[CharlesS]

Why doesn't the talk command work out of the box? I tried using it to talk to various machines and it never worked. I uncommented the reference to ntalkd in inetd.conf, with no change. I downloaded the source for the FreeBSD versions of talk and talkd, compiled those, and they worked just fine. So why doesn't the version included with Darwin work?

[ 07-15-2001: Message edited by: CharlesS ]

[krove]

How about some instructions on compiling talk and talkd?

[CharlesS]

Okay, but you're going to be disappointed if you expect UNIX-guru stuff, because I don't know much more than you do about it

All I did was open Project Builder, created a new project of type "Standard Tool," deleted the main.c file it already had in there, dragged the source files for talk into the project, hit the build button, and crossed my fingers. In the case of talkd, I had to get an include file from elsewhere on the FreeBSD site before it would compile, but once I had all the files, it worked great.

Now, if only someone knew why the version of talk included with Darwin doesn't work...

[ppmax]

FYI--it does work out of the box. you just have to do one more step.

for talk to work both users have to make sure and do this:

from the CLI type "mesg y"

remember: both users have to do this.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by ppmax:
<STRONG>FYI--it does work out of the box. you just have to do one more step.

for talk to work both users have to make sure and do this:

from the CLI type "mesg y"

remember: both users have to do this.</STRONG>

Actually, mesg y is the first thing I tried. It didn't work.

And I know the machines I was trying to talk to were working, because once I compiled the FreeBSD talk and tried it, it worked with them.

I realize now that I forgot to post the error that talk was giving me when I tried it out of the box. It gave:

[No connection yet]
[Checking for invitation on caller's machine]

The last message kept repeating over and over, and it never connected. Once I compiled and used the FreeBSD version of talk, it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the response, though.

[Pismo Of Ages]

there must be some way to enable it, anyone?

[Pismo Of Ages]

I was talking to one of Apple's UNIX programmers today at Cupertino and we spent 15 minutes figuring it out, and here are the steps...

1. Edit "/etc/inetd.conf" to enable (uncomment) ntalkd

2. For each user who wants to talk, they need to:

a) "login" as a terminal (su won't work)

b) setenv TERM vt100

(possibly unsetenv TERMCAP)

c) mesg y

Test using "write"

yah =)
your welcome

-Jon