> More specifically, I can ssh from Plan 9 into my account at SDF > (sdf.lonestar.org aka freeshell.org). I've played around with ssh options > some and improved what I am seeing in the terminal connected to that > account, but when I fire up Pine to attempt reading my email, I get a > screen that is 1/2 muck/garbage characters.
going on the assumption that the "garbage" characters are in fact cursor address escapes, you could try using vt(1) to do a little bit of vt100 emulation. - erik