Silly Question
 

I'm currently logged into my machine using ssh from a remote location. My girlfriend is browsing the internet now on my server. I like to have fun with her and print stuff out and make Linux do all crazy things.

Is there a command I can issue that will display a 'pop-up' message. I know when you do a shutdown command it will pop up occasionaly and say 'The system is going down in 30 minutes' or whatever. Any commands like that?

I'm not sure how RH implements this, but
I'd think it's possibly some demon that listens
to wall :)

To be able to pop-up stuff on her screen as
a different user she'd need xhost +localhost
enabled ;) ... then, of course, you could
pester her with anything x-related you want
by setting your DISPLAY=localhost:0.0

Cheers,
Tink

just ssh to the box then
$mozilla
or gaim or whatever

this should start that program on that box.

I know I can run any X application I want on the server but the question is WHAT application will 'pop-up' with a message of my choosing. I imagine it would be something like:

popup 'Hey what are you doing?' <enter>

but of course it is not that. I guess I could just create a text file with the message I wanted and then open up that text file in an editor. I just thought there might be an application that is specific for this situation.

Did you try a
wall?

Cheers,
Tink

ytalk (?) or just talk are sometimes mentioned, I don't know how well that'd work though since I've never used em ;)

Cool

Whats "wall"? Did you mean it like 'I'm going A-WALL!' ?

MasterC I don't have talk installed because I heard it is a very insecure feature to use. Not sure about ytalk but I imagine it is part of the talk package.

hmmm....

man wall


Cheers,
Tink

http://www.deadmule.com/macewan/scre...p/helloworld.c

then

gcc -Wall -g helloworld.c -o hello_world `gtk-config --cflags` \
`gtk-config --libs`

Just write a script in PerlTk, PythonTk, etc. that pops up a box with a string, which comes from an argument you pass to it on the command line. Should be really, really easy if you've used Tk before (I haven't, or I would write it for you).

OH yeah Tinkster! wall is what I wanted. Something like:

wall "Hey! What are you doing on my computer?"

works great. Thats exactly what I was after. Thanks buddy.

I wonder why it is called 'wall'?

Since it's normally just used for administrative
tasks (notice the reference to shutdown in man?)
I assume its short for "warn all" - as in "warn
all users that the box is going down soon!" ;)

Cheers,
Tink

I could've sworn it stood for 'write all', since it displays it to all users.
; )

As for the message, the problem I think is...wall is a console thing. But you were asking for a pup up? In that case you would need to start an xterm (or similar) and then run wall, right?

How about look into xmessage ('man xmessage') which will actually popup a window with a message/program output/etc in it.

Oh! I was satisfied with 'wall' but xmessage has a bit more options. Thanks cuckoopint! Its always great to learn new commands.

The problem (actually it's a feature, I'd consider
the other behaviour a security hole) that I
(Slackware?) have with xmessage is that it
doesn't work if the user didn't explicitly enable
xdisplays from other than his own actual display
(eg xhost +localhost, xhost + ).

But since both RH and MDK have that little
demon listening for wall per user by default
I thought it'd be a good idea ;)

Cheers,
Tink

I got interested and tried wall and xmessage:
For me:
- wall only worked once, and the subsequent messages were ignored.
- xmessage, when invoked from the konsole, died with an error: 'Error, can not open display'.
I have, however, other ideas for you:
If you have a proxy server and it happens to be squid, then, when you are logged-in as root, you can re-configure squid to catch her requests for her favourite pages and show her your 'customised' error messages, instead.
I think you could even redirect her to some other pages - but I am not sure, as I never tried this.
However, she can anytime avoid these tricks by re-configuring the browser to not to use the proxy...

/me pokes crashed_again in the ribs with a pointy stick ... "How about you mate?" ;}

Cheers,
Tink

How about me what buddy?

lol ..... kill her login process or kill her browser's process.

that's always fun.

you can also issue beep commands. if speakers are on and soundcard is working, you can run mpg123 to play an mp3. you can run different programs and make them display on her Xterm.

that sounds like fun. i think i'll have to do that to my folks next time i catch them using my system.... lol. :-D

great times!

That was the first thing I did was kill her browser. She is online chatting with dudes and it really pisses me off.

I like your mp3 idea. I may have to record myself saying something like "I am root. Step away from the computer now!" and play it when she is on.

I was wondering what wall/xmessage are
actually doing on your machine :}

/me is always curious

Cheers,
Tink

P.S.: Thx for the affero-feedback, btw! :}

Well, that is actually funny, and also OK if you do not have time to figure out something more sophisticated, or you want to teach her how cruel life can be...

However, I would still prefer to replace some neat pictures on her favourite page with less neat ones.
Until she suspects there must be something wrong with that page...