i am trying to use the talk utility on the linux.

i am a total newcommer to linux but know a few things here and there.

when i type talk and the user name, i always get the follwing message..

" Error on read from talk daemon : Connection refused"

I do not know whats going wrong. is these something wrong with the configuration.. ??

Please help me out...

thanks..

Check the file /etc/inetd.conf and look for the line:
If there is a #, remove it.

If you make changes to inetd.conf you will need to either reboot, restart the inetd or send the inetd process a HUP signal to tell it to reread the inetd.conf.

Hello!

Do the following :

linuxconf > Control > Control Panel > Control Service Activity.

Select 'talk' and 'start' it.
If status is not changed to 'Running' - 'talkd' is not installed on ur server. Install that from CD.

If it starts and u always need 'talkd' to start check Automatic.

Kausik

Thankx for the replies..
i tried the things that you told me...

I do not have a inetd.conf instead "xinetd.conf" . i guess its equivelent to the former.

I saw the contents of the xinetd.conf . The dir. xinetd.d was included in that file.
In that dir. there is a talk file which has some parameters for talk.
i made disable=no , all other parameters have the default values.
the wait=yes, user=nobody, socket_type=dgram, server=/usr/sbin/in.talkd

then i restarted the linux server,, but still i have the same problem and the same error message.

Did I do something wrong ? is there anything more to do ?

PL. tell.

oops... I should have tested it. To enable talk on my system I also had to uncomment the next line:
I'm guessing you can figure out what you have to do for your distro.

try:

vim /etc/xinet.d/ntalk

and setting disable = no

NOTE ntalk (not sure if it has to be in conjunction wth talk or not).

-bock

[root@zeus micxz]# /usr/sbin/in.talkd
Socket operation on non-socket

I'm trying the get the same thing working on three servers. ?? Still having issues.

This is simply driving me up the proverbial tree :-)

Has anyone given a working solution to this problem? I would be very grateful if someone could indicate or hint at how to start in.talkd (or in.ntalkd) on a Redhat 9.0 system WITHOUT getting a "Socket operation on non-socket" error.

MANY MANY THANKS,

Kwiks.

OK this is how I fixed it.

1. cd /etc/xinetd.d/

2. Use vi or your favorite text ditor as root to edit the files,
"talk" and "ntalk" Change the lines, "disable = yes" to "disable = no" in both files

3. /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Done.
Should work to all local users, you may experience issues if trying to connect to remote computer or trying to use talk over the local network or the internet for that matter. Good luck'

Micxz

Also Note:

talk requires:
libc.so.6
libncurses.so.5

And

ntalk requires:
libc.so.6
libncurses.so.5
libtinfo.so.5
glibc
ncurses

Thanks for your prompt reply. Had already done all of that and checked the libs. No joy!

I am trying to get people over a network to "talk" to each other and it's turning out to be a nightmare with RH9. Maybe I should switch distros. :-(

Cheers,
Kwiks.

Does it work locally?
Do you run a firewall on either of the networked boxes?
Are you using inetd or xinetd?

i'm having the same problems.
i'm running redhat 9
all the /etc/xinnet.d/talk ntalk ktalk have the disable=no
i have restarted xinetd service
i am on a single switch from
i can talk on local account
yet not over the network ie. talk crickett@192.168.0.2 from 192.168.0.3

suggestions

there seems to be no howto;s out there that discuss this

uggh

Crickett

If you guys are getting this to work locally, then it's another network configuration that are preventing this to work over the "network".

Does it work on the internal "network"? and localhost? If yes and not on the "internet". Then you consider most likely a firewall is blocking the port this service uses? Or the firewall on the host your trying to talk to has this port closed also. See what I getting at here guys?

ok this is located on a local network
ie computers are both connected into a switch
port 517 518 are closed
this is the issue
i'm needing to open these ports

yet i understand that xinetd manages the ports and services and keeps them closed until needed. so do i open the ports to allow the talkd? should i goto inetd instead of xinetd?

Crickett