, but I haven't figured them out yet. I don't want my
password in clear text on the machine anywhere, even though it is there
somewhere in the Outlook Express setup.

>
>
> . How would you develop an even better explanation, ever better
>   explanations than are currently available?... Explications that
>   are not so opaque blocking the passage of the radiant energy
>   and the light to understanding the lisp coding a novice would
>   insert to setup mail in gnus.
>
>   If the novice does not know the lisp coding, the novice would
>   not know what is inserted for the mail setup in gnus. So a
>   better explanation could include term by term, tag by tag what
>   is going on in the lisp coding to be inserted.

If you need to understand all the inner workings of the program, then you
will have to master elisp first (and maybe C, and maybe even advanced
computer science principles.) If we need to understand it as well as RMS
does, then we should probably wait for metempsychosis.

>
>
> . Then there is the question of how the novice can identify what
>   are the applicable, what are the appropriate mail system
>   requirements they are using already where they do not know how
>   to check for this information, if they do not understand the
>   technobabble that others relate in explaining how their system
>   is setup. Answers to the question of how to identify the mail
>   system need even more simplification that avoid using often
>   misused jargon or jargon that could be unfamiliar.
>
>
> I've been around this corner and related corners of the net for
> years and so have friends and acquaintances expert in other areas
> of interest like networks. We haven't figured out the
> explanations because the dedication needed to devote energy to
> the complex text for setup is cumbersome.