Installation of talk command

For Ubuntu/Debian :

sudo apt-get install talk
sudo apt-get install talk-server

For CentOS/Fedora :

sudo yum install talk
sudo yum install talk-server

Configuration:

• Create two files named talk and ntalk under /etc/xinetd.d/ directory.
• Edit talk file as below,

# default: off
# description: The talk server accepts talk
# requests for chatting with users \
# on other systems.
service talk
{
   flags = IPv4
   disable = no
   socket_type = dgram
   wait = yes
   user = nobody
   group = tty
   server = /usr/sbin/in.talkd
}

• Next edit ntalk file as below,

# default: off
# description: The ntalk server accepts 
# ntalk connections, for chatting \
# with users on different systems.
service ntalk
{
   flags = IPv4
   disable = no
   socket_type = dgram
   wait = yes
   user = nobody
   group = tty
   server = /usr/sbin/in.ntalkd
}

• Then restart xinetd service. 

In Linux, there are commands like write/wall which are used to communicate with other users especially by system administrators to send a short message to all logged-in users. There is one more command talk which is like an instant messenger service that enables two users to chat. In this article, we will discuss this command and the various ways to connect with other users.