How can I telnet into grex?

Feb 28 20:37 UTC 1994

It can be a pain to fight with busy signals.  It can be expensive for
people as close as Bellville to make phone calls to Ann Arbor.  Now
there's another way to get into grex besides the phone lines.  You can
telnet into grex from anywhere on the Internet.

It would seem that telnet from the Michnet (Merit) Which Host? prompt
would be the most convenient way to get into grex, but because grex is
not a michnet host, you need authorization from michnet to do it.  One way
to get authorization is to have a valid USERid and password on the UM-MTS
system.  You don't spend any MTS money to telnet from michnet to grex. 
You just have to identify yourself to michnet.  Who can get an account on
MTS?  What does it cost to maintain a valid id and password on MTS if you
don't care about MTS and don't spend any MTS money?  How else can people
get michnet authorization?

If you can get a Which Host? prompt from a non-dialup port, you may not
need authorization to telnet out to grex.  A friend of mine in a U-M dorm
has a line driver connecting her computer directly to michnet without a
modem.  I was able to telnet from there to grex without authorization from
michnet, although I would not suggest breaking into my friend's room
and using her computer.  :-)  Who can gain access to one of these ports
that permits telnet outside of michnet?

What about msen?  You could telnet from msen to grex from many locations
around the state.  Where does msen have dialins?  How much does it cost to
use msen?  How often do msen users encounter busy signals?

Any other creative answers to the question, "How can I telnet into grex?"

response 2 of 41:

Feb 28 23:21 UTC 1994

Get an account on a machine like the one I am telnetting from.  It is free.
It came with the job...   }B-)

response 4 of 41:

Mar 1 15:50 UTC 1994

Does that $35 buy you just an id for using the michnet lines, or does it
also give you a kerebos password/ifs disk space at the u?

response 6 of 41:

Mar 3 14:52 UTC 1994

I'm pretty sure that the $35/month only gets you an authentication ID --
no Kerberos principal, no IFS space.

ICNet is a MichNet host, and Ivars has expressed interest in setting
something up whereby people buy a "passthrough" account on his
system, and then are connected directly to Grex when they log into
his machine.  You would call MichNet, connect to ICNet from the
Which Host? prompt (no authentication ID required), and then be
connected to Grex when you log into ICNet.  I don't know how much
this would cost per month, but you might want to look into it.

Personally, I telnet to Grex from my PC in my dorm room and from
the public workstations here at CMU.  But I doubt that this option
is available to most Grex users.

response 8 of 41:

Mar 5 22:08 UTC 1994

This has been quite useful.  Since I will be moving to Penang, Malaysia
this July, I need this after I get my stuff set up.  I'm sure it will
take me awhile to get it set up, but I do have a conference to Fw.
I just hope I don't have to deal with logon time.  That would be my
death (cybernetically speaking).  I just couldn't deal with it well.

response 10 of 41:

Mar 16 03:24 UTC 1994

Right.  Grex was added to the msu gopher just today!

response 12 of 41:

Mar 16 07:45 UTC 1994

I'm using the msu-gopher right now, and since I don't have to LD it
any more I think I'll be around a lot more.  Thanks to those who made
this available.

response 14 of 41:

Mar 16 11:18 UTC 1994

Why do I get the idea that this particular path will only exist until they
discover we're not really an official Freenet?

response 16 of 41:

Mar 16 21:56 UTC 1994

 Not to drift or anything, but I have noticed that one cannot send mail
(no Meta key for me or control x keys for elm and pine) nor can they use
the vi editor. Is there something I need to do to alias these keys so that
I can use them while I am on the link, or should I just wait until
I can get a direct dialin?

response 18 of 41:

Mar 17 06:25 UTC 1994

 I really didn't give the fair trial it deserved, and I will be doing just
that in a few days, as time and dialins permit.

I'll keep you posted on my findings/

response 20 of 41:

Mar 18 06:45 UTC 1994

Sounds like its going to be another nice thing that's available for a short
while and then is taken away.  When volume has increased in the past with
something it usually has disappeared.

response 22 of 41:

Mar 19 03:37 UTC 1994

This world would probably advance a *lot* faster if information was freely
accessable by all.  I can't see why people would be against it.

response 24 of 41:

Mar 20 01:04 UTC 1994

re 22: The biggest problem with making a whole bunch of things like grex
available freely over msu-gopher is that Ameritech (or some company) has
to be paid for the phone lines you dial to be connected to Michnet.  The
Internet traffic generated through MSU may be no big deal, but when you're
on Michnet, no one else can use the Michnet phone line and modem you're
tying up.  The Michnet dial in lines in Ann Arbor are (I presume) paid for
by U of M.  If the budget people at the U don't think that the U gets
anything out of our use of their resources, they have every right to shut
us out. 

If we can convince governments that "the world would advance a*lot* faster" 
with more public dial in lines on Michnet or whatever we'd need to make
"information freely accessible by all," I'm sure the government could come
up with the money.  I'm glad that the Universities are letting us use
their computing resourses for now.  But I'm not counting on being able to
use them forever.