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From: Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: Text based synchronous communication tool for Linux?
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2024 18:06:38 +0100
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On 08.12.2024 17:25, Muttley@DastardlyHQ.org wrote:
> On Sun, 8 Dec 2024 14:15:48 -0000 (UTC)
> John McCue <jmccue@whitedwf.jmcunx.com> wibbled:
>> Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> <snip>
>>>
>>> Some characteristics I'd prefer - not all supported by the 'phone'
>>> utility - are that it's
>>>  * text-oriented (preferably with Unicode support), fast (no GUI)
>>>  * instantly/synchronously exchanging any typed characters
>>>     * optionally: switching modes (instant/character-wise, line-wise)
>>>  * more than two persons can communicate
>>>  * works across distributed [Unix-]systems
>>>
>>> Is there such a tool (free of charge and open source) available for
>>> Linux? (Or something that comes close?)
>>>
>> Slackware comes with a utility called "talk", it is
>> disabled by default.  It sounds like what you are
>> looking for.  It allows 2 people to 'text' each other.
>>
>> https://www.slackbook.org/html/basic-network-commands-talk.html
> 
> talk is an age old unix util that allows people on the same machine to chat.
> Even MacOS has it installed.

As said, I think the historic DEC/VAX tool worked (also) only
locally; you had to log into the same VMS-system to communicate.

I'm actually looking for a tool that works across distributed
[Unix-]systems.

I'll look into the tools suggested so far what they provide.

Janis