Telnet Connection Questions?

Question

1. How do I know whether or not I have a shell account?

2. Can I use Telnet on Linux?

3. How do I enter a command?

4. Is there any software I have to download in order to use Telnet?

Answer 1

Telnet is a method for connecting two computers. One that is using a telnet "client" which can be telnet.exe or some other telnet compatible program. And the other computer must be running a telnet "server" program which is listening for telnet connections.

1) Ask your internet providor. Thats the only ones who might have provided a shell account. Often, they will provide you a free webpage and the machine which that page is on will have an account. Whether or not it allows you to connect by telnet is up to them.

2) Yes, telnet tends to come installed with nearly all linux. If you are on the linux then you can go to another machine by typing something like
telnet any1can.net
telnet play.sdmud.org 7777
telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
but that does not mean that every linux server will have a telnet prograrm running to allow connection at their end.

3) You dont really enter commends into telnet. Its a raw connection. It allows you to enter commands on the other machine. Such as... in linux the command to see the file list is ls. If you enter ls on your linux then you see your files. If you telnet to connect to another linux machine, then type ls, you will see the files on that machine. What commands you can do are decided by the machine at the other end. Such as, the towel.blinkenlights.nl example is a movie you watch. The only command is hanging up. The play.sdmud.org is a game and the commands there are to move, look, attack, etc.

4) That depends on your operating system. Most windows came with a telnet.exe (except for Vista but its downloadable from microsoft.com for vista). Most linux have it already unless the admin decided to remove it.

Altho, telnet as a raw connection usually gets irritating fairly soon. There are many many alternative programs which offer very nice features such as scrolling back the window, using macro keys, screenshots, uploading, etc. Personally I use NetTerm but it costs. PuTTY is often recommended, and its free. PuTTY also supports SSH which is preferred by many for logging into another computer altho its not always a good replacement for telnet things.