non mac email on i cloud

Add it in System Preferences>Mail, Contacts and Calendars.

iCloud handles only its own email. On a Mac, or a PC, or an iOS device you can add other email accounts to the email application - this is quite independent of iCloud.

On the iCloud website you cannot access other email accounts. However, you can usually set up forwarding from other accounts to the iCloud address, which would enable you to read the messages on the iCloud website (there's no point at all in doing this from the point of view of a Mac etc.)mbut you can't send using iCloud's outgoing server using the other account's email address as the 'From' address - only the iCloud address can be used - which severely limits the e=method's usefulness.

Thanks Roger, substituted Mail for iCloud in my head there.

So if I use gmail, and uncheck everything in iclouds system prefs. Will notes, reminders and calendar events sync with all of my IOS devices?

Calendars and reminders will, don't know about notes. Try it and see. Post Back.