Jabber is an `ntalk' compatible talk package, including both a talk client and talk daemon. With Jabber you can chat one-on-one with other BeOS users running Jabber or anyone else that is using an `ntalk' compatible client/daemon.
There are two applications included in this software package, a talk client (Jabber) and a talk daemon (talkd).
First, you will need to start the talk daemon (talkd) in a Terminal window. If you are not currently connected to the Internet, it's a good idea to restart the network from within the Network preference panel. In the future you will be able to start the daemon in your UserBootscript, but this version of the daemon does not support that. Please note that the client cannot be used unless the daemon is running.
Next, start the client (Jabber) by either double clicking on its icon or running it from a Terminal window.
You should begin by trying to talk to yourself. In the Connection menu select Open. Type in your user name as it is set in your Network preferences, and then click Ok. Immediately a "Waiting to connect..." window should appear and a few messages will be printed in the Terminal window where you started the daemon. If things are working properly, an Alert window will also pop-up asking you if you will accept a talk request from yourself. If you press Accept another Jabber window will appear (probably right on top of the first window) and the talk connection will be established. As you type in the top view of one of the Jabber windows, your input should magically appear in the bottom of the other Jabber window. You are now talking to yourself!
To close a talk connection select Close from the Connection menu.
Once you have figured out how to do a local talk, you should be able to do remote talks as well. If you are going to talk to another BeOS user using Jabber, then you will need to know that user's name, as it is set in their Network preferences, as well as their IP address or host name. Once you have this information, you should be able to open a connection where the remote user's address is something like - sally@255.255.255.255 or bob@host.net. The other user must have a talk daemon running on their machine.
For those of us that have dynamic IP addresses, it's a bit trickier for others to always know where to find us. To help with this problem, I have written a simple program called `mailto' that I use for sending e-mail from within shell scripts (like my ppp-script). By using mailto, my friends get notified of my IP address automatically each time I dial into my Internet Service Provider.
If you like, you can download mailto along with its source from: http://www.idsi.net/~wesley/download/mailto.zip
If Jabber stops responding to user input, you can always kill it by holding down the right-command, right-option, and right-shift with your left hand while clicking on the Jabber application in the Deskbar using your right hand. Make sure you click carefully or you may kill something you don't want to!
There are still a few things I would like to fix:
Wesley Dungan
wesley@idsi.net