Sending text messages on a LAN
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From: Jolly Roger on 28 Feb 2010 21:19 In article <7utt2bFta6U1(a)mid.individual.net>, Sandstone <spambucket(a)infowest.com> wrote: > Jolly Roger wrote: > > In article <7ur3ugFseuU1(a)mid.individual.net>, > > Sandstone <spambucket(a)infowest.com> wrote: > > > >>G4 Powerbook aluminum, Mac OS 10.4.11 > >>G4 Desktop, Mac OS 10.3.9 > >> > >>I noticed that when one Mac shuts down its end of a File Sharing > >>"connection", you are offered the option to send a short text message to > >>the other end. I exercised the option and sure enough the other end sees > >>the message. I thought it was neat that a text message could be sent to > >>another computer on a wired/wireless LAN without using the internet at all. > >> > >>Does anyone know of a cheap app that allows Macs on a LAN to send simple > >>text strings back and forth without using the internet (e.g., entirely > >>intra-LAN)? > > The reason I mentioned "without using the internet" was to weed out apps > that would introduce overkill or bloat to solve a very local problem. > Didn't want to kill a gnat with a sledgehammer. I had hoped that someone > might have cobbled together a bare bones application or approach based > on Apple Remote Events, Terminal commands, etc. JR's sugggestion below > is a step in this direction. Unfortunately, I haven't found a special-purpose application that does just this. It would be a good choice for a small, freeware / open source project, for sure. > > If you just want to display a message on the screen of another Mac on > > your network, try this: > > Yes, display a message on the screen of another Mac and beep to attract > attention. > > > > 1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. > > I'm not well-versed with Terminal but I'm game to learn enough to solve > the problem. Good, because it's rather simple to do, really. > > 2. Connect to the remote Mac with SSH. > > Do I do this with a Terminal command - if so which one? Yes. First, make sure the Mac to which you will connect has System Preferences > Sharing > Remote Access enabled. Then, on the other Mac, issue the command (where ipaddress is the LAN IP address or DNS name of the Mac to which you are connecting): ssh username(a)ipaddress Assuming username is a valid user on the target system, after supplying the password for that user, you will be connected to the target system in the terminal window. Any commands you issue in that terminal window from that point on until you disconnect (just type "exit") are executed on the target system. > Also, is this a one way connection or can messages be sent in both > directions between the two Macs with this connection? This would be a one-way connection. The person on the other end would have to SSH into your machine in a similar manner to display messages on it. > > 3. Issue a command similar to this: > > > > osascript -e 'tell app "System Events" to display dialog "This is a > > test."' > > To cause a beep can I simply embed an ASCII "bell" character in the text > of the displayed message? Or do I have to add a "display alert" command > somewhere? You could issue the "beep" AppleScript command: osascript -e 'beep' If you want to play any sound, you could use the free Play Sound to do it: osascript -e 'tell application "Play Sound" to play alias (posix file "/System/Library/Sounds/Submarine.aiff")' Play Sound: <http://microcosmsoftware.com/playsound/> > > Examine the "Standard Additions" Applescript dictionary in Script Editor > > (File > Open Dictionary) for details about the "display dialog" and > > "display alert" commands. > > I will check this out. > > My wife will need to do this as well so I need to hide all the ugliness > of the details from her. I envision her pressing a key or launching an > app or script and then supplying the text to be sent. I'd like her to be > able to do this without explicitly launching Terminal. This is why I was > looking for an app. Understood. Please do follow up here if you find such a solution. Like I said, I think this would be a candidate for a freeware / open source project! > Can all this be wrapped up in an Applescript? If so, could someone give > a few hints about invoking a Terminal command from within the script? > Also would like any Terminal window to be hidden or at least closed by > the script after the mesage is sent. Possible? It wouldn't be worth the trouble, IMO, to try to deal with the security issues surrounding automation of SSH connections with AppleScript. A better way to spend your time would be to develop a server/client mechanism, where the server on one machine would respond to commands send from the client on another machine to display dialogs on the server machine. -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR
From: Sander Tekelenburg on 28 Feb 2010 22:45 In article <7ur3ugFseuU1(a)mid.individual.net>, Sandstone <spambucket(a)infowest.com> wrote: [...] > Does anyone know of a cheap app that allows Macs on a LAN to send simple > text strings back and forth without using the internet (e.g., entirely > intra-LAN)? Have you considered iChat's Bonjour functionality? -- Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/> Mac user: "Macs only have 40 viruses, tops!" PC user: "SEE! Not even the virus writers support Macs!"
From: Richard Maine on 28 Feb 2010 23:23 Sander Tekelenburg <user(a)domain.invalid> wrote: > In article <7ur3ugFseuU1(a)mid.individual.net>, > Sandstone <spambucket(a)infowest.com> wrote: > > > Does anyone know of a cheap app that allows Macs on a LAN to send simple > > text strings back and forth without using the internet (e.g., entirely > > intra-LAN)? > > Have you considered iChat's Bonjour functionality? I suggested that possibility 2 days ago, but nobody seems to have followed up along that line. Maybe that suggestion got lost in my blather. :-) -- Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience; email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgment. domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain
From: Jolly Roger on 1 Mar 2010 01:24 In article <1jen4l1.1gfwfjj39ahmmN%nospam(a)see.signature>, nospam(a)see.signature (Richard Maine) wrote: > Sander Tekelenburg <user(a)domain.invalid> wrote: > > > In article <7ur3ugFseuU1(a)mid.individual.net>, > > Sandstone <spambucket(a)infowest.com> wrote: > > > > > Does anyone know of a cheap app that allows Macs on a LAN to send simple > > > text strings back and forth without using the internet (e.g., entirely > > > intra-LAN)? > > > > Have you considered iChat's Bonjour functionality? > > I suggested that possibility 2 days ago, but nobody seems to have > followed up along that line. Maybe that suggestion got lost in my > blather. :-) Well, it does require running iChat on both machines. Perhaps that's a deterrent to the OP. -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR
From: Bruce in alaska on 1 Mar 2010 13:30
In article <d8b97311-7e77-4ff1-8b3b-b79f7d7fff44(a)g28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, Ben Smith <publicben(a)ptooey.co.uk> wrote: > > It would be NICE if some enterprising young kid could give us a IP > > Version of the old MacOS 4-9 Appletalk Based LAN Instant Messaging > > System called "Broadcast".... �I still use this on my Mac SE30's and > > MacOS 9 Machines, and it still runs under Classic... > > > > something small, that runs in background, and just pops up messages > > that are received over the LAN, with a simple little Message Writing > > Frontend, that could live up on the Right hand Menu Line and Drop-down > > selection just brings up a Bonjour List and a Message Entry Dialog Box. > > > > -- > > Bruce in alaska > > add <path> after <fast> to reply > > Yeah, that's such a simple and useful idea, I'd be surprised if there > wasn't one out there already. So far no one has done it, YET... Oh how I could use one... -- Bruce in alaska add <path> after <fast> to reply |