All the how-tos I've read on the subject assume that you've got a nice
MTA working to handle all your e-mail both locally and through the
Internet. Then it's just a matter of giving it the recipient's address
and off it goes.

Unfortunately, I don't have an MTA. I need to send an e-mail to a remote
address through an SMTP server that requires authentication (i.e. your
typical SOHO or home setup). From a GUI I can configure Thunderbird or
whatever without any problems and it works. However, I have some scripts
that need to send out Internet e-mail notices from a server without a
GUI and without user intervention.

Is there a good howto on the subject anywhere?