alpine

[Geoff Shang]

Daniel Dalton wrote:

> 1. I can sort messages by date the newest at the top by starting alpine like 
> this:
> alpine -sort /reverse
>
> How can I make alpine automatically reverse the order when I just type 
> "alpine"?

To make it do this permanently, go to the main menu, then press "s" for 
setup and "c" for configuration.  You can use "w" to search in the config 
screen, so type "w" and enter:

sort key

(note that in pine it's "sort-key")

Here you will find a rather large list of items by which you can sort 
messages.  The default is "arrival".  You will either want "reverse 
arrival" or "reverse date".  Probably  "reverse date" for a dialup system 
or a system which does not get mail all the time, though I am not sure if 
date and reverse date take timezones into account when sorting.

you can experiment first if you want by using the $ command in the message 
index.  This will sort the index for your current session and will revert 
when you close the folder.

Note that the config screen has lots and lots of options with built-in 
help, which you might want to investigate.  Set aside a good slab of time 
for this, as there are screens and screens ful of options.

> 2. Is it possible to make alpine block quote the text been replied to?

NOt that I know of.  I think that mailers that do this are sending in HTML 
and are using the blockquote HTML tag to do this.  Most mailers use a quote 
line prefix like ">" to denote quoted text, and if your speech is set to 
read this symbol then it's easy enough to arrow past the quoted text.

> 3. How do I save/open attachments?

When reading a message, press "v" for the attachment index.  The first part 
will be the message body in nearly all cases.  Following will be other 
attachments if any.  You can press enter to view the attachment if 
possible, or you can press "s" to save the attachment.

You can also view attachments from the message view screen itself without 
having to go into the attachment index by pressing enter on the appropriate 
attachment, but you can not save them from there.

> 4. What packages do I need for the spell checker?

You seem to have solved this one.

I forget whether you installed aspell or ispell, but if it was aspell, you 
will want to install the aspell-en package.  Australian English doesn't 
seem to be an option, so you will have to choose between American, British 
and Canadian English.  Presumably the package will ask for your preference 
when you install it.

If you installed ispell, you will need either iamerican or ibritish.

Geoff.