(off-topic here, but..)

Yes, you can find most of the relevant information there. I don't use offlineimap's background checking option but call it periodically using alarmed. I remember I had to tweak offlineimap (it's a python script) and the dovecot settings to reduce the power consumption.

And I still have to fix a bug in Modest (which I use together with alpine), which doesn't let you see the inbox unless it thinks you are connected to Internet (even though I've set it to download IMAP emails from 127.0.0.1, i.e. the local IMAP server).