Part 3: Connecting an email client

 How to get retro computers online in 2025 using only a £12 cable (and a smartphone) - part 3

Overview

• Part 1: using a retro computer as a terminal
• Part 2: connecting a retro computer to the internet
• Part 3: email
• Part 4: browsing the web
• Part 5: a full desktop

Connecting an email client

Though the pop3 and imap protocols for reading emails haven't changed, most mail services require a secure SSL connection. A retro computer with an email client is unlikely to work. You will need to route your email through a proxy such as stunnel. Write a suitable stunnel.conf for your email service. If you use GMail, you will also need to create an app password to avoid the OAuth authentication API.

Set the stunnel to listen on 127.0.0.1 ports 1143 (IMAP), 1025 (SMTP) and 1110 (POP3). Then set your email client to connect to 10.0.2.2:port for each service it uses.