Difference between revisions of "Free Geek Email"

Latest revision as of 14:29, 5 October 2013

There are three different interfaces that can be used to access your Free Geek email: POP3, IMAP, and Roundcube (web mail). Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.

Roundcube web mail client

Roundcube is probably the easiest way to access your email, since it involves only a web browser and can be used from any location.

Go to https://mail.freegeek.org and enter your username (whoyouis) or email address (whoyouis@freegeek.org) in the Name field and your email password in the Password field.

Client based email

Use the following settings to connect from an email client such as Evolution or Thunderbird. The server port is included below for clarity, but is usually automatically set when you choose the encryption type.

Receiving email

IMAP

IMAP allows you to access your email from anywhere and leave the email on a server, but requires a separate email program. Most email programs (even windows ones) can handle IMAP. The main disadvantage of IMAP (and webmail) is was that the messages are inaccessible when you are offline. Any decent modern mail client has an option to sync mail locally so this is no longer a real problem. (Fun Fact:Roundcube uses IMAP behind the scenes).

Protocol - IMAP
Server - mail.freegeek.org
username - the first part of your email before the @ symbol.
server port - 993
Encryption - SSL
Authentication - Plain Text

POP3

Use IMAP instead, and sync your mail locally.

There is no reason to use this and you should not do so. "I've always used it" is not a reason, never mind a good one.

Sending mail

Our SMTP server (mail.freegeek.org) is an authenticating SMTP server, this means you can send email from anywhere as log as you log in first. This works inside the network as well. You don't need to do anything special to login as your email program will take care of it as long as you give the correct username and password. N.B. this differs form the one you use to read your email. It needs the @freegeek.org part as well.

Protocol - SMTP
Server - mail.freegeek.org
username - username@freegeek.org
Server port - 465
Encryption - SSL
Authentication - Plain Text

NOTES:

You may receive a "greylisting" error message when sending to a freegeek address, even with your smtp server set to mail.freegeek.org. If this happens, just resend the message after 5 minutes have passed.

If you go to a location that blocks outgoing SMTP, you may not be able to send email from a mail client, though using authenticated SMTP over SSL generally still works. In this case, you may use the web interface described above to send mail.

While you can send email when you are connected to the Free Geek wired network without authenticating, you should still set up your client to authenticate. This ability may go away in future, and enabling authentication means mistakes are less likely to happen.

Misc.

To change your password, use the web interface:

Email Password Change Web Interface

Or if that doesn't work, contact Technocrats.

your address plus - mail addressed to "whoyouis+stuff@freegeek.org" will get delivered just the same as mail to "whoyouis@freegeek.org". You might use this feature to give different addresses to different sign-up services. Note: You must use a "+" sign. More information on this can be found at the Wikipedia article wikipedia:E-mail address#Plus (or Minus) addressing.

Instructions for Android phones

First of all we recommend you install K-9 Mail, this is a free and open-source email client for Android that is much better than the stock client. The following walk through assumes you have K9 installed, but the settings will be the same for other clients.

Walk through for K9 Mail

Open K9 and click on the Menu button and chose add account. If this is the first time you have used K9 it will probably prompt you to create an account straight away.

On the next screen enter your email address and password.

You should set your account up as an IMAP account. This will mean you can easily check your email on different devices e.g. through a web browser as well as your phone.

In the next screen you will set the incoming server settings.

The important ones are:

mailserver: mail.freegeek.org
security: user SSL/TLS(always)
Authentication: plain

Everything else can be left at the defaults. When you click next K9 will check to make sure everything is working.

Next we will repeat the process for the Outgoing settings.

The important thing her is to set security: user SSL/TLS(always) and that the require login button is set. If you do not set these you will not be able to send email.

On the last screen you can choose an option account anme and you anme as it will appear in outgonig emails.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-There are three different interfaces that can be used to access your freegeek email:  POP3, IMAP, and Squirrelmail.  Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.
+There are three different interfaces that can be used to access your Free Geek email:  POP3, IMAP, and Roundcube (web mail).  Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.
-== Squirrelmail ==
+== Roundcube web mail client ==
-'''Squirrelmail''' is probably the easiest way to access your email, since it involves only a web browser and can be used from any location.
+'''Roundcube''' is probably the easiest way to access your email, since it involves only a web browser and can be used from any location.
-Go to https://web.freegeek.org/mail and enter your username (whoyouis) '''or''' email address (whoyouis@freegeek.org) in the Name field and your email password in the Password field.
+Go to https://mail.freegeek.org and enter your username (whoyouis) '''or''' email address (whoyouis@freegeek.org) in the Name field and your email password in the Password field.
 == Client based email ==
-Use the following settings to connect from an email client such as kmail, evolution or thunderbird.  The server port is included below for clarity, but is usually automatically set when you choose the encryption type.
+Use the following settings to connect from an email client such as Evolution or Thunderbird.  The server port is included below for clarity, but is usually automatically set when you choose the encryption type.
 ===Receiving email===
 ==== IMAP ====
-IMAP allows you to access your email from anywhere and leave the email on a server, but requires a separate email program.  Most email programs (even windows ones) can handle IMAP.  The main disadvantage of IMAP (and webmail) is that the messages are inaccessible when you are offline (unless you use [http://packages.debian.org/offlineimap offlineimap] or something similar).
+IMAP allows you to access your email from anywhere and leave the email on a server, but requires a separate email program.  Most email programs (even windows ones) can handle IMAP.  The main disadvantage of IMAP (and webmail) <del>is</del> was that the messages are inaccessible when you are offline. Any decent modern mail client has an option to sync mail locally so this is no longer a real problem.  (Fun Fact:Roundcube uses IMAP behind the scenes).
-Settings
 *Protocol - IMAP
 *Server - mail.freegeek.org
-*username - your entire freegeek email address <whoyouis@freegeek.org>
+*username - the first part of your email before the @ symbol.
 *server port - 993
 *Encryption - SSL
-*Authentication - Clear Text
+*Authentication - Plain Text
 ==== POP3 ====
-The "old traditional" email system.  POP downloads the email to your machine, making it inaccessible from other locations unless you choose to leave a copy of the email on the server (which does not always work well with all clients).
+'''Use IMAP instead''', and sync your mail locally.
-*Protocol - POP3
+There is no reason to use this and you should not do so. "I've always used it" is not a reason, never mind a good one.
-*Server - mail.freegeek.org
-*username - your entire freegeek email address <whoyouis@freegeek.org>
-*server port - 995
-*Encryption - SSL
-*Authentication - Clear Text
 === Sending mail ===
-==== Inside the Free Geek network (plugged into the wired network) ====
+Our SMTP server (mail.freegeek.org) is an authenticating SMTP server, this means you can send email from anywhere as log as you log in first. This works inside the network as well. You don't need to do anything special to login  as your email program will take care of it as long as you give the correct username and password. N.B. this differs form the one you use to read your email. It needs the @freegeek.org part as well.
-'''NOTE:''' Wireless access, even when you're physically at Free Geek, is actually "outside" the network. So for wireless access, see the next section instead.
 *Protocol - SMTP
 *Server - mail.freegeek.org
-*Server port - 25
+*username - username@freegeek.org
-*Encryption - none
+*Server port - 465
-*Authentication - none
+*Encryption - SSL
+*Authentication - Plain Text
-==== Outside the Free Geek network (or on FG wireless) ====
+'''NOTES:'''
-Our SMTP server (mail.freegeek.org) will not normally send outgoing messages on behalf of people outside our network, to prevent people from sending spam through our network. (But see the instructions for laptops below).
-; Home Computer
+You may receive a "greylisting" error message when sending to a freegeek address, even with your smtp server set to mail.freegeek.org.  If this happens, just resend the message after 5 minutes have passed.
-:Use the SMTP server provided by your ISP.  So, for instance, if you use Whiz to Coho as an ISP, use the same SMTP server as you use for your Whiz to Coho email account. If you're a Comcast customer, use the same SMTP server you use for your comcast.net email. etc.
+If you go to a location that blocks outgoing SMTP, you may not be able to send email from a mail client, though using authenticated SMTP over SSL generally still works. In this case, you may use the web interface described above to send mail.
-; Laptop
+While you can send email when you are connected to the Free Geek wired network without authenticating, you should still set up your client to authenticate. This ability may go away in future, and enabling authentication means mistakes are less likely to happen.
-:If you have a laptop, most likely you take it lots of places, and use it on a number of networks (home, work, the coffee shop, Free Geek.) If so, using your ISP's SMTP server for sending may not be a good option, because it might not work at all those places.
+== Misc. ==
-:You can actually use Free Geek's SMTP server from anywhere, but only within 30 minutes of "logging in" by checking your mail.
+'''To change your password''', use the web interface:
-:'''POP3:''' If you use POP3, just set your email program to check your email at least every 30 minutes.
+[https://mail.freegeek.org/password Email Password Change Web Interface]
-:'''IMAP:''' If you use IMAP, it's a little more complicated. IMAP only "logs in" (authenticates) when you first start your email program. So after you first check your mail, you have 30 minutes to send messages out. After that, you'll need to either go "Offline" and then "Online", or quit and restart your email program, in order to have 30 more minutes to send out messages. Got that? Whew!
+Or if that doesn't work, contact [http://technocrats.freegeek.org| Technocrats].
-'''NOTE:''' mail.freegeek.org will deliver messages to freegeek.org addresses, regardless of where they come from. This is just how SMTP works. So if you only ever send messages to Free Geek addresses from your account, you could theoretically just use smtp.freegeek.org, and be done with it. However, you may receive a "greylisting" error message.  If this happens, just resend the message after 5 minutes have passed.
+'''your address plus''' - mail addressed to "whoyouis+stuff@freegeek.org" will get delivered just the same as mail to "whoyouis@freegeek.org". You might use this feature to give different addresses to different sign-up services. Note:  You must use a "+" sign. More information on this can be found at the Wikipedia article [[wikipedia:E-mail address#Plus (or Minus) addressing]].
-== Misc. ==
+== Instructions for Android phones ==
+First of all we recommend you install [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fsck.k9| K-9 Mail], this is a free and open-source email client for Android that is much better than the stock client. The following walk through assumes you have K9 installed, but the settings will be the same for other clients.
+=== Walk through for K9 Mail ===
+Open K9 and click on the Menu button and chose add account. If this is the first time you have used K9 it will probably prompt you to create an account straight away.
+[[File:1_add_account.png]]
+On the next screen enter your email address and password.
+[[File:2_set_up_new-acount.png]]
+You should set your account up as an IMAP account. This will mean you can easily check your email on different devices e.g. through a web browser as well as your phone.
+[[File:3_account_type.png]]
+In the next screen you will set the incoming server settings.
+The important ones are:
+* mailserver: mail.freegeek.org
+* security: user SSL/TLS(always)
+* Authentication: plain
+Everything else can be left at the defaults. When you click next K9 will check to make sure everything is working.
+[[File:4_incoming_settings.png]]
+Next we will repeat the process for the Outgoing settings.
+The important thing her is to set   '''security: user SSL/TLS(always)''' and that the require login button is set. If you do not set these you will not be able to send email.
-'''To change your password''', talk to one of the [[ASS]]es (in person).
+[[File:5_outgoing_settings.png]]
-'''your address plus''' - mail addressed to "whoyouis+stuff@freegeek.org" will get delivered just the same as mail to "whoyouis@freegeek.org". You might use this feature to give different addresses to different sign-up services. Note:  You must use a "+" sign.
+On the last screen you can choose an option account anme and you anme as it will appear in outgonig emails.
+[[File:6_final.png]]
 [[Category:Tech support]]
 [[Category:howto]]