Talk/Talkd Version 1.0 Feb. 7, 1994 ©1993-1994 Joshua Dinerstein, all rights reserved. ******************************************************************************* * * * This program is freeware. You can freely distribute it as long as you * * don't charge more than nominal fee (max $3 US) for copying it and no * * additions/deletions/modifications are made to any file in the original * * archive. You may include it in PD Libraries such as the Fred Fish * * Collection. This program is distributed without warranty of any kind. * * So the authors take no responsibility whatsoever for this program, its * * documentation, functionality or damages it may cause. The risk in using * * this program is entirely yours. * * * * This having been said, the program has been well tested and should not * * cause any problems. * * * ******************************************************************************* TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Archive Contents 3. Notes on the Talk system 3.1 Notes on TalkD 3.2 Notes on Talk 4. Installation 5. Planned Enhancements 6. Bug Reports 7. Acknowledgements 1. INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the first public release of my TALK and TALKD programs. These programs are designed to be used with AS225 R2 network softaware. Talk and Talkd are designed to be compatible with their standard UNIX counterparts. AmiTCP versions are planned but have not yet been completed. This setup deals only with the NTALK protocol and not the older, outdated TALK protocol. If you don't know what this means then don't worry about it. Just follow the directions... :) 2. ARCHIVE CONTENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This archive should contain the following files: ReadMe.txt - This documentation file. Talk - The client for the talk system. TalkD - The server for the talk system. 3. NOTES ON THE TALK SYSTEM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following are some specific comments on both the Talkd and Talk programs. I recommend that you read them with some care so that you will know what to expect from the talk system. 3.1 NOTES ON TALKD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok the talkd server: 1- The server operates in almost the exact same method as the standard Unix talkd. But is has been very "amiga-tized". It uses standard system requestors for announcements and is more friendly to a multitasking system. 2- The server is started up by the INETD program. You DO NOT run it yourself. To enable INETD to start Talkd follow the instructions in the installation section (4.0). 3- The server itself does not display anything while it is running. So it sits invisible in the background when it is running. It will however time out after about 4 minutes of receiving no messages and exit. This is so that it will free up the allocated memory and other resources automatically when they are no longer needed. 4- When a "talk" is recieved from a remote machine a requester will be opened up on the workbench screen containing the standard Talk message. This will cause the active display to switch to that requestor. Simply click on the OK gadget to close the requester and return to the screen and window you were in. 5- Make sure to get the proper name in the response call. Without it you will either send a seperate talk to some other user or will get some really cryptic warning message. :) 3.2 NOTES ON TALK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok the talk client: 1- The controls to the talk system are a cross between the original unix/curses talk setup and a more truly Amiga style control system. The standard option like hittin a ctrl-C to break the current talk session still work, but it is also possible to click the close gadget on the TalkWindow to end a session. It is also possible to terminate the talk session by sending a break to the process from the CLI. 2- The Talk program is font sensitive and will use the one that you have set as the default on your system. The display engine will also adjust so that you can still see all of the text. IE. It wraps appropriately. 3- The Talk window has a resizing gadget and responds to a resized window properly. This allows you to resize your windows for easier use. 4- The talk window itself: A- Just like the Unix/curses standard the top of the window is you and the bottom is them. B- The standard talk system messages appear in the titlebar rather than on the middle line. 4. INSTALLATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You need to perform the following steps: 1- Edit the inet:db/services file and make sure that the following line is present in the file. ntalk 518/udp 2- Edit the inet:db/inetd.conf file and copy the following line into it. ntalk dgram udp wait inet:serv/talkd *NOTE* Make sure that the original "talk" line in the file remains commented out. 3- You must then restart the INET software. The easiest way to do this is to reboot and then restart the software. 5. PLANNED ENHANCEMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1- Changing for a simple display type to the use of ListView gadgets so that older messages for both the local and remote sections can be scrolled through. 2- Slightly faster response time in printing the remote machines characters. 3- Creation of AmiTCP compatible versions. 6. BUG REPORTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please send any bug reports to: Joshua Dinerstein @ SLMT9@cc.usu.edu 7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tons of thanks go to all of the beta testers for all the help and encouragement. (If I could remember who you were after so long I would list your names here. :) As always please let me know if you find any bugs. Joshua SLMT9@cc.usu.edu