Conference noted::hackers_v1

Does this require the now defunct PASSTHRU, or does MAIL itself understand
the forwarding business?

Sounds like a good hack, though.  Reminds me of how I use the telephone
callback feature to find out when someone around the corner is off the phone
so I can go bug him/her.

Burns

Yes, I do the same thing with the phone.

One thing I've been tempted to do but never did:  To find out when someone
gets back in their office, I could put their receiver on their chair and
then star-5 them.  When they come in and hang up their phone, I'll get
three rings !

/Eric

Please explain about the phones.


				-- edp

On Dimension PBX, "*5" is the feature code (unless changed) for Call
Back.  You dial *5, a busy extension number, and hang up.  When the
line is free, your phone rings (special ring) and when you pick it up,
the other guy's phone rings.  Sort of hacky.  Some other PBXs allow
you to Flash on the busy signal and dial the code, rather than hang up
and dial the code and then the number again, as you must do on Dimension.

Unless you're using the above handset-on-chair hack, after all, you
don't know to invoke the feature unless you've first gotten a busy
signal.

Fred

    We have that feature at Bedford,  but it is requested by code '36',
    not by a star code.  But then, none of our features are requested
    by star codes.

    The term that I have heard for this feature is "CAMPING".

    Dave

re .4:  The new Northern Telecom system which is being installed in a number
of locations does not make you redial the number after you get a busy.

Burns

Back to the subject of MAIL:

	A friend told me that "SET FORWARD NM%mynode::me" will cause your 
	incomming messages to circulate until forwarding is turned off.  
	This would be similar to asking your secretery to hold all calls.

		-John Wasser

re: .-1

Sounds like a waste of CPU to me.  Why would you do such a thing?

tom_p

	Why?

	Because it's there!

	Or as Tom Lehrer might say:
		"It's something you might find useful some day (in a rather
		bizzare set of circumstances)"

re: .0
For an added touch of portability, this com file will do the trick.

$ MAIL NL: NM%'p1'::sys$rem_node::your_user_name /SUBJ="IT's UP!"


re: .8

Isn't that the concise one-line definition of hacking?

Hacking:  "The act of elegantly wasting CPU time."

RE: .0

Eric,

Could you explain 'how' your one-line dcl command works?  I've been trying
to send mail to node APPLES for about a week now (via NMAIL) and it keeps
trying but doesn't get there.  Anyway, does your dcl command assume that
I have an account on the node in question?

Thanks in advance
Dale

My dcl command does not require you to have an account on the node in
question.

The command relies on the experimental observation that nodes allow
themselves to be used "en gratis" as way-stations for network mail
traffic.  Hence you can mail to

	A::B::USER

and node "A::" allows you to route your message through it, even though
you nor USER has any account on A::.

Since NMAIL interprets errors, my command allows you to tell when A::
has come up again.

Of course, if your purpose of knowing that APPLES is up is to send mail
to it, you might as well just use NMAIL in the normal way.

My command is useful for things other than mail.  For instance, I use
it occasionally for writing to a notes file.
     
/Eric

We've got two systems here in the office Ether-netted together.  When I want to
get to the other one (and its down), I use it to send myself mail when it's up.

$ MAIL NL: NM%'p1'::34875::SSMITH /SUBJ="IT's UP!" 

(34875 is my node number)  It simply sends me mail by routing through the other
system. 

	    [RE .13]:  . . . and now we've come full circle!
			<_Jym_>

Makes sense...thanks

Dale