Tour Through xmh

xmh is an interface to MH that runs under the X Window System. It comes as part of the standard X distribution from the X Consortium. There haven't been many changes to xmh since X Release 4 came out years ago. It's a fairly simple interface; there aren't an incredible number of features. If you want a feature-rich interface, try exmh instead. But xmh is fast--and, if you know how to customize X (through resource files, etc.) you can customize xmh in the same way. (exmh is written with Tcl/Tk, so it works differently and can be slower than xmh on some systems.)

Here's a graphic of a sample xmh session.

This chapter takes you on a tour through xmh for the X Window System Version 11 Release 6. Although the examples show the twm window manager, any X window manager is fine.

You'll learn how to use basic functions to send and receive mail, organize it, and do most of the basic things you'd want to do with electronic mail. Along the way are some brief looks at advanced features that are covered in the next two chapters.

If your site doesn't have Release 6, try the tour anyhow. xmh is similar in Version 11 Release 3 and almost identical in Releases 4 and 5.

After you do the tutorial in this section, you'll have enough experience to handle your day-to-day mail with xmh.