>also as a side note i type mesg y to turn messages on but i do a finger 
>on myself and it says messages off... am i missing something?
>Thanks in advance... > 

The reason for this is that you probably did not enable messages on the 
console itself when you first logged in, and now you are using dt or X.  
If you put mesg y in your .login file, I think it will fix the problem 
(either that or remeber to do that command on the console before you 
start X or dt).  I don't quite know why this problem occurs, but since 
it's never been that much of a hassle, I've never worried about it.

Later.

-- 
Colin Wood                                      ender@is.rice.edu
Consultant                                        Rice University
Information Technology Services                       Houston, TX