tip - Connects to a remote system
tip [-v] [-baud_rate] system | telephone_number
The tip command connects to a remote system and allows you
to work on the remote system as if logged in directly.
Displays sets of variables (see Variables) as they are
read from the file. Overrides the default baud rate,
which is 1200 baud.
You must have a login account on the remote system to use
the tip command.
Either the system argument or the telephone_number argument
is required. The system argument specifies the name
of a remote system to be contacted over a direct or modem
connection. The telephone_number argument specifies the
number to dial over a modem connection.
The actions of the tip command can be controlled using
flags, escape signals, and variables. The tip command
also uses the /etc/remote file to find out how to contact
a remote system and discover the escape-send sequence to
use when communicating with that system.
When tip prompts for a response, edit the line as you type
using the standard Erase and Kill keys. Entering a null
line in response to a prompt or pressing the Interrupt key
sequence will abort the tip dialog and return you to the
remote system.
The tip command uses lock files in the /var/spool/locks
directory to lock devices against multiple access.
You can use the tip command to transfer files to and from
the remote system. Several variables work together to
control file transfers. File transfers normally use tandem
mode to control the flow of data. If the remote system
does not support tandem mode, set the echocheck variable
to on to cause tip to synchronize with the remote
system after transmitting each character. When transferring
files with the ~> and ~< commands, use the eofread
and eofwrite variables to specify the end of a file when
writing, and recognize the end of a file when reading.
If the verbose variable is set to on, the tip command:
Writes a running count of the number of lines transferred
during a file transfer. Writes messages indicating its
actions as it dials a telephone number.
You can use scripting to record the conversations you have
with the tip command. Use the script variable to start
scripting.
Variables [Toc] [Back]
The tip command uses variables that control its operation.
These variables can be numeric, string, character, or
Boolean values. Some of these variables can be changed by
any user who can run the tip command. However, the following
variables can be changed only by a user with superuser
authority: baudrate, dialtimeout, host, phones, and
remote.
Variables can be initialized at run time in the
$HOME/.tiprc file. Additionally, you can display and set
the variables while already running the tip command by
using the ~s command.
Certain common variables have abbreviations.
Following are the common variables, their types and abbreviations,
and their default values. (Boolean; abbreviated
be) Discards unprintable characters when a session is
being scripted. Does not discard characters specified with
the exceptions variable. The default is on. (Numeric;
abbreviated ba) Specifies the baud rate of the connection.
The baudrate setting can only be changed by someone
with superuser authority. (Numeric; abbreviated
dial) Specifies the time (in seconds) that tip
waits for a connection when dialing a telephone
number. The default is 60 seconds.
The dialtimeout setting can only be changed by
someone with superuser authority. (Boolean; abbreviated
ec) Instructs tip to synchronize with the
remote host during a file transfer by awaiting the
echo of the last character transmitted before
transmitting the next character. The default is
off. (String; abbreviated eofr) Specifies the set
of characters that signifies an end-of-transmission
during a remote to local (~< or ~t) file transfer.
(String; abbreviated eofw) Specifies the string
that is sent to indicate end-of-transmission during
a local to remote (~> or ~p) file transfer command.
(String; no abbreviation) Specifies the string that
indicates the end of a line. tip recognizes escape
signals only when they follow an end-of-line
string. (Character; abbreviated es) Specifies the
command prefix character for escape signals. The
default value is ~ (tilde). (Strings; abbreviated
ex) Specifies the set of characters that are not
discarded, even when the beautify switch is set on.
The string \t\n\f\b is the default. (Character;
abbreviated fo) Specifies the character that is
used to force literal data transmissions during
binary transfers. The character ^P is the default.
Literal data transmissions are off until the user
types the character specified by the force variable.
(Numeric; abbreviated fr) Specifies the number
of bytes to buffer between file system writes
when receiving files from the remote system.
(String; abbreviated ho) Specifies the name of the
remote system to which you are connected.
The host setting can only be changed by someone
with superuser authority. (Character; abbreviated
pr) Specifies the character that indicates the end
of the line on the remote host. This character is
used to synchronize during data transfers. The tip
command counts lines transferred during a file
transfer, based on the number of times it receives
the prompt character. The \n character is the
default. (Boolean; abbreviated ra) When on,
instructs the tip command to convert all lowercase
letters to uppercase before transmitting them to
the remote system. The default is off. (Character;
abbreviated rc) Specifies a character that is
used to toggle uppercase conversion. The default
value is ^A. (String; abbreviated rec) Specifies
the name of the file in which the tip command
records the session script. The default is the
tip.record file, which is placed in the user's current
directory on the local system. (Boolean;
abbreviated sc) When on, tip records everything
transmitted by the remote machine in a file on the
local system. The filename is specified by the
record variable. If the beautify switch is on,
only printable ASCII characters (those between 040
and 0177) will be recorded in the script file. The
exceptions variable specifies unprintable characters
that will be recorded even if the beautify
switch is on. The default setting for the script
switch is off. (Boolean; abbreviated tab) Expands
tab characters to eight spaces during file transfers.
The default is off. (Boolean; abbreviated
verb) When on, tip prints messages while dialing,
shows the current number of lines transferred during
a file transfer, and displays other status
information about the connection. The default is
on. (String; no abbreviation) Specifies the type
of shell to use for the ~! command. The default
value is /bin/sh, or is taken from the environment.
(String; no abbreviation) Specifies the home directory
to use for the ~c command. The default value
is taken from the environment.
Subcommands [Toc] [Back]
You can use escape signals to instruct tip to terminate,
log off from the remote system, and transfer files. Using
the escape character as the first character of the line
indicates an escape signal. The default escape character
is a ~ (tilde). The character can be changed using the
escape variable. All other typed characters are transmitted
directly to the remote system. The tip command recognizes
the following escape signals: Terminates the connection
and exits. You can still be logged in on the remote
system; if so, you can issue another tip command to reconnect
to that system. Depending on the interconnection
hardware, it may be necessary to use ~^D to terminate the
conversation, even if the normal logout sequence was used.
Same as ~^D: terminates the connection and exits. You can
still be logged in on the remote system; if so, you can
issue another tip command to reconnect to that system.
Depending on the interconnection hardware, it may be necessary
to use ~. to terminate the conversation, even if
the normal logout sequence was used. Changes to the
directory specified by the directory variable. If you do
not include the directory variable, tip changes to your
home directory. Escapes to a shell on the local system.
When you exit from the shell, you return to the tip command.
Copies file from the local system to the remote
system. The tip command prompts you for the name of the
local file. Before executing this command, you should
start a command on the remote system to capture the
incoming file as it is sent. Otherwise, the file contents
are treated as stdin to the shell running on the remote
system. Using the cat > destfile command is recommended
where supported. The output EOF string sent after the
file is transferred (defined by oe in /etc/remote and typically
^D for UNIX systems) should terminate the command
on the remote system that is capturing the file. Copies
file from the remote system to the local system. The tip
command prompts you for the command to be executed on the
remote system to list the file to be copied, for example,
cat srcfile. The copy of the file completes when the
local system reads an EOFREAD character from the remote
system. The local system defines the EOFREAD character(s)
expected from the remote system by the ie entry in
/etc/remote. (For UNIX systems, this is usually #, %, or
$, the most common prompts for the different shells.) The
EOFREAD character should be sent to the local system after
the command to list the remote file completes. The remote
system's prompt character is suggested for the EOFREAD
character. Sends the from file to a remote host that must
support the cat command. The put command causes the
remote system to run the command string cat > to, while
tip sends it the from file. If to is not specified, the
cat command uses the name of the from file. This command
is a special case of the ~> command. Transfers the from
file from a remote system that must support the cat command.
As in the put command, the to file defaults to the
from filename if it is not specified. The remote host
executes the command string cat from;echo ^A to send the
file to tip. This command is a special case of the ~<
command. Pipes the output of a remote command to a local
process. The command string sent to the local system is
processed by the shell. Pipes the output from a local
process to the remote system. The command string sent to
the remote system is processed by the shell. Sends a
BREAK signal to the remote system. Sets or queries the
tip command variables.
To display all variables readable by the user,
specify all as an argument to the ~s command. You
can also request the display of a specific variable
by attaching a ? (question mark) to the variable
name. For example, enter the command ~s eol? to
display the current end-of-line string.
Variables can be numeric, string, character, or
Boolean values. To set a non-Boolean variable,
enter the variable name or abbreviation followed by
= (equal sign) and the value. For example, enter
either ~s host=zeus or ~s ho=zeus to change the
hostname to zeus. In the file, enter host=zeus or
ho=zeus.
To change the value of a Boolean variable, enter
the variable name or abbreviation as an argument to
the ~s command, or on a line of the file. To reset
the variable to its default value, enter an !
(exclamation point) in front of the name. For
example, enter ~s !echocheck to reset the echocheck
variable to its default value while running the tip
command.
You can use a single ~s command to set and query
multiple variables. The set string must not contain
any spaces. Stops tip. The ~^Z command is
only available with job control. Stops the local
portion of tip. The remote portion, which displays
the output from the remote system, continues to
run. The ~^Y command is only available with job
control. Displays a list of the escape signals.
The user-id (uid) of the owner of the file must be the
same as the real uid of the tip process. If this is not
true, an error message is output and the file is not read.
To specify a baud rate when making a direct connection,
enter: tip -300 hera
This instructs tip to use a baud rate of 300 when
contacting remote system hera. To connect to a
remote system using a modem, enter: tip 9,343-2132
This connects the remote system that is reached by
the telephone number 343-2132, after dialing a 9,
to reach an outside line. To connect directly to a
remote system and display the variables, enter: tip
-v hera
The -v option causes tip to display the values of
the variables as it reads them from the
$HOME/.tiprc file. If the file contains the following
settings:
sc be rec=/u/jimk/callout
The output from the -v option is as follows: set
script set beautify set record=/u/jimk/callout
Contains automatic call unit descriptions. Contains lock
files that prevent multiple uses of devices and multiple
calls to systems. Contains global system descriptions.
Contains global telephone phone number database. Contains
private system descriptions. Contains private telephone
numbers. Defines initial settings for the tip command.
Contains the tip command scripts (default filename). By
default, stored in the current directory. You can change
the filename and directory using the record variable.
Commands: cu(1), uucp(1)
Functions: connect(2)
Files: acucap(4), phones(4), remote(4)
tip(1)
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