Please don't use this stuff unless you (a) know how to use a computer properly, and (b) enjoy doing so. Anyone else will only find frustration within! [greyfire island] accepts precisely NO responsibility for such people; it is your own fault.

Next up, make sure you have an active internet connection (chances are you do, unless you're reading this offline ) and tell the program to connect to blinkenlights.nl; if you are asked, make sure Port is set to telnet, and Terminal Type is vt100. By crossing all fingers and toes, you will hopefully get a nice ASCII-rendered showing of Star Wars! This is just a quick start-up to get you used to how the program works; in general telnet is more powerful than this.

It is worth noting that your telnet program most likely operates by sending unencrypted data "as is" over the internet. As you can imagine, this is not too secure for sending passwords and the like, so before we begin the next step (activating a shell account), you might like to get a better telnet program. Try TeraTerm, and download the SSH extension if you're really paranoid.

Don't all be lamers please, because this is my home board

Here is a list of UNIX commands accepted in lonestar.org; if you decided to use a different shell provider, some of the more complex commands might masquerade under different names, or be absent altogether. {braces} denote items you are expected to supply appropriately, such as filenames. Certain useful commands (particularly man!) are marked for you.

cd {dir} change directory pwd print working (current) directory ls list directory (try ls -la) cat {file} concatenate (view) a file mkdir {name} create a directory rm {file} remove a file or directory mv {file} move a file or directory edit {file} edit a file in your directory ps process status (try ps -aux) passwd change your password disk show current disk usage uptime show system status df print system storage

finger {user} show info about a user (try who or w) ping {host} test network connectivity to a host traceroute {host} view the route to a remote host man {cmd} read a manual page for a command mkhomepg allocate your own webpage space upload upload a file using ZMODEM (works w/ TeraTERM) addlink create the URL for your homepage com multiuser online chat send send a message to another user online bboard bulletin board faq frequently asked questions mail read/send email delme remove your account now logout pretty self-explanatory really

Secondly, UNIX filenames (and thus commands, listed in the table above) are case-sensitive. For example, this means that Logout, LOGOUT and LoGoUt are illegal commands. You must specify the command in lower case as logout .

Most of the people you meet will be quite friendly and helpful if you get confused. Just use the com command to open the chat room and ask for assistance; but make sure your question isn't answered by faq or man first!