[orca-list] OT: A Christmas gift for Mutt-users and anyone willing to give Mutt a try



I wish I had something ready that would be appreciated  by all visually impaired Linux-users, but I can't 
think of anything that I have that fills that 
bill; so, here's a little something for some of you anyway.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7478895/muttrc
Will get you a copy of a rather nicely customized Mutt configuration file, ready to go for gmail users after 
changing username for your username and a 
few small similar details. The file is heavily commented, so hopefully a read will explain most of what's 
going on. 
There's a link close to the top of the file to a Mutt configuration how-to I wrote for the Vinux Wiki that 
will explain pretty much everything you have 
to know that's not in the many comments in the muttrc itself. 
I've added several extra keybindings to allow one to change some configurations on the fly, some are pretty 
non-standard configurations, so take a look. 
For instance you can type "ge", (minus the quotation marks), to use gedit to write your email even though you 
are running Mutt from a virtual terminal 
console. Start mutt in a console where you've exported your display first, e.g. 
export DISPLAY=:0
hit enter and type mutt, press enter again, and assuming you have a GUI session running gedit can be used. 
To go back to using nano to edit the bodys of email messages; new replies, etc., type ce.
There are keystrokes to switch between quick replying, i.e. to and subject header fields are not shown, 
(offered for edit), when you hit the r to reply 
to a message.
I've also used a much simpler and cleaner/probably more stable, method for interfacing with gpg compared with 
that used in 98% of the how-tos and demo 
muttrc files I've seen online. 
I don't have time to list all the other tweaks and departures from Mutt defaults, but I think and feel that 
this makes the excellent Mutt email client 
quite a bit more effective and or usable than other sample set-ups floating around.
Feel free to write me off-list with any questions or suggestions for improvements or new functional,ity. 
BTW, Mutt is alright to use with Orca, but I highly recommend running it in a console instead of gnome, mate, 
or other terminal emulator so that you can 
use speakup. Now with an easy way to use GUI editors to write your mail there's no reason to bother with 
starting Mutt itself from those graphical 
terminals. Whether or not you choose to use gedit, or configure a graphical alternative, you can open 
attachments with GUI aps by configuring a mailcap 
file, either to live in /etc, or in ~/.mutt. 
I'll tar-up a starter mailcap file, an address alias sorting script and maybe one or two other bits and 
upload it in a bit, so stay tuned.
Even if you've never thought you'd like a CLI mail program, I'd seriously consider giving a well configured 
mutt installation a try  for a week or two.
I'm a big thunderbird fan, and used it for years before ever trying mutt, but I must say that Mutt has won my 
heart and mind, and there's not much risk 
of new accessibility issues popping up like has been known to happen to us with t-bird. I can read and sort 
mail quite a bit faster with Mutt than 
anything else I've tried, and you can filter mail to suit your individual needs and tastes relatively 
easily/updates won't break extensions like often 
happens with Mozilla apps...smile
So, scarey Christmas, and happy New Fears my friends and fellow Linux-users. 
-- 
     B.H.
   Registerd Linux User 521886

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