From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 94 09:49:02 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: How to Mail a Letter
Message-ID: <199411191749.JAA22941@netcom8.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Well, with the many helpful comments here by fellow Cypherpunks, I've
begun to explore how to use the new Postal Service system. I really
must say that Al Gore's Reinventing Government Task Farce has outdone
itself.

The new "PowerVisualMail" system is much more powerful than the old "seal
the envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it" approach.

But I'm having some problems in the conversion. Perhaps some of you
can help.

I did the Archie search and found the Installer script at
ftp.gore.gov, fetched it, used MIME_Decode on it, checked the PGP sig
to make sure no one had tampered with Tipper's code, then installed it
as a client on my Mac (which I bought AUX for, to run this client).

After reconfiguring metamail and setting the  NOMETAMAIL environmental
variable (under csh, "setenv NOMETAMAIL") to the AUX agent symbol, I
was able to recompile PowerVisualMail to (sort of) run on my system. I
found the new O'Reilly and Associates book, "How to Mail a Letter with
PowerVisualMail," to be very helpful, especially Chapter 17.

I hope to spend the next couple of days ironing out the bugs and
getting my mail client to properly communicate with the
PowerVisualMail agent. But it'll all be worth it! This will all be so
much easier than licking stamps and sending those b-o-r-i-n-g paper
letters.

Of course, now I've got to teach my father how to decode my
PowerVisualMail letters...and he doesn't even have a computer yet!
I've told him that PowerVisualMail just runs too slowly on 486
machines, so I'm hoping he gets a 90 MHz Pentium.

And the phone company seems stuck in the Dark Ages, completely
unwilling to accept my PowerVisualMail items! I guess they're just
late getting on the Information Superhighway. 

Well, sorry I'll be missing today's Cypherpunks meeting in Mountain
View....I'm busy making my life easier.

--Tim May



-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
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