SMS style message to Linux user?


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Thread: SMS style message to Linux user?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
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    Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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    SMS style message to Linux user?

    I am not sure if this is the correct forum. I have an elderly lady set up with OpenSuSE 11.0 at home and I am using SSH to remote admin her PC. I need her to shut Evolution down but I don't know how to send her a message (other than e-mail) like in Windows.

    I have used the Windows SMS to pop messages up for users (long time ago... I actually forgot how to do it on Windows...) and need to know if there is a way to do it with Linux. So far I haven't been able to find anything that remotely resembles what I want to do.

    So how do I send a message that will pop up a dialog on the users PC screen so I can tell them what to do? Keep in mind this is an 80+ year old woman that understands very basic computing so it all has to be initiated from my side and getting her to open a konsole is out of the question.

    We are both running OpenSuSE 11.0 with KDE 3.5.9
    One by one the penguins steal my sanity...

    Vanpooling now...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
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    763
    maybe pop up some messages using zenity? You may need to specify the DISPLAY but could do the trick.

    http://linux.byexamples.com/archives...og-examples-1/

    zenity --info --text "Close Evolution Please."
    Check out the Unix/Linux Administration Program at Seneca College.
    Thanx to everyone that helped/helps me on this forum!

    t0mmyw on #linuxn00b

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    People's Republic of North America (Former United States)
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    849
    Why not call her on the phone and ask her to shut it down? If that conversation leads to her not knowing how to shut it down, tell her you'll do it and then find the PID through ps -ef|grep evolution and then kill the process? Sorry, I'm old school.
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
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    UK
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    Xmessage should work and might already be installed.

    If she has Samba running you could try Linpopup - it does the same job as Windows' 'net send' and 'Win pop-up.' I haven't used it for years, but Sourceforge and Freshmeat both have versions available.
    We are free to think. We are free to plan. And we are free to do. But once an action has been taken, we are never free from its consequences.
    --Russel M. Nelson, apostle.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Michigan
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    875
    Here is a link that shows you how to use xmessage. Make sure you export DISPLAY, you shouldn't need to install anything take a look at the man page for window sizing.
    Last edited by mrrangerman43; 03-02-2010 at 08:21 AM.

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