Re: [Evolution] evolution set up

[Patrick O'Callaghan <poc usb ve>]

On Sun, 2010-08-22 at 16:45 +0100, Philip Marks wrote:
> Sirs,  I have evolution preloaded on my Toshiba NB100 but have no idea
> how to set it up nor how to use it or why. I already use hotmail but
> want something that configures with the other ubuntu files I have.
> Please dont just suggest the evolution Start upn notes because they
> mean nothing to na non techy like me. I dont what a server is or
> anythingelse it mentions.

It's the "why to use it" I find intriguing about your query :-)

Evolution is a PIM (Personal Information Manager). It can handle your
email, contacts (i.e. address book), tasks (to-do list), calendar
(appointments) and so on, all from one program. It aims to cover roughly
the same ground as Outlook on a Windows machine, if that means anything
to you. If not, never mind. In any case I'll restrict myself to the
email function as that's the most important for most people -- in fact I
hardly use the other functions myself.

Evolution is an email *client*, i.e. among other things it allows you to
read your email in multiple accounts from different providers (including
Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, your ISP, your workplace etc.), receive new mail
or send messages, organize mail into folders you set up yourself, and
filter incoming messages e.g. to catch spam (junk mail).

So what's the difference between that and what you already do with
Hotmail? Well, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and others are what's called
webmail systems, i.e. you access them via a Web browser such as Firefox
or Google Chrome. That means that a) you have to be online while reading
or sending mail, and b) the user interface is limited to what a web
browser can support. The big advantage is that it requires very little
setup and can be accessed from anywhere with Internet connectivity, even
from someone else's computer, e.g. if you visit a friend or go to an
Internet cafÃ. This is because all the work is being done by the web
server belonging to Microsoft or Google or whatever.

A proper email client such as Evolution runs as a program in your own
computer, not inside a browser. It can fetch mail from multiple accounts
when you connect to them (these accounts live on "mail servers"), then
allow you to read and reply to the mail even if the connection is broken
(obviously replies aren't actually sent until there's a connection),
store local copies of your mail for any kind of processing you might
want, move messages from one service provider to another (if the
provider allows it), encrypt or digitally sign your messages for
security, etc. Many people find this highly flexible because it can
handle huge quantities of mail and process it in ways no webmail system
supports. However it does require more setup and at least some idea of
what's going on behind the scenes in order to correct any problems that
may arise.

If that's not for you, and you don't have easy access to technical
support, you may not want to go that way. Note that this mailing list is
a good way to get such support, but a) it's completely voluntary and
member-driven, and b) the response to queries often depends on how well
they are posed, i.e. it's important to be able to ask a good question if
you want a good answer.

If you decide to reply to this, please use Reply To All so that the
reply does to the list and not just to me.

poc