The talker program used for the Amnesia House chat room is exclusively available here for users of Windows 2000 and Windows XP ® systems. A graphical interface is incorporated to ease setup and running of the talker. It has been developed by Geoffrey Swift from an original code base written by Mark Robson. Please read about the features and system requirements below.

Features

  • Easy setup via Windows ® installer
  • Runs as service application
  • Graphical interface for administration
  • EW2 emulation
  • Intercom protocol
  • Asynchronous DNS resolution
  • RFC 1073 Telnet Window Size Option
  • RFC 1091 Telnet Terminal-Type Option
  • RFC 1413 Identification Protocol

System Requirements

  • Windows 2000 / Windows XP ®
  • TCP/IP Networking
  • Windows ® Firewall users must allow exceptions
  • Administrative rights
  • 3 - 15 mb disk space

File Download

The file setuptalker.exe and its contents are made available exclusively from this website. Unauthorised copying, archiving, sale or redistribution is strictly forbidden. This work is protected under international copyright law.

Installation

You must agree to the terms of the license included in the setup procedure. Follow the prompts on screen and enter all required information, the rest of the installation process is automatic. You don't have to reboot your computer once the installation has finished. Read the sections below for a more detailed explanation of the Talker setup.

Windows ® Firewall

For Windows XP ® SP2 and above, Windows ® Firewall entries are created each named with a prefix of "Talker". The talker needs to accept connections on the main port chosen by the installer. The intercom port is allocated as the main port number minus one. An additional rule is required to allow the talker to connect for the Intercom and Identification Protocols. See requirements above, you must allow exceptions if you are using Windows ® Firewall.

Talker Service

The Talker Service ensures the smooth operation of the Talker. It will start the talker up when you boot into Windows ® by default. A Windows ® service application called "Talker" is installed, allowing you to effectively start and stop the Talker using the Service Control Manager (SCM) in Windows ®. You are recommended to use the taskbar notification program for this as follows.

Taskbar Notification

The package includes an administrative program, which displays an icon to let you know whether the Talker Service is running or not. Click the icon with the right mouse button and a popup menu will appear. This menu gives the option of starting or stopping the Talker Service, and provides access to all the files the talker uses for logging and configuration.
The installer creates a shortcut to this program in your Start Menu, under Programs -> Startup, so that it starts up when you log in to Windows ®.

Configuration Files

All files are installed under C:\Program Files\Talker by default, and the installer writes its options to talker.ini there. This file and all the other configuration files can be accessed using the taskbar program. This will load the file in notepad. Having saved any changes, you must restart the talker program for any changes to become effective.

Help / Feedback

Please email any feedback to Geoffrey Swift, using the address at the bottom of this page. Help files for the talker are available on the Amnesia House website: <URL:http://www.trollied.org/~amnesia/help.php>