Telnet
telnet is a protocol and a program for text-communication on the internet
telnet applications are available for pc and mac
they allow you to connect in a text-based way to remote computers
a telnet application requires IP (internet protocol) addresses so
that the application knows what machine to connect to, much as a telephone requires a number to be dialed
with a graphical user interface (windows/mac os), you'll have a menu item that says "Open Connection...". This is the case with "NCSA
Telnet", a typical telnet application.
in the text field you will enter an address, such as mail.slc.edu or
newmedia.slc.edu
this address will be "resolved" down to a four part IP number by
a designated computer (domain name resolver) that is specified in the systemic configuration of your PC/Mac
you can't "connect" to a machine that isn't running a daemon (program that runs in perpetuity, waiting for stimuli of some sort)
unix and linux systems generally accept telnet connections, provided you have an account (user name and password) registered on that particular machine
when connecting to www.it.scps.nyu.edu, use the user and password given upon in class
once connected, you will have a command line interface at your disposal for interacting with the linux operating system
common unix commands include: ls, cp, echo, cd, man, ps, whoami, hostname, mv, chmod, chown, cat, mkdir, vi, cc, du, df, passwd, mail, telnet, ftp, csh,...
most important is "man" which will allow you to read about other commands. in order to read the MANual pages of these commands, use the syntax:
man cd,
man ls, man man, etc.