The Internet used be a rather open and loose environment. Back when it was a research-only environment, people didn't really care much about security, because it was presumed that everyone wanted to use the net to actually get things done, not to cause havoc for others. Those times are long past of course, but the network protocols that were designed back then are still with us today, and some of them carry those assumptions in their design. The last remaining "big one" is the fact that telnet, POP, FTP, and several other protocols that are user-based send passwords over the net without any form of encryption. This means it is rather easy for someone to "sniff" the network between the two machines and grab someone's password from the stream of bits going by. In fact, in the recent past, a handful of accounts on Hyperreal have been compromised in this manner.
So in the interests of protecting the box, we are moving away from these insecure protocols. Fortunately, there is a wide array of free or inexpensive software, most of them based on the "SSH" protocol, that are secure replacements for these services. We will go into them in detail for each platform.
We have turned off telnet, and plan on turning off the insecure versions of other protocols as soon as we are confident that enough people have tested it out. That means your telnet application won't work, and your ftp application and mail reader may stop working at a certain date in the future. We will give plenty of heads-up.
Below are some links to native SSH clients for different platforms. However, the easiest way to get an SSH shell on hyperreal.org is to follow this link, which (if you have Java enabled) launch an applet called "Mindterm" which is pre-configured to connect directly to hyperreal.org. Enjoy.
Here are some links to places that can also help you in the software search:
We realize this may not be the easiest thing in the world to do, but it's necessary to make the box sufficiently secure for what we do these days. Thanks!