[comp.emacs] talk-mode for Emacs

arl@warwick.UUCP (Adrian R Lovett) (11/21/88)

One of the features I find lacking in Emacs is a suitable front-end to the
talk program. Such a utility would enable me to initiate and receive talk
requests without having to leave emacs (as I am forced to do so at the
moment). Before I start writing a talk-mode, does anyone know of the 
existence of such a program as I would hate to have to reinvent the wheel...
BTW, I do not have FTP access to the US :-(

						ade

-- Ade Lovett (Dept. Of Computer Science, University of Warwick, UK)
JANET: arl@uk.ac.warwick  UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!warwick!arl (arl@warwick.uucp)

bob@allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield) (11/22/88)

In article <828@ubu.warwick.UUCP> arl@warwick.UUCP (Ade Lovett) writes:
>One of the features I find lacking in Emacs is a suitable front-end
>to the talk program.

Shouldn't be that tough for a decent Lisp hacquer (of which I'm not an
example) to do the talk protocol in Emacs Lisp - but what a weird
idea!

I'd like to know the name of the person who originally made the observation:
	"Emacs is a nice environment.  And I've heard that there's a
	 decent screen editor in there somewhere, too!"

>Such a utility would enable me to initiate and receive talk requests
>without having to leave emacs (as I am forced to do so at the
>moment).

If you don't have a window system running, how about suspend-emacs,
often bound to C-X C-Z on systems that have job control?

dieter (The Demented Teddy Bear) (11/23/88)

In article <28173@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, bob@allosaur (Bob Sutterfield) writes:
>
> Shouldn't be that tough for a decent Lisp hacquer (of which I'm not an
> example) to do the talk protocol in Emacs Lisp - but what a weird
> idea!

This involves the Lisp code knowing the address of its socket.  Admittedly,
I haven't hacked at it that much, but are the hooks really there for that?

> I'd like to know the name of the person who originally made the observation:
> 	"Emacs is a nice environment.  And I've heard that there's a
> 	 decent screen editor in there somewhere, too!"
> 

According to my quotes file, Bob Sutterfield.

> >Such a utility would enable me to initiate and receive talk requests
> >without having to leave emacs (as I am forced to do so at the moment).
>
> If you don't have a window system running, how about suspend-emacs,
> often bound to C-X C-Z on systems that have job control?

By my definition, that *is* leaving emacs.  Also, don't assume the
system has job control.  Believe it or not, Gnu on VMS does this
better than on some Sys V boxes.  I was amazed.

Suggested solution #43 for the original question:

Try M-x terminal-emulator.  You probably want to
split-window-vertically (^x 2) first, but that's a personal
preference.

In fact, I used this particular mode when helping port Berkeley's talk
and talkd to VMS.  In one emulator window, you rlogin to the remote
machine.  In another, you try to talk to yourself@othermachine.  Kinda
strange looking, but it does speed up debugging when you aren't
blessed with a workstation.

So just how many of us poor peons still have to live with standard
80x24 ASCII terminal, anyway?  Seems like all the world's Sun/
Macintosh/Amiga/graphics beast....

Dieter
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raf@helios.PRC.Unisys.COM (Ralph A. Foy) (11/23/88)

 In article <828@ubu.warwick.UUCP> arl@warwick.UUCP (Ade Lovett) writes:
>One of the features I find lacking in Emacs is a suitable front-end
>to the talk program.

   How about using CONF (a multi-user "write"-like program) to create
an enhanced talk mode? There is already a conference-mode for GnuEmacs
and by having two windows, one for incoming messages, one for outgoing
one would have a multi-user "talk" system.

   Would be intereseted to hear if anyone has thoughts about this...
___________________________________________________________________________
Ralph A Foy				UUCP:   raf@burdvax.UUCP
Unisys/Paoli Research Center		ARPA: 	raf@prc.unisys.com
PO Box 517				(215) 648-7324 (work)
Paoli, PA 19301
___________________________________________________________________________
    The opinions expressed do not reflect those of my employer.

james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) (11/25/88)

In article <28173@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, bob@allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield) writes:

> I'd like to know the name of the person who originally made the observation:
> 	"Emacs is a nice environment.  And I've heard that there's a
> 	 decent screen editor in there somewhere, too!"

I've often wondered about having a once-a-year contest for "Emacs Mode
Least Related to Editing".  Perhaps it could be structured along the
lines of the Obfuscated C contest.  I would try to think up some
ridiculous examples of entrants, but I think someone's likely to have
already done them all...
-- 
James R. Van Artsdalen      james@bigtex.cactus.org      "Live Free or Die"
Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 338-8789       9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759

earl@wright.mips.com (Earl Killian) (11/25/88)

In article <10960@bigtex.cactus.org>, james@bigtex (James Van Artsdalen) writes:
>I've often wondered about having a once-a-year contest for "Emacs Mode
>Least Related to Editing".  Perhaps it could be structured along the
>lines of the Obfuscated C contest.  I would try to think up some
>ridiculous examples of entrants, but I think someone's likely to have
>already done them all...

You seem to be operating under the misconception that emacs is an
editor.  Emacs is an operating system.  I hope that clears things up.
:->
--
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USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 Arques Ave, Sunnyvale CA, 94086

jcgs@harlqn.UUCP (John Sturdy) (11/25/88)

Most of this sounds possible, but I can't think of any way of making the
emacs catch the initial "Talk requested" message directed at your terminal
when someone wants to talk to you.

-- 
__John            The Lord bless you and watch over you, The Lord make his face
         shine upon you and be gracious to you, The Lord look kindly on you and
   give you peace; My brothers, my sisters, God bless you. Amen.  (St. Francis)
         jcgs@uk.co.harlqn Harlequin Ltd,Barrington,Cambridge,UK +44-223-872522

mrd@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Michael DeCorte) (11/28/88)

In article <1593@harlqn.UUCP> jcgs@harlqn.UUCP (John Sturdy) writes:

   Most of this sounds possible, but I can't think of any way of making the
   emacs catch the initial "Talk requested" message directed at your terminal
   when someone wants to talk to you.

I don't think this is necessary.  I for one know that I don't want
emacs to suddenly pop into a talk for me.  What if I have left my
terminal?  Person on the other end is typing a way like mad thinking I
am intently reading while I am downstairs deciding if I want M&M's
with or without peanuts.  Let the user hit 'M-X talk'

--

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Internet: mrd@sun.soe.clarkson.edu  // Bitnet:   mrd@clutx.bitnet        
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dieter@titan.nmt.edu (The Demented Teddy Bear) (11/28/88)

In article <MRD.88Nov27142927@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, mrd@sun (Michael DeCorte) writes:
> In article <1593@harlqn.UUCP> jcgs@harlqn.UUCP (John Sturdy) writes:
> 
>   Most of this sounds possible, but I can't think of any way of making the
>   emacs catch the initial "Talk requested" message directed at your terminal
>   when someone wants to talk to you.
> 
> I don't think this is necessary.  I for one know that I don't want
> emacs to suddenly pop into a talk for me.  What if I have left my
> terminal?  Person on the other end is typing a way like mad thinking I
> am intently reading while I am downstairs deciding if I want M&M's
> with or without peanuts.  Let the user hit 'M-X talk'

This is actually the easier thing to do.  All M-x talk would have to
do is blip the appropriate talkd, get an address to connect to, and
do it.  You could probably rip off M-x terminal-mode code at this
point, or wing it (two separate buffers?  It'd be nice to have a history
you could save later).

I suspect you'd get by with much less code with a small C chunk that
actually does all the talk protocol grunge.  This is *just* a suspicion
though.

I don't think it is possible to do the intercept as described without
lots of pre-emacs hacking.  You'd have to do something along the lines
of grabbing a pty, update /etc/utmp (talk looks there) to show you as
being on the new pty, and filter *all* i/o through that pty.  Inefficient,
especially for such small gains.

Dieter
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