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My biggest gripe is not the server (I run my own), it's the client(s). Currently I use Trojita on the desktop and K-9 on my mobile. I never managed to get PGP t

My biggest gripe is not the server (I run my own), it's the client(s). Currently I use Trojita on the desktop and K-9 on my mobile. I never managed to get PGP to play with Trojita, so for signing/encrypting/decrypting I have Claws installed as well. Trojita often randomly hangs and needs to be killed. K-9 is functional, but is to mail what Gimp is to painting.. Mailpile (I'm a backer) might be interesting, but is still unstable and the future isn't certain for happy reasons (i.e. 'paternity leave'). Stumbled upon Whiteout from the references in the mailpile blog, only to learn that the company behind that effort is dead. No clue if or how this project will continue. I regularly see (new) mail clients mocked as 'unnecessary', but I'm still waiting for a decent one. Mail as a medium works incredibly well for me, but it feels unpolished to use whereever I am.

rsync 11y ago
I'm curious - have you ever used a text/curses based email client ? It's amazingly fast and you can forget all about browser security since you do it over SSH. It's an extremely efficient workflow (albeit with some hacks required to get modern functionality). I switched to pine in ... 1993 ? I've never used anything else (except for brief stints of corporate email account and consulting, many years ago). You'll note that in the "screenshots from famous developers"[1] that Brian Kernighan (Unix legend, the K in K&R and AWK) is using alpine in his 2015 screenshot... [1] https://anders.unix.se/2015/12/10/screenshots-from-developers--2002-vs.-2015/ https://anders.unix.se/2015/12/10/screenshots-from-developer...
- darklajid 11y ago
  Yes. I was using (al)pine for a while. It's bearable, okay even. But I guess I don't see how you could turn that into a 'mobile' client. For the time I used pine I was ssh-ing into a box of mine for most of the day, while I was in front of a computer. I didn't care much about mail notifications on the go. Now I do. If there's some (reliable! I don't care about the initial one-off effort) way to make that work with emails on the go, I'd be glad to learn about that.
  - vox_mollis 11y ago
    But I guess I don't see how you could turn that into a 'mobile' client Solution to this is to remember what the purpose of email actually is. It's supposed to be asynchronous communication, with the expectation that it may be checked, at most, 1-3 times daily. If you need communication immediately and in any location, instant messaging covers that use case much better.
    - darklajid 11y ago
      We have to disagree about the purpose here. For me mail is for async, coherent exchanges. IM is not a replacement: It is usually a conversation, usually short and short-lived and synchronous. Async doesn't have to imply that I don't get a notification about your mail. It just means that I probably won't answer right away - or at least on my time. Anyway: Mail plus ~instant~ notification is a thing for me and I don't want to give that up.
yownie 11y ago
Founders are good friends of mine here, rest assured the one on paternity leave will keep going with it once again. I have no doubt in my mind, he cares passionately about providing this service and software to the community.

rsync 11y ago

I'm curious - have you ever used a text/curses based email client ? It's amazingly fast and you can forget all about browser security since you do it over SSH. It's an extremely efficient workflow (albeit with some hacks required to get modern functionality). I switched to pine in ... 1993 ? I've never used anything else (except for brief stints of corporate email account and consulting, many years ago). You'll note that in the "screenshots from famous developers"[1] that Brian Kernighan (Unix legend, the K in K&R and AWK) is using alpine in his 2015 screenshot... [1] https://anders.unix.se/2015/12/10/screenshots-from-developers--2002-vs.-2015/ https://anders.unix.se/2015/12/10/screenshots-from-developer...

darklajid 11y ago
Yes. I was using (al)pine for a while. It's bearable, okay even. But I guess I don't see how you could turn that into a 'mobile' client. For the time I used pine I was ssh-ing into a box of mine for most of the day, while I was in front of a computer. I didn't care much about mail notifications on the go. Now I do. If there's some (reliable! I don't care about the initial one-off effort) way to make that work with emails on the go, I'd be glad to learn about that.
- vox_mollis 11y ago
  But I guess I don't see how you could turn that into a 'mobile' client Solution to this is to remember what the purpose of email actually is. It's supposed to be asynchronous communication, with the expectation that it may be checked, at most, 1-3 times daily. If you need communication immediately and in any location, instant messaging covers that use case much better.
  - darklajid 11y ago
    We have to disagree about the purpose here. For me mail is for async, coherent exchanges. IM is not a replacement: It is usually a conversation, usually short and short-lived and synchronous. Async doesn't have to imply that I don't get a notification about your mail. It just means that I probably won't answer right away - or at least on my time. Anyway: Mail plus ~instant~ notification is a thing for me and I don't want to give that up.

yownie 11y ago

Founders are good friends of mine here, rest assured the one on paternity leave will keep going with it once again. I have no doubt in my mind, he cares passionately about providing this service and software to the community.