From Elendor
TELNET
Telnet is probably the simplest and most widely available program out there
with which you can connect to Elendor. It is also probably the most primi-
tive and if you possibly can, you should download and install a real mudding
client (see NEWS CLIENTS for some suggestions) instead of going through the
frustration of trying to use telnet. However, since telnet is so widespread,
the following texts explain how to use it most productively.
If you are using Windows 95/98/NT, you can start the built-in Windows Telnet
by going to the Start menu, selecting Run..., and typing "telnet" and hit-
ting the OK button. When the Telnet window appears, first go to the Terminal
menu and select Preferences. Make sure the "Local Echo" box is unchecked,
and enter a large number, like 500, in the "Buffer Size" box. Click the OK
button. Finally go to the Connect menu and select "Remote System." In the
dialogue box that appears, enter "mush.elendor.net" for the Host Name, and
enter "1892" for Port. (Do NOT leave it set to "telnet" or you will not be
able to connect.) Click the Connect button. You should then see the mush
login screen followed by a message indicating that terminal emulation has
been activated. (This means that the mush has identified you as a telnet
user and has turned on some special features to help you. See HELP TERM for
a description of these.)
If you are using Windows 2000/XP, telnet only works in a DOS box. Go to the
Start menu, select Run..., and type "telnet" and hit the OK button. A DOS
box should appear with a "telnet>" prompt. Type "open mush.elendor.net 1892"
and hit return. After a pause, the mush login screen should appear followed
by a message indicating that terminal emulation has been activated. (Again,
this means that the mush has identified you as a telnet user and has turned
on some special features to help you. See HELP term for a description of
these.)
If you are on a unix system such as linux, type "telnet" at the unix prompt
and you should get a "telnet>" prompt. (If you don't, then it means that
either your system doesn't have telnet or it isn't in your path.) Once you
have a "telnet>" prompt, type "open mush.elendor.net 1892". After a pause,
you should see the mush login screen. If you see a message right after the
the login screen indicating that terminal emulation has been activated, then
you're ready to go. Just login in the usual way. Otherwise you need to take
some additional steps...
First, type "TERM ON" at the login screen. It is possible that you will not be
able to see what you are typing. If that's the case, type "TERM ON" anyway
and hit return. You should see a message indicating that terminal
emulation has been activated. If you don't, then I'm afraid you're on your
own because your telnet isn't sending anything to the mush at all. You
should probably install a new telnet. If you do get that message and you
were unable to see what you were typing when you typed "TERM ON", then
you're done. You should now be able to see what you're typing and you
should be able to login in the normal way. If you WERE able to see what
you were typing when you typed "TERM ON", then you have one more step to
go. Hit control-] on your keyboard. You should get a "telnet>" prompt. Now
you need to turn on "character mode". This is usually done by typing "mode
character". If that doesn't work, try typing "?" at the telnet> prompt in
order to browse telnet's online help. Once you've turned on character
mode, you should be able to login to the mush in the usual way.
There may be some rare cases when you're a telnet user but you don't want to
use Elendor's terminal emulation. (One disadvantage of using terminal emula-
tion is that communication is slower. Each character you type is individu-
ally transmitted to the mush and then transmitted back to your screen. If
your connection to Elendor is really slow, this may make typing intolerably
difficult.) Normally Elendor tries to activate its telnet support as soon as
it gets any indication that you are a telnet user. When it transmits the
mush login screen, it also transmits a hidden code requesting your telnet to
identify itself. If it complies with a response, term emulation is switched
on. Also if your telnet sends the mush a cursor key movement corresponding
to the vt52, vt100, or ansi standard, or sends a code conforming to the
telnet protocol, term emulation also switches on. You can inhibit this by
typing "TERM OFF". After you execute that command, the mush will not turn
term emulation on automatically anymore.
If you elect to use telnet without mush-side term emulation, you should be
sure to turn on "local echo" so that you can see what you're typing. On
Windows 95/98/NT, this is accomplished by going to the "Terminal" menu,
selecting "Preferences", and making sure that the "Local Echo" box is
checked. On Windows 2000/XP and unix systems, you need to turn on line mode
instead of character mode. Most of the time line mode is the default. If
you don't follow the steps for turning on character mode outlined in the
previous pages, you should be in line mode. However, on some telnets you
need to turn it on explicitly. Do this by hitting control-] to reach a
"telnet>" prompt. Usually if you type "mode line" and hit return, this will
turn on line mode. If that doesn't work, type "?" and hit return to browse
telnet's online help and look for the appropriate command.
Again, if your luck with telnet is not so good, use of a mudding client is
advised. They are available for free via download from the web and there
are fairly good ones available for every platform. See our webpage at
http://www.elendor.net for some pointers on where to get a good client.
See also: HELP term, HELP wrap