# Does anyone still use Telnet?



## Bisquick (Aug 23, 2005)

I remember back in the day I could spend hours talking to interesting people all over the world using Telnet.  The "havens" back then were so superior to today's chat rooms in everyway.  More options, more creativity, more intellectual discussion vs. the ALL CAPS generation I see in todays chats and forums.  While I've pretty much outgrown the whole chat room thing, I miss the  people that I had gotten to know by bizarre user names and patented "emoticons."

Does anyone still use UNIX to telnet?  Are there any havens still out there for reminiscent folk such as me?


----------



## aych (Aug 23, 2005)

haha telnet.. so old skool.. ssh all the way. but havens? iono.. go mudding!


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Aug 24, 2005)

If you think Telnet is old-school, then you're too young to remember BBSs.  Now THAT'S old-school.  EchoMail, anyone?


----------



## Viro (Aug 24, 2005)

Don't use telnet anymore and have switched completely over to ssh. Never went to any "havens" though


----------



## Bisquick (Aug 25, 2005)

HA!  MUDs were great, too.  *sigh*  Guess I'm just getting old and curmudgeonly.  "Back in my day, everything worked much better!"


----------



## mkwan (Sep 10, 2005)

I only use telnet when I'm accessing a local computer inside internal network and testing ports


----------



## lurk (Sep 10, 2005)

BBSs that was toys stuff.  We were using telnet on the ARPA net long before that.  Just because the consumer stuff caught up with the rest of us late is not my problem.

/Cranky geezer goodness is fun!


----------



## boyfarrell (Sep 10, 2005)

I used telnet (well pine actually) to check my e-mails. No I have PowerBook and I take them with me and pick them up where ever I am.


----------



## ElDiabloConCaca (Sep 10, 2005)

Telnet's still good for some good, old fashioned, ASCII entertainment as well:

http://www.blinkenlights.nl/services.html


----------



## scruffy (Sep 10, 2005)

blinkenlights.nl has a website?  Sacrilege!  What is with all this newfangled AOL kid friendly web nonsense?


----------



## spb (Sep 12, 2005)

My school still has a telnet based card catalog.  

I wrote an expect script that would login and renew my library books.  I put this in my crontab so every Monday at noon my books would be renewed.  After this I never had a late fee again.

I've graduated in May, but I'm still getting messages that my script was able to login, so I know that they haven't yet closed my account.


----------



## scruffy (Sep 18, 2005)

Hey, that reminded me - the Saskatoon public library system also has a telnet based catalog system, as well as a web-based system (relatively recent, say < 7 years).  They used to have a bunch of VT220's in the library, I don't know if they replaced them now with web stations.

The telnet system was always faster if you knew your way around it - my dad, who has never quite gotten used to GUI's, always uses the telnet app.

I think the university in town still uses a similar thing, although they're in the process of replacing all the VT terms with web stations.  Their catalog search website is almost painfully slow.  Here my dad and I agree - if you have more than just a couple of searches to do, it's faster to go up the the fourth floor, or wherever the remaining VT terms are, do your searching there, than to use a web station on the main floor...


----------

