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In UNIX, how do I send a message to another UNIX box on the same network by IP address?

Answer 1

+3 A:

Look up "talk," "ntalk" and "ytalk." Those are the closest. Fortunately, most Unix machines have no such daemon running by default, and even Windows had the sensibility to disable this service by default after they realized how annoying it is.

bowenl2 2010-07-30 21:50:06

thanks I'll take a look at those!

mindthief 2010-08-08 06:01:59

Answer 2

+1 A:

smbclient -M destination-host -U my-host -n my-host

more info here: http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/unix_for_dos_users.html

hope it helps

also, try the "talk" command. (talkd is worth looking into too)

stephenmurdoch 2010-07-30 21:53:54

as a test, I tried sending a message to localhost. It fails with this message:$smbclient -M 127.0.0.1 -U 127.0.0.1 -n 127.0.0.1Error connecting to 127.0.0.1 (Connection refused)Connection to 127.0.0.1 failed. Error NT_STATUS_CONNECTION_REFUSEDI tried variants of this, like using localhost instead of the IP, and it fails in a similar manner. This method does seem promising though.

mindthief 2010-08-08 05:45:36

@mindthief: First, the remote machine need to have a running a samba server (and there must be no firewall blocking access). This is what was missing in your test. Second, the samba server must be configured to let pop-ups through, which is not the default.

Gilles 2010-08-08 10:35:25

Answer 3

+1 A:

given your strict requirements (default install etc) this comes closest:

DISPLAY=otherip:0.0 xterm -e "/bin/echo \"Hey what's up?\"; /bin/sleep 9999"

mvds 2010-07-30 21:58:08

and don't forget to throw in a pair of `xeyes`, while you're at it!

mvds 2010-07-30 21:59:21

does this require X server to be running? I tried using localhost as the destination (maybe this isn't valid?) and got this message:DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0 xterm -e "/bin/echo \"Hey what's up?\"; /bin/sleep 9999"xterm Xt error: Can't open display: 127.0.0.1:0.0Being able to also get the xeyes going would be SWEET!! So if you know how to get this to work, I'd be happy to hear about it! Thanks!

mindthief 2010-08-08 05:49:24

@mindthief: This requires the user on the other machine to have given you the permission to execute application on his X display (there is a per-session password, which is managed via the `xauth` command). It also requires that TCP connections to the X server be activated, which is not the default on most unices nowadays. (And it won't work if a firewall blocks the connection, either.) So the remote guy doesn't need any special software but must have made a configuration change and given you the permission to annoy him.

Gilles 2010-08-08 10:33:08

@mindthief: sorry, this was more kind of a joke on how to ever get something like this going on stock installs of unix/X environments. Trick the other user into executing `xhost +` so it allows any connection, that always worked for me (in the late '90s at least)

mvds 2010-08-08 13:11:53

Answer 4

A:

Unix was multiuser from the start, so you'd have to specify which user on the target machine you want to message. Then the command would once have been rwrite, but it's all but disappeared. talk (or ytalk, ntalk, etalk) would let the other person reply, but these days instant messaging goes via a centrally managed identity (AIM, Jabber, Skype, etc.) rather than on a machine-to-machine basis.

Gilles 2010-07-30 21:59:47

thanks for the background! I'll look into talk, etc.

mindthief 2010-08-08 06:02:43

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In UNIX, how do I send a message to another UNIX box on the same network by IP address?

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