Getting Started with Zephyr using BarnOwl on Athena

Using BarnOwl

To start barnowl, run the command add barnowl; barnowl at the prompt on any Athena machine or dialup, such as ​linerva.mit.edu.

The simplest use of Zephyr is to send personal zephyrs to other users. To send a zephyr, type : to bring up a command line, and run the command zwrite USERNAME. You can also start a zwrite command by simply typing z.

You can then enter your message, and then enter a . on a line by itself to finish the zephyr. By convention, zephyrs are usually word-wrapped to 70-character lines or so; Pressing M-q (Alt-q) will word-wrap the text you've entered for you.

Once you've sent and received zephyrs, you can navigate the message list with the arrow keys. Press d to mark a message as deleted, u to undelete it, and x to expunge all messages that have been marked as deleted.

Instead of entering a zwrite command manually, you can also select a message in the message list with the arrow keys, and reply to it using r, which will automatically set up an appropriate zwrite command.

For more documentation on the built-in commands and keybindings, you can press h to bring up barnowl's built-in help screen. For help with a specific command, bring up a command line with : and then type help COMMAND.

To quit, type :quit.

Classes and Instances

Most interesting discussion on Zephyr, however, happens on so-called Zephyr classes. A class is a bit like a chat room in other IM systems. Anyone can send a zephyr to a class, and anyone who is subscribed to that class will receive it. There is no security on classes -- anyone who knows the name of a class can subscribe, and there is no way to determine who is subscribed to a given class.

To subscribe to a class, use the subscribe command:

:subscribe CLASSNAME * *

To send a zephyr to a class, use the zwrite command with the -c option:

:zwrite -c CLASSNAME

Zephyrs to classes usually have an instance attached. An instance is a short “topic” or “subject” that indicates the context of a zephyr. Different instances are often used to multiplex multiple conversations on a high-traffic class. You can specify an instance with the -i option to zwrite:

:zwrite -c CLASSNAME -i INSTANCE

A message without an instance specified will default to the instance “personal”.

Common Classes

Some common classes include:

help

-c help is a class for asking (and answering) questions on virtually any topic imaginable. Be sure to use an instance (such as “linux”, “barnowl”, “campus”, or so on) when asking questions, since it's a fairly high-traffic class.

sipb

-c sipb is where most SIPB members hang out. It's a place for technical discussion, questions, support, and organizing SIPB events or projects. You should also always use an instance when sending to -c sipb.

Personal Classes

By convention, nearly every Zephyr user has a "personal" class that is the same as their username. How this class is used varies from person to person, but it's often a sort of mini-blog, a place to report what one is working on or up to, or ask friends questions, or just rant about something.

Screen

BarnOwl can also be run in a screen session to continue receiving messages while offline. For instructions on how to set this up on Athena, see the ​SIPB documentation.

Questions

If you have questions, you can send them via email to sipb@mit.edu, or via Zephyr to -c sipb (with an appropriate instance).