MMDFII vs. Smail3, which is better for me ?

[Huber Daniel]

Hi Experts

I have some questions about MMDFII, smail2.5 (3?!) and such stuff.

:-)
(I'm a beginner in UNIX and Communication. Please do not forget that!)
:-)

First my situation:

What we have: (Hardware)

	14 Sun 386i Workstations running SunOS4.0.1 (BSD4.3 and AT&TV.3)
	3  Plexus (P/55,P/60,P/75, Release 1.7.2) running AT&TV.2 
	23 HP9000/3xx CAD-Workstations running HP-UX 6.5 (AT&TV.3)    
	8  Sun3/60 CAE/CAD-Workstations running SunOS4.0.3 (BSD4.3)
	1  Sun4/280s Sparc-Server running SunOS4.0.3 (BSD4.3)
	2  NCR Tower 32/650 running OS2.0 (AT&TV.2)

        All these machines are connected by ETHERNET (IEEE802.3)

What we have: (Software)

	Sun's	sendmail, SunOS
	HP	sendmail, HP-UX
	Plexus	smail2.5, SysV.2

	elm 2.1 (2.2)
	rn 4.3.1.4
	news 2.11
	nntp 1.5.7 (not yet installed)

What we want:

	1. E-Mail between all machines over ETHERNET with TCP/IP.
	   (with elm2.2, or with elm2.3 ????)
	2. Plexus P/55 as a Mail-Server for the whole internal Net
	3. Plexus P/55 as a "Gateway" to other sites.
	   First with a 9600-Baud-Modem, then also with X.25 
	   and in future with X.400.
	4. News (USENET and local news) for all machines.
	   Plexus P/55 as the News-Server (with nntp)
	5. On all these machines we would like run the same package :^}
	   (like MMDFII or Smail3)

What I've tried:

	All Plexus Computers are running smail2.5. This works ok.
	I tried to connect them with the "Sun-World". 
	Now I have some problems. Sendmail is very complex to 
	setup a connection with smail. I don't find out the
	answers for these problems. :-(

When I'm searching answers to my problems I read much about Smail3
(what's that ? :-)) and MMDFII.
About MMDFII I'have some Information ("MMDFII: A Technical Review,
from Douglas P. Kingston).


Now a few questions:

	1. For my situation (described before), which is the best way?
	   Should I use MMDFII, or Smail3 ?
	   Which is better?

	2. Where can i get the source for MMDFII or Smail3 ?

	3. Smail3. Does it exist?

	4. Is there anybody who has experience with MMDFII ?

	5. Is there anybody who has experience with Smail3 ?

	6. X.400, TCP/IP, NFS is the goal. MMDFII or Smail3 ? 

	7. There are many UNIX-Versions on my site.
	   Anybody who solves a similar communications-problem?


Please E-mail if you can help me

Thanks
		Daniel

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Daniel Huber		Tel.	+41 31 52 96 64
Ascom Autelca		Fax.	+41 31 52 77 45
CH-3073 Guemligen	email:	huber at aut.uucp
Switzerland