[geeks] Q: How to set up "private" Presto email service?

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2007 at 02:29:03PM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> It would be great if I could just set up the PC with Outlook, have the
> PC poll my server once a day (at night, lower phone costs), and
> configure Outlook to print out each email as it arrives, but that
> doesn't seem to be an option...

The problem I see with doing this is that Outlook requires some sort of
TCP/IP mail connection, either POP or IMAP. This may not be as difficult
as it sounds, but I have never done this on anything later than Windows
95, so I'm not 100% sure it can be done on XP.

You set the PPP dialup connection to be the default Internet connection.
Set it to dial when needed and disconnect after 1 minute of idle time.
You then set Outlook to check their email every 10 minutes or so.

Outlook checks the email, which causes a POP connection to be attempted
to your mail server. The system detects traffic on the default connection,
dials your server, logs in and starts PPP. The POP connection completes,
and downloads the email. It also sends any email waiting to go. If you 
have CUPS and SMBPRINT installed on your server, it will transfer print
files in the queue to their computer, and Windows will print them,

You can also set it the other way, so that print files to your printer
get sent back. The only problem I see with this is that a print file
can be very large, several megabytes. You would have to have at their
end a postscript printer or a PCL one and send it postscript or PCL text
streams, not bit maps.

POTS calls can be expensive and you have to pay for two dedicated 
phone lines. Here you can get a cheap broadband connection for under $25
a month, and if you have cable TV or satellite, a package deal which
is a lot cheaper. I have no idea of what you can get in the U.S.

If you did have a broadband connection to them, you could connect it to
a cheap router, and then have their Windows computer VPN to you.

If you did that, you could also provide them with some sort of VoIP
"hot line" to you, and a filtered web browser if you wanted it.

Geoff.

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
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