NAME

SpyTalk - send and receive messages using IP Diffusion

SYNOPSIS

SpyTalk -l|--listen [-q|--quiet] [-s|--switch|--tcp] [-f|--file file] [-n|--timeout timeout] [ipaddr[/mask]]

SpyTalk [-i|--interactive] [-s|--switch|--tcp] [-q|--quiet]

DESCRIPTION

SpyTalk is a messaging front end to the IP Diffusion kernel modules.

SpyTalk supports three modes of operation: talk, listen, and interactive. If no mode is specified, SpyTalk defaults to the fullscreen interactive mode.

In talk mode, SpyTalk normally sends all input from STDIN to the computer specified by ipaddr, until you type ^D.

In listen mode, SpyTalk normally listens for all input from any source and writes everything it receives to STDOUT until it receives a ^D on STDIN. However, if ipaddr is specified, SpyTalk will listen only to that IP address, and if mask is specified, ipaddr will be treated as a network with the given mask.

Interactive mode is the most capable mode of SpyTalk. For a description of this mode and a list of commands, see below.

OPTIONS

-i, --interactive: Put SpyTalk into interactive mode. This is the default, so this option is not necessary.
-l, --listen: Put SpyTalk into listen mode.
-t, --talk: Put SpyTalk into talk mode.

Talk mode options:

-c, --continuous, --noautorate: Do not automatically adapt the send rate to avoid large send buffers when sending files. Queue everything as quickly as possible.
-f, --file file: Send the specified file over the channel and then quit, ignoring all keyboard input and ^D's.
-p, --priority priority: Uses the specified priority in sending the data rather than the default of 0. Range is -128 to 127.
-q, --quiet: Quiet mode. Surpesses all messages from SpyTalk.
-r, --rate rate: Queue rate bytes per second when sending files. Use this option when you know how much traffic will already be present on the network. Note that each byte of the file is sent five times, so it is recommended that you set the rate to one fifth the rate at which you expect to be sending packets.
-s, --switch, --tcp: Uses TCP rather than IP to send messages.

Listen mode options:

-f, --file file: Writes all data received to the specified file rather than to STDOUT.
-n, --timeout timeout: Ignores all keyboard input and instead waits timeout seconds and then quits.
-q, --quiet: Quiet mode. Surpesses all messages from SpyTalk.
-s, --switch, --tcp: Listens for messages on TCP rather than IP.

Interactive mode options

-q, --quiet: Quiet mode. Surpesses introduction and all messages from SpyTalk.
-s, --switch, --tcp: Switches the protocols, using TCP for messages and IP for the load.

INTERACTIVE MODE

In interactive mode, you are presented with a screen with two panels. The top panel contains messages received from other computers, and messages from SpyTalk. The bottom panel contains everything you type. In addition to transmitting messages, SpyTalk also sends the computer's current load in interactive mode. The current load for the local and remote computers are displayed above their respective message panels.

Interactive mode is controlled by various commands. The commands are case insensitive. The following commands are currently understood by SpyTalk:

talk host: Open a connection to the computer with the specified IP address or hostname. This opens a connection for sending and receiving messages.
set priority number: Set the sending priority for future messages to the specified number. Range is -128 to 127.
close: Close the currently open connection
quit: Close any open connection and quit SpyTalk.

NOTES

Because of the nature of IP diffusion, SpyTalk does not actually create any network traffic. If you expect to be sending and/or receiving messages but they are not going through, check to make sure there is other network traffic between the source and destination.