On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 15:11:51 +00, Bastiaan Edelman, PA3FFZ wrote:

> Please would you explain:
> What is telnet?
> What is a shell account?


telnet is an Internet protocol for connecting to remote computers.

Computer networking evolved in the university environment twenty
years ago when users were commonly connected to remote computers
from terminals. The remote computers were powerful and could run 
many programs for many different users at the same time.

A "shell account" gave users access to the command shell of a Unix
remote computer where they could run programs and perform other
tasks.

Today shell accounts work the same way. A powerful, remote computer
directly connected to the Internet through a high speed connection
is made available for many users to connect to and use.  Sometimes
you can dial in to the remote computer with a telephone. More
frequently you can "telnet" into the remote computer through another
connection you have already made to the Internet through your ISP.

Arachne has a "telent" client available for download at arachne.cz
(the Arachne website) It's setup as an APM and will install
automatically on your system. After it's installed you can start
it running through a hotkey and then just type in the name of the
computer you wish to connect to.  You can then login to that computer
and use whatever facilities it makes available to you.

Some shell accounts are free or nearly so. Some oldstyle Bulletin
Board Systems (BBS's) are now reachable by telnet. One BBS that
you can telent into is juge.com (at least it used to work, I haven't
tried it for awhile)




Sam Ewalt
Croswell, Michigan, USA
-- Arachne V1.70;rev.3, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/

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