Here are some of the primary clients used at MIT. There's also a listing of [other Zephyr clients](http://zephyr.1ts.org/wiki/ZephyrClients), but their use is generally not recommended.
-### Barnowl
+### BarnOwl
-[Barnowl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) is a command-line Zephyr client that supports advanced filtering and customisation. It is probably the most commonly used client, but requires some effort to get started. To use Barnowl effectively, you should connect to an [Athena dialup](http://web.mit.edu/dialup/www/ssh.html) and run Barnowl along with a program to renew your Kerberos tickets. The Athena command `athrun sipb owl-screen` will set this up for you.
+[BarnOwl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) is a command-line Zephyr client that supports advanced filtering and customisation. It is probably the most commonly used client, but requires some effort to get started. To use BarnOwl effectively, you should connect to an [Athena dialup](http://web.mit.edu/dialup/www/ssh.html) and run BarnOwl along with a program to renew your Kerberos tickets. The Athena command `athrun sipb pag-screen` will set up ticket renewal, and `athrun barnowl` after that will run BarnOwl itself.
-In addition to primarily supporting Zephyr, Barnowl also lets you connect to [AIM](http://aim.com) and and [XMPP](http://xmpp.org/) (Google Talk, Facebook, etc.) networks.
+In addition to primarily supporting Zephyr, BarnOwl also lets you connect to [AIM](http://aim.com), [XMPP/Jabber](http://xmpp.org/) (Google Talk, Facebook, etc.), [Twitter](http://twitter.com), and IRC networks.
-See [Getting Started with Barnowl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/wiki/GettingStarted) for more information.
+See [Getting Started with BarnOwl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/wiki/GettingStarted) for more information.
### Roost
### Zulip
-[Zulip](https://zulip.com/zephyr) is a fully-featured web-based Zephyr client that also provides [mobile apps](https://zephyr.zulip.com/apps) for Android and iOS and desktop apps for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Zulip is developed by a group of MIT alums and SIPB members who also developed [Ksplice](https://www.ksplice.com/) (rebootless updates for Linux).
-
+[Zulip](https://zulip.com/zephyr) is a web-based Zephyr client that also provides [mobile apps](https://zephyr.zulip.com/apps) for Android and iOS and desktop apps for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Zulip is developed by a company composed largely of MIT alums and SIPB members.
Zulip, like Roost, is easy to set up because it uses Webathena for authentication.
See [Zulip for MIT setup](http://zulip.com/zephyr) for details.
A message without an instance specified will default to the instance
“personal”.
+You can send zephyrs to individuals (as opposed to classes) with:
+
+ :zwrite USERNAME
+
+### Aside: zephyr triplets
+
+All messages are actually sent to a "zephyr triplet" -- a class, instance, and recipient. Subscriptions are also made to zephyr triplets. The recipient can be either "*" -- to indicate a broadcast message -- or a specific individual.
+
+When sending, the default class is "message", instance is "personal", and recipient is "*". `zwrite` supports sending to arbitrary triples with `:zwrite -c CLASS -i INSTANCE USERNAME` -- the two examples above use the defaults for the parts that aren't specified.
+
+For subscriptions, the class must be specified. You can specify all instances on a class with "\*", or specify just one instance. You can only sub to recipient "\*" or your own personals (indicated by "%me%").)
+
+### Common classes
+
Some common classes include:
<strong>help</strong>:
> You may see an instance change from `-i foo` to `-i foo.d`. This
> indicates a deviation or tangent from the the original topic.
+<strong>.q</strong>:
+> Simiarly, `.q` at the end of an instance name indicates a quote.
+
<strong>starking</strong>:
> Answering a question or replying to a topic to a topic several hours
> (or days, occasionally) later. The term originates from Greg Stark,
> had moved on to an entirely different topic.
<strong>ttants</strong>:
-> Literally, "Things That Are Not The Same".
+> Literally, "Things That Are Not The Same".
<strong>prnf</strong>:
-> Literally, "Pseudo-Random Neuron Firings".
+> Literally, "Pseudo-Random Neuron Firings".
+
+<strong>eiz</strong> or <strong>eip</strong> or <strong>else</strong>:
+> Instances used to comment on discussions on other classes in Zephyr without
+> linking to the original source for reasons of privacy or discretion. "eiz"
+> means "Elsewhere in Zephyr", "eip" means "Elsewhere in Personals".
+
+<strong>eim</strong>:
+> "Elsewhere in Meatspace"; instance used to comment on events not on Zephyr.
-There are many other acronyms that are used; if you don't know what it
-means, try using the `whats foo` command at an Athena terminal. If you
-don't have the command, run `add sipb` first.
+There are many other acronyms that are used; if you don't know what it means,
+try using the `whats foo` command at an Athena terminal. If you don't have the
+command, run `add sipb` first. Alternatively, running the single command
+`athrun sipb whats foo` works as well.
### Zephyr Etiquette
ZEPHYR_CLIENT=false
to your `~/.bash_environment` if you use `bash`. This will cause your
-shell to launch the `false` executable instead of `zwgc` which does
-nothing.
+shell to launch the `false` executable instead of `zwgc`, thereby disabling it ('false' does nothing).
sipb-www / wiki.git / blobdiff