On 12:53 Tue 19 Dec , Steve [Gentoo] wrote: > I apologise in advance for this question being tenuously related to > Gentoo... My justification is only that I really like my Gentoo-based > Postfix /dovecot mail-server... but I also want to push emails to a > connected Windows Mobile 5 PDA/phone. > > Historically mobile devices have polled for email - which kind-of > worked... but was far from ideal as it introduced unnecessary delays if > the poll-interval was too long - and killed battery life if the poll > interval is too short (as well as running up bandwidth bills). Windows > Mobile 5 touts a new "Direct Push" technology - which, as far as I can > tell, is an Internet-based protocol which alerts the mobile device to > establish a tcp connection and then listen on it waiting for a new > message. I understand that push-email in the past was synchronised > using SMS messages to force a poll - but that (expensive) option is now > considered deprecated. The problem I have with "Direct Push" is that > documentation is extremely scarce; frequently contradictory - and, it > seems, always Microsoft centric and assuming closed-shop IT. The sales > pitch from phone/network providers seems usually to be "We envision all > of our potential customers already have Microsoft Exchange, and can > apply the 'Direct Push' option pack." - which is bizarre and infuriating... > > Is there a way to do "Direct Push" with Gentoo? While I'm aware of the > standard techniques to interact from traditional email client hosts, > email access from PDAs introduces the additional complexity of managing > battery life on the mobile device. I'd like to use the supplied Windows > Mobile 5 software on the mobile device.... is there an open source > alternative to avoid me having to switch to Exchange for my mailserver? > Do other Gentooists use push-email to a mobile device? Is the best > option to plumb for more proprietary client-side software such as > "ChatterMail" [ http://www.chatteremail.com/ ] ?
Hi there, This is something I'd love for Gentoo or any OSS alternative to do - I've got a Windows Mobile 5 device, and currently have an old machine just running Windows 2000 and Exchange at home for my push e-mail which frequently breaks (like today when Windows rebooted automatically for a hotfix and the machine didn't come up again) As far as I know, DirectPush uses a GPRS connection only (it won't use the built-in WiFi on the phone if available) and basically sends a small "ping" request every minute to the server over IP, which the server replies to telling the device that there are no new messages or new messages in which case it opens a connection to the server to sync. I had to load a service pack onto my Exchange Server, as well as onto my Windows Mobile device to get DirectPush as an option, I'd just love for this to be an option for any IMAP enabled server (as far as I can make out it uses the Exchange Outlook Web Access functionality for DirectPush to work) Maybe this will be something Microsoft will open up as part of the EU investigation which means they must publish interoperability specs for their API's? > > > -- > gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list > -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
