Copying KMail files to laptop

I'm helping a Linux-Newbie friend who wants to duplicate his KMail setup from
his desktop to his laptop (both are running SuSE 8.0, so same version of
KMail). Simply trying to copy the files to floppy or Compact Flash does not
work (permissions?) but he can make a tarball of the Mail directory.

I'm sure this is not enough as there are config files, etc. that also need to
be handled correctly.- mostly in .kde/share/config & .kde/share/apps.

My question is whether this is a good idea or is there a better way to access
his POP account on two computers. IMAP would be nice but his Earthlink
account is POP3 and he has a rather slow dialup connection.

Searching the KMail list archives and Google hasn't make me any smarter.

Thanks in advance,

Dennis Kibbe