On my still new, still barely used SUSE v9.1, I am able to ping other machines on the LAN, and to send email from Kmail, but not to receive email. An attempt to retrieve mail is rewarded with an error message saying approximately "Can't reach host localhost". On the advice of an experienced user (which I am not), I removed the 127.0.0.1 address from the IP setup page in YaST > Network services, but this had no effect. Personally, I am in the dark about why it even tried to contact localhost.

Below are some lines from the boot.msg log. I note, among other things, that there is an error line which is not explained, followed by a particularly futile-looking command (which anyway had no effect).

Anyone who can throw light on these lines is invited to do so.

*****
lo
lo IP address 127.0.0.1/8
done eth0 device 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 30)
eth0 configuration eth-id-00:50:04:07:73:74
eth0 IP address 192.168.1.6/24
eth0 Error while executing
eth0 Command: 'iproute replace to 192.168.1.1/24 via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0'
returned
RTNETLINK answers: Invalid argument
Configuration line: 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
eth-id-00:50:04:07:73:74
done dm10
*****

Can you please tell what settings you have in kMail when you do:

Settings -> Configure kMail -> Network -> Receiving

Also, do you have static IP?

oh it seems you do not have static IP, please let me know you settings you have for receiving in kMail.

I do not have a static address on the WAN side. How did you know this?

The receiving-side settings for Kmail are as follows:

Account name
ISP username
ISP password
Host <blank>
Port 110
Store POP pw in configuration file
no encryption
Plain authentication (the button for checking the method supported by the ISP returned nothing at all, or I did't wait long enough -- this is not a blazingly fast OS, or KDE is slowing it down to a crawl)

I should have mentioned in my original posting that the warning about not contacting localhost comes up also when Kmail is first loaded, before I have tried to do anything at all.

I guessed you have a dynamic IP because 192.168.1.X is usually a dynamic IP assigned by home or office routers that provide users with a DHCP connection.

Now you specified your host as blank. You must specify a host from where you get your email. If you get your email from your internet service provider this will be the address or ip of your ISP's mail server. If you are not trying to get email from your ISP or office mail server or another mail server, then you need to have a static IP to get email straight to your computer.

Note that some email servers may not allow POP connection. In that case you need to setup an IMAP server. You can do this by selecting IMAP when you click "Add" on the "Receiving" page.

See, I understood your question to be a bout the WAN side, and I was very specific in my answer: I do not have a static addres on the WAN side. The addresses 192.168.1.X , on the other hand, are on the LAN side, where I use static addesses. If this has confused you, it probably means that I have misunderstood the form on which I entered IP addresses.

Now you specified your host as blank. You must specify a host from where you get your email. If you get your email from your internet service provider this will be the address or ip of your ISP's mail server. If you are not trying to get email from your ISP or office mail server or another mail server, then you need to have a static IP to get email straight to your computer.

I am trying to get my mail from the pop3 server of my ISP. You are telling me that "Host" wants the IP address of his pop3 server? This could have fooled me, and it did. In other places whete "host" is mentioned, it means the computer I am working on. If you tell me that this time it means the pop3 server, I have to believe you, but it is confusing to use the same term torepresent different entities. I will certainly try putting the IP address of the POP server in that blank.

What this has to do with localhost, BTW is unclear. The error message seems misleading.

The ISP's pop3 server, like that of most other ISPs, allows POP connection. I have been using this ISP and this server for many years, albeit with a different OS.