Zephyr How-to

 

Contents:

Basics

      What is Zephyr?

      Getting Connected

      Starting zephyr

      Stopping Zephyr

      Writing a personal Zephyr message

Classes (group messages)

      Subscribing to zephyr classes

      Sending Messages to zephyr classes

      Seeing who else is on Zephyr

Troubleshooting

      Getting rid of multiple logins on Zephyr (Flushing)

      Seeing messages you missed (zrepeat)

Cool Typing

      Changing your signature

      Receive new email notification through Zephyr

      Shortening what you type to send a message (Aliases)

      Bolding letters and words

      Stopping class messages without unsubscribing

      Stopping login/logout messages without unsubscribing

      Hiding from others

      Sending messages to someone outside CMU Andrew

      Etiquette

      Lurkers

     

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What is Zephyr?

      Zephyr is a text-based messaging system.  Think of it as “AIM” without all the bells and whistles programmed in.  You can use zephyr to send messages to anyone at CMU, and a couple other schools.  You can also have group discussions on “classes”, which are similar to chat rooms.  Zephyr can be very simple to get started, and you can add and use other features as you go along.

 

 

Getting connected:

 

From a Windows machine:

1. Open a telnet window

      (Use "Nifty Telnet" or open the Start -> Run window and type "telnet")

2. Connect to "sun4.andrew.cmu.edu"

3. Log in using your Andrew userid and password.

      (At this point you may send messages, but not receive.)

From a (campus) Mac machine:

1. Open "Nifty Telnet"

      (In the System menu)

2. Connect to "sun4.andrew.cmu.edu"

3. Log in using your Andrew userid and password.

      (At this point you may send messages, but not receive.)

From a (campus) UNIX machine:

1. Logged in?  Skip to "Writing a Personal Zephyr message"

 

 

Starting zephyr:

1. At the telnet prompt, type "zstart"

      You are now able to send & receive zephyrs.

On UNIX machines, zephyrs will show up in their own boxes in the upper right hand corner of your screen.  Clicking on the message will get rid of them.

 

 

Stopping zephyr (logging out):

1. Type "zstop" to stop receiving messages.

2. Type "logout" to log out from unix#.andrew.cmu.edu

 

 

Writing a Personal Zephyr message:

1. Type "zwrite userid"

      (Where userid is the Andrew userid of the person receiving the zephyr)

If screen says, "Userid not logged in to messages", you cannot send a message to that person until they log on.

If screen says, "Type your message now.  End with a Ctrl-D or period on a line by itself", you may send a message to that person.

2. Type your message.

      Remember to press "Enter" at the end of each line (about 80 characters).

3. To send the message, type "Enter" to reach a new line, a period, then "Enter" again.

 

 

Subscribing to zephyr classes:

      These are like chat rooms that people can send & receive messages.  People subscribed to the zephyr class receive all the messages sent to that class.

1. In your home directory, open a file called ".zephyr.subs"

      (Type "pico ~/.zephyr.subs")

If this file does not exist, opening it in pico will create it.

2. Type "213,*,*" on a line by itself.

3. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

4. Type "zctl load”.

      This will make the changes come into effect.

 

Sending Messages to zephyr classes:

These instructions assume you are sending to the 213 class.

1. Type "zwrite -c 213 -i instance" and press Enter.

      -c is the zephyr class, in this case "213"

      -i is the instance, or subject.  Please make the subject one word, or multiple words separated by periods instead of spaces (e.g. - "garage.hours").  Avoid symbols.

2. Type your message.

      Remember to press "Enter" at the end of each line (about 80 characters).

3. To send the message, type "Enter" to reach a new line, a period, then "Enter" again.

 

 

Seeing who else is on Zephyr:

Set-Up: Set up a file with a list of who you want to see if they are online.

1. In your personal main directory, open a file called ".anyone"

      (type "pico ~/.anyone")

2. Type Andrew userids, one per line, no symbols.

3. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

 

4. To check your list without editing it, type "cat .anyone"

Using it:

1. While logged into zephyr, type "znol"

      This will show you all the people on your list & are logged in to zephyr.

If you are not logged in to zephyr, type "znol -l"

Adding People: Type “echo userid >> .anyone”

Removing people: Type “cat .anyone | egrep -v ^userid$ > .anyone”

You will also receive login and logout messages each time someone in your .anyone logs in or logs out, respectively.

From a UNIX machine:

This will open a window with a list of all the people in your .anyone who are currently online.

1. Open a new “Xterm” window.

2. Type “zwatch

 

 

Getting rid of multiple logins on Zephyr (Flushing):

This is for cases where you lost your connection but didn't log out from zephyr.  Zephyr will show that you are still logged in.  These phantom connections are also called "Ghosts."

1. Before zstarting again, type "zctl flush_locs"

      You can now log in, but you are hidden when you zstart again (no one can see when you log in).

2. Type "zctl unhide"

 

 

Seeing messages you missed (zrepeat)

This displays the last message you received.

1. Type “zrepeat” and press Enter.

2. To see messages before that one, type “zrepeat #”

      Example: “zrepeat 2” will display the second to last message you received.

 

 

Changing your signature (zsigs)

This is to change the name that appears with every message you send.

1. In your personal main directory, open a file called ".zephyr.vars"

      (type "pico ~/.zephyr.vars")

If this file does not exist, opening it in pico will create it.

2. Type "zwrite-signature = ", followed by your new signature.

      Example:    zwrite-signature = 213 Rocks!

       Note: Signatures work best if they are only one line.

3. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

 

 

Receive new email notification through Zephyr:

This sets up zephyr to send you a personal message each time you receive new email.

1. In your personal main directory, open a file called ".zephyr.subs"

      (type "pico ~/.zephyr.subs")

2. Type "mail,*,%me%" on a line by itself.

3. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

 

 

 

Shortening what you type to send a message (Aliases)

Set-Up: This is to shorten what you type each time you send a message to a friend or class.

1. In your personal main directory, open a file called ".cshrc"

      (type "pico .cshrc")

Leave the contents in the file untouched and add your shortcuts to additional lines.

2. Type alias <shortcut> "<full typing>"

Example:

      alias z213 "zwrite -c 213 -i"

      alias zu "zwrite userid"      (Replace “u” & “userid” with the initial and userid, respectively, of the person you are writing to)

      alias f "finger"

      alias zz "zstart; znol"

      alias zadd 'echo \!* >> ~/.anyone'

      alias zremove cat ~/.anyone \| egrep -v \"^\!\*\"$ \> ~/.anyone.temp \; mv ~/.anyone.temp ~/.anyone

Notes:

      a. Commands that need a subject are left blank at the end, like the class instance or finger profile.  You will have to fill in the instance or userid when you use these aliases.

      b. The ";" symbol acts like pressing "Enter"

      c. Long commands need to be on ONE line.  For the last alias, open pico by typing “pico –w .cshrc”.  This allows you to paste it all onto one line.

3. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

4. Open your login file by typing “pico .login”

      (This makes the aliases work next time you log in).

5. At the end of the file (after the last line), type “source .cshrc

6. Type "Ctrl-X" to exit Pico.  Type “y” to save the changes you made.

7. To use aliases before logging in again, type “source .cshrc” at the normal prompt.

 

 

Bolding letters and words

This makes your letters blue on most telnet screens.

1. In your message, put @b(word) around the word, phrase, or letters you want bolded.

      Example: “Pointers are @b(cool)!” will make “cool” bold.

      Note: You can also use this in your zsig.

 

 

Stopping class messages without unsubscribing:

This is for cases when you want to have personal conversations without seeing class messages.

1. Type "zctl punt class instance *@REALM"

      Example: “zctl punt 213 \* \*”

The next time you log in, you will receive class messages again.

Stopping Login/Logout messages:

1. Type "znol off"

To get class messages back, type zctl unpunt 213 \* \*”.

 

Unsubscribing to a zephyr class:

This will stop messages and pull it out of your .zephyr.subs file.

1. Type “zctl dl 213 \* \*”

 

 

Hiding from others:

This will allow you to send and receive messages, but not show up when someone types "znol"

1. Type "zctl hide"

2. To become visible again, type "zctl unhide"

 

 

Sending messages to someone outside CMU Andrew

You can send messages to people at MIT, in CS at CMU, or AB Tech, to name a few other groups that use zephyr.  To send a message to someone in a different realm, type “zwrite userid@REALM.ORG”

      Example:    zwrite someone@ATHENA.MIT.EDU

                  zwrite geek@CS.CMU.EDU

                  zwrite alum@ABTECH.ORG

(This works better with real userids of course  ;-)

 

Etiquette:

1. No huge long zephyrs, unless you warn ahead of time so people can "punt" the class and instance.  Some people are set up to see pop-up windows of messages or have a small buffer space.

2. If you want to discuss something unrelated to 213 on the 213 zephyr class (ie, if zephyr is your substitute for actually having a social life), please use the graffiti instance so other people can punt just that instance.

 

 

 

 

Shamelessly ripped off from: Katherine Crawford's zephyr howto

 

Other information: http://web.mit.edu/answers/zephyr/