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

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
>Date: 2007/10/18 Thu PM 03:37:08 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Q: How to set up "private" Presto email  service?

>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.

Yes, PPP to my server, but the polling would be more like once a day, from the remote PC (at parent's house)

>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. 

There owould be no outgoing email, the PC would be headless (ideally)

>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.

Plain POP/IMAP email traffic would be best, IMHO - with occasional long downloads from large attachments (regretable, but not avoidable if relatives decide to send mulltiple 3 meg pictures)

>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.

No dedicated lines - I have a Fax/Modem line at my house, the parents phone would call my modem line (silent on both ends, no ringing phones in "living areas")

Long distance phone calls are very inexpensive in US right now, pennies a minute plan are quite common - in this scenario we are talking about one call a day (to call to NJ from FL)

>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 they had broadband it would simply be a case for "Internet Printing" (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol)

>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.

They don't want a computer, we (the kids) want to be able to send them pictures and possibly emails.

Lionel