Problems with "write" and "wall"

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hello,
I am using VirtualBox to simulate a small network with two Linux computers, the host is Mac OS X. My problem is that I can't send "write" and "wall" messages from the host to one of those Linux computers.

Here is what works:

  • The virtual Linux computer answers "ping" messages that have been sent from the Mac OS X host.
  • Both computers can ping the router.
  • The virtual Linux computer can ping internet hosts like 173.194.34.136.

Here is what doesn't work:

  • I can't send "write" and "wall" messages from the host to the Linux guest computer and vice versa.
  • The wall commands are dispatched, but not received.
  • The write command doesn't work as expected, because I'm a receiving a
    " user1 is not logged in on pts/2" although user1 is logged in
    in pts/2 (the Linux computer).

Here are my Linux cable connection settings:
IP-address: 192.168.0.102
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Router/Gateway-IP: 192.168.0.1
DNS-Server: 192.168.0.1

Here are my network settings in VirtualBox for this Linux installation:

  • Bridged networking
  • PCnet-FAST III
  • Promiscuous mode: for all VMS and host

What might be going wrong here? :confused:

2

wall and write are for sending messages to local terminals. They do not send messages across the network.

Regards,
Alister

1 Like
3

Thanks. I also tried "talk", but the callee doesn't respond to the invitation.

Which commands could also be used to write some kind of simple network messaging script? Maybe netcat?

4

talk is positively ancient, and seems to use ancient BSD networking protocols no longer extant. If you can get it, ntalk seems the more modern equivalent.

1 Like
5

Thanks. Do you think that nc is a good candidate for writing a network messaging script?

6

on the your comp

# nc -l 44222

on the remote computer

# nc $REMOTEIP 44222

and as a differ idea maybe try this (must be ssh pub/priv key auth),but im not sure is the way,because of to me,
best way use the relate4d talk softwares for mac os or write a specific programme in any platforme (c,python...others)

# REMOTE=192.168.0.XXX;while :;do read -rp "Write-> $REMOTE..." MSG;ssh -T $REMOTE <<END
> echo "$MSG">/dev/console
> END
> done

regards
ygemici