long shot -- email server/client to digital ocean droplet -- with "EmailEngine"

[bruce]

Hi.

This is a continuation of my previous email on figuring out how to
handle Email (send/receive) for an ubuntu server.

I've been trying to find tutorials/steps/etc without much luck. I'm
assuming this is user error.

I can eventually trial/error through this, but  I'd prefer to have
someone that's gone through this to be the guide on this.

As far as I can tell, I think the steps should be something similar to:
- setup server
-setup ports/services
-emailServer would handle the send/receive
   but, would one have to hook into the "server" web portal to setup
the overall process?
  I'm not ready to do a complete setup of a mail server on the ubuntu
server, as this  would be a level of complexity that might be overkill
  I'm also trying to get my head around the "cost" of the overall process
  I'm already paying Digital Ocean a monthly fee, don't think I want
to pay $20/mth to test out emails -- I'm not  looking at more than
100-200/mth

thanks