Mailer help?

[GA0116%SIUCVMB.BITNET at cunyvm.cuny.edu]

Greetings all!  I have been playing with Unix now for a couple of years
(not long enough to know all that needs to be known!) and am now to the
point that I would very much like to expand the domain of my system
mailer.  Being located in Southern Illinois between two deer stands
and the Mississippi River there aren't any news or usenet feeds that
I have been able to locate.  I do however have access to a campus
mainframe that is coupled to Bitnet/Interbit.  I have figured out
how to get mail sent directly through the mainframe mailer onto
uunet ( backbone!node1! ... !node(n)!uid at UUNET.uu.net ) but the
mail return path of course stops one hop short of waiting for me
at my next login of Unix.  I instead have to log into the mainframe
to check my mail.

Having about a dozen users on the Unix system (SCO Xenix 386 R2.3.1)
that would like to utilize electronic mail I would very much like
to get a setup where the mainframe would recognize my system as
a valid mail stop and forward information on a polled basis.  I
figure that with this type of method I can set up an interval
polling system that will suffice our mailing needs.

QUESTION: what software do I need on the Xenix system and what
do I need on the mainframe in order to accomplish this?  I would
prefer to avoid the coax connection method since the future campus
network plans are somewhat uncertain at this time.  Anybody got
some such setup going now?  Please email direct since I feel that
I miss some postings from the list server.

Many, many thanks in advance to any who choose to respond.

Dan ELlison
Nolecular Science Program SIU-C
System Administrator
Carbondale, IL
Bitnet    GA0116 at SIUCVMB
uucp      don't I wish!