mhc.comp.questions
Frequently Asked Questions

Chat

talk and ytalk

talk is a two-person chat program. ytalk is basically the same but has more functionality, including the possibility of chatting with more than one person.

talk is a program which involves two specific machines connecting. For example, when someone wants to talk request me, they would type talk username@mhc.mtholyoke.edu or talk username@axis.mtholyoke.edu where mhc and axis are specific machines. The best way to find out how to talk to someone at another location (barring trial and error) is asking them if they have talk and at what machine they log into. That's where finger comes in. If someone does a finger username@mhc.mtholyoke.edu they will see the last time that I was logged in. If I am logged in, they can then send a talk request.

Contributed by Diane Bono, Class of '97

For more information, type see talk at the prompt.

How do I stop people from talk-requesting me?

Type mesg n at the prompt. If you want to receive messages again, type mesg y. To check your status, simply type mesg.

Internet Relay Chat

IRC is a "multi-user, multi-channel chatting network." There are many programs available for it, for example mIRC and Pirch; the version on the MHC system is called ircII (type irc at the prompt to run). If you can, it's better to download one of the other versions (most people use mIRC) and run it on your own computer.

For more information, type see irc at the prompt.