Comments on: Help me telnet!

Question: Help me telnet!

ereshkigal45 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:26:37 -0800

Desperate to telnet: I'm at a crappy pay as you go computer in a hotel in Germany. It's a Windows machine, and the native telnet client is disabled. I downloaded putty, but can't install it or run it. I don't have a flash drive on which to download putty and even if I did, there's no available USB port. I vaguely recall an acquaintance posting about a website from which one could establish a telnet connection (via a Java applet?). I'm a bit of a technotard, but can follow instructions. HELP. I've been out of touch with my friends for two weeks, and am desperate to check in with them. Thanks!

By: procrastination

procrastination — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:44:44 -0800

I have never tried it, and think you would be a bit nuts to use it since they could easily grab your password, but there is a http to telnet gateway online.

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:54:00 -0800

Putty doesn't need to be installed, you can just run it as an executable that you download and put anywhere. Try this link:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

Just download putty.exe.

By: ereshkigal45

ereshkigal45 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:04:30 -0800

I know that putty is executable, but I'm not able to execute it. I'm getting a message auf Deutsch that says: "Windows kann dieses programme nicht offnung, weil dies einer Systemrichtlinie zufolge nicht zulassig ist. Offnen sie die Ereignisanzeige, oder wenden Sie sich an den Systemadministrator, um weitere Informationen zu erhalten."

I don't know exactly what that means, but I think it loosely translates to "no way, Jose."

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:08:44 -0800

Google translate says:"Windows can not opening this program, because this is one system that directive is not allowed. Opening the event display, or ask your system administrator for more information"

By: themel

themel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:14:21 -0800

Are you talking of actual telnet or can you use SSH? MindTerm is your search term for SSH, but that doesn't do actual unencrypted telnet.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:23:09 -0800

That gateway that procrastination links to is, IMO, dangerous. It routes all your traffic through them, which you shouldn't do unless you trust them a lot.

What you really want is something like this, which basically encapsulates a telnet application in a Java applet. Unfortunately, that one is designed to only let you connect to one system (the SDF).

I think this is one that will let you connect just about anywhere. It should still be considered a dangerous last resort, since I haven't inspected the code or anything, and you have no idea of whether it's sending your passwords to someone, but that's really no different from running any other executable.

The major difference is that it connects directly, without going to a central server via HTTP and then to the site you're connecting to. It's a full-fledged Telnet program, just implemented inside your browser.

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:25:43 -0800

Try to use SSH if the machine you're connecting to allows it (quite probable). SSH is better because your text (including the username/password) is sent in the clear (unencrypted) in telnet, but not in SSH. (You describe yourself as a neophyte, so apologies if you knew this).

There is an online SSH client here that appears to connect directly from your computer. It will not work if the place you're connecting from blocks outgoing SSH traffic (not uncommon in corporations, but I'm guessing probably not blocked in your case).

Otherwise you'll need a gateway, which will allow your traffic to be secure HTTP (SSL) to the gateway itself, and then SSL to the machine you want to connect to. I am not aware of any, but I didn't have the time to look hard.

By: jannw

jannw — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:09:26 -0800

my 2c ... which may work ... can you get to windows help? if so search for command or cmd ... to get the command prompt help page ... which should have a link to run the command prompt ... run it and then try telnet from the prompt.

By: kamelhoecker

kamelhoecker — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:46:28 -0800

i've found you can't rely on telnet or ssh when traveling. you need to use what the masses use: gmail, hotmail, etc.

e.g. I use gmail solely for this purpose. A copy of all incoming mail is forwarded to my gmail address. Not only is this a handy searchable archive, and i can read and send email from anywhere with minimal fuss.

you can also use web pop gateways if you're desperate and don't mind giving your account info to strangers.

By: ereshkigal45

ereshkigal45 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:37:05 -0800

Thank you all for the suggestions. I´m afraid the pucker factor on this terminal is extremely high. I´ve tried all suggestions and no joy. It´s a lesson learned. I´ll never travel without a laptop again.

By: fvw

fvw — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:01:07 -0800

javassh is able to do telnet, though I think mindterm has support too. You'll still need to set it up on on your server that also runs the telnet server though.

Alternatively, get yourself a free ssh account somewhere and use this.

By: banshee

banshee — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:20:25 -0800

In IE you can also do telnet://your_address. It just spawns the native telnet client, might be worth a try.

By: canoehead

canoehead — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:04:09 -0800

does the pc have hyperterminal isntalled? (in startmenu-accessories-communications)

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:18:59 -0800

In the future, it might be a good idea to buy a cheap virtual host and install some web-based SSH of your own.

By: arnoooooo

arnoooooo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 04:02:06 -0800

AjaxTerm works wonders... but that's for next time. I don't have much to suggest right now other than that.