talk(1)                                                      talk(1)


       NAME
             talk, otalk - talk to another user

       SYNOPSIS
             talk username [ttyname]
             otalk username [ttyname]

       DESCRIPTION
             The talk command is a visual communication program that copies
             lines from your terminal to that of a user on the same host
             (or on another host).

             The otalk command is an older version of talk that supports an
             older, architecture-dependent, version of the talk protocol.
             Whereas otalk only works between machines of the same
             architecture, talk supports a newer version of the talk
             protocol that can communicate with machines of different
             architectures.

             If talk is unable to establish a connection to a particular
             machine, it may be the case that the target machine only
             supports the older, architecture-dependent, version of the
             talk protocol.  If your machine and the target machine are of
             similar architecture, otalk may succeed where talk failed.

          Files
             /etc/hosts          to find the recipient's machine
             /var/adm/utmp       to find the recipient's tty

       USAGE
             username is the login name of the user with whom you want to
             communicate.

             If you want to talk to a user who is logged in more than once,
             the ttyname argument may be used to indicate the appropriate
             terminal name.

             When first called, talk sends the message:

                   Message from TalkDaemon@ her_machine at time . . .
                   talk: connection requested by your_name@your_machine
                   talk: respond with: talk your_name@your_machine

             to the user you want to talk to.  At this point, the recipient
             of the message should reply by typing:



                           Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 1

      talk(1)                                                      talk(1)


                  talk your_name@your_machine

            If a talk request is received from a machine using the
            architecture-dependent talk protocol, the message will
            instruct the user to respond with otalk instead of talk.

            It does not matter from which machine the recipient replies,
            as long as the login name is the same.  Once communication is
            established, the two parties may type simultaneously, with
            their output appearing in separate windows.

            Typing CTRL-l redraws the screen, while your erase, kill, and
            word kill characters will work in talk as normal.  To exit,
            just type your interrupt character; talk then moves the cursor
            to the bottom of the screen and restores the terminal.

            Permission to talk may be denied or granted by use of the
            mesg(1) command.  At the outset talking is allowed.  Certain
            commands, such as pr(1), disallow messages in order to prevent
            messy output.

      REFERENCES
            mail(1), mesg(1), pr(1), talkd(1M), who(1), write(1)

























                          Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 2