💾 Archived View for rawtext.club › ~ahub › sms_conversation.gmi captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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SMS conversation from the command line

This one is a bit personal. I found a partial solution to a problem I had.

context

- My wife is away at the hospital and she doesn't have the intimity she'd like

to make phone calls. So we mostly text.

- I don't (nor want to) own a smartphone

So far it was acceptable to use the phone's numpad to write text messages but

it became so cumbersome I noticed I don't even take the time to answer anymore.

constraints

I want to:

- use my keyboard to type when I'm on the computer

- still be reachable when AFK

- minimize the technical burden on my wife

- have something operational FAST

solution

I went for a paid account on twilio. They have an API they call "conversation"

where a phone number can behave somewhat like an IRC chatroom. If my wife sends

a SMS to it, I receive it. If I send a SMS to the same number it gets bounced

back to her.

When I use my python script, I just 'kick' my own phone number from the

conversation, so my phone doesn't receive messages I sent from the computer.

sharing

The Python script is really a basic usage of the 'cmd' module to mimic the

behaviour of 'weechat' my IRC client. Fun fact, is discovered the 'cmd' module

by studying how my gemini browser (av-98) worked under the hood. Thanks

solderpunk !

Here is a link to it if it can help you somehow.

./sms_chat.py

It looks like this:

10:10:22  ahub(phone)| Xx, xx xx xxxxxxxx  xxxxx xx x'xxxxx xx xxx.
11:17:53         wife| Xx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxx!?!
11:29:42     ahub(pc)| Xxx x xxxxx x xxxx xxx xx xxxx xxxx.
11:46:47         wife| Xx xxxxxxxx !!!
12:32:36     ahub(pc)| Xxx x'x xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx. Xx xx xxxx ?
12:34:33         wife| Xxxxxx xûxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxx, xxxxx xxx, xx xxx xxxxxxxx xxx x'xx xx xxxxx x'xxxxxxx xxx xxxxx xx xxxxx xxxxxx
13:00:26     ahub(pc)| Xx xxxxx ! Xxxx xxxxx xx xxxxxxx ?
13:13:09         wife| X Xxxxxxxx, xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx
13:40:59     ahub(pc)| Xxxxxxx
13:42:38     ahub(pc)| Xxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xxx x'xx x xxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxx. Xxx xx xxxx xéxxxéxxx xxx xxxxxx éxéxxxxxxx xx xxxx ?
15:44:10 [SMS]: help

Documented commands (type help <topic>):
========================================
help  invite  kick  ls  quit  refresh
15:44:10 [SMS]:

The commands:

- ls lists the registred phone numbers

- invite/kick should be quite obvious

- refresh fetches the list of messages from twilio (empty line also does this)

- Typing anythin else is sent as a SMS to the conversation

usage

The script 100% relies on env vars and parameters to work, so nothing personal

in it. It uses the following vars :

TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID

TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN

TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER

TWILIO_CONVERSATION_SID

and can receive a list of arguments to pretty-print phone numbers

./sms_chat.py "+555666555" "ahub(phone)" "+55555555" "wife"

feedback

As always feedback is appreciated at ahub@riseup.net. Tell me if you used the

script, if you found a way to improve it ! Maybe you even have another solution

to propose ?

Ideally I'd love to use my own phone instead of twilio. I'd get rid of :

- paying

- relying on a third party

- the necessity of an internet connection

I know my phone (A Cross-Call X-1) is detected as a modem on Linux, but it

doesn't seem to respond to (most) AT Commands. So I just rushed for the

quickest solution.