Telnet Clients

(Traveling Baren Touhk in Style)


If you are still arriving at Baren Touhk with the telnet client that came installed with your computer's operating system then you may not be aware of how much needless suffering you endure each time you use it. Tavern life can be much easier and more fun with decent software. I sometimes meet people in the tavern who aren't even able to type into a text box and edit what they say before sending it to the screen. I remember what that was like. By the time you get to the end of your sentence you've forgotten how you started it because your words are tangled up with everyone else's as the screen rolls merrily along. You can end the frustration right now by downloading a decent telnet client for free.

PC: For my PC I use SimpleMU, as do many others at the tavern. It has endless features, many of which I neither use nor understand, and the good news is that none of them mar the program's basic simplicity and ease of use. Some of the features are full ANSI color support, multi-server support, highlight support, multi-worlding, file logging, large send window buffer, history recall, macros, triggers, and on and on. If you care to register the program with Kathleen MacMahon of Vermont who designed it you'll find a place on the download page for that purpose. As a registered user you will get a few extra goodies and will be notified of future releases. This gem is available for free at http://simplemu.onlineroleplay.com/

Macintosh: For my Mac I use MacMUSH. It is a good, basic telnet program which, according to "The Mac Orchard," features multiple connections, logging, ANSI, macros, getting/setting attibutes, a good scrollback buffer and much more. To the best of my knowledge I never use any of the features except for scrollback, so I'll take their word for it. The program is document based which means that once you have visited a talker you will then have a little icon on your desktop that you can click to bring you there again. Life gets easier and easier. This and other Macintosh telnet clients are available from The Mac Orchard.


There are many other ways of getting to Baren Touhk but these two are the simplest and most straightforward ones I know of for the Mac and PC. If you find something you like better, let us know, and tell us why. One of these days I might even teach myself how to use a "feature."

Happy talking!

Fane

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Editor's Note: An alert reader pointed out that the name of this column may not be entirely obvious. First Knowledge refers to the common everyday knowledge of the common lower castes among Gor. They include some superstitions, but no knowledge beyond the realm of everyday worldly affairs. Second Knowledge is reserved for the higher castes and include knowledge of the slave planet (Earth) and the more involved sciences such stablization serums. By extension, I've taken it a step further and refer to Third Knowledge as that knowledge that goes beyond literary and online Gor, to the more Earth-technical aspects involving the computers, programs and the like.

If you have would like to submit a piece for "Third Knowledge" (any length within reason) contact Kaard@yahoo.com or .smail him. Some ideas for future pieces that are open for writers are reviews of different talker programs for different computer platforms, tips and tricks on smail, making the most of your telnet program (how to log, set displays, etc)



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