Hey {{first name | there}},

The team asked I do something different this week, so I thought I’d time-travel a bit and talk about an old technology called Telnet. 

In 1969, ARPANET, which was one of the very first networks created by the US Department of defense needed a way of accessing and managing remote computers or network devices via a command-line interface, at the time, computers could talk to each other but the concept of “logging in remotely” or, as we say in modern times, “SSH in”. 

In response, Telnet was created as a protocol within the TCP/IP suite to connect to remote computers over a network. It saw mass adoption through the '80s and into the early '90s, but adoption slowed as security became a bigger concern. Telnet sent everything in plaintext,  including passwords, which meant attackers could easily sniff traffic off the wire and grab credentials. By 1995, SSH was introduced as a secure replacement, encrypting traffic by default, and it quickly made Telnet obsolete for anything running over untrusted and even trusted networks. 

So why am I telling you about a mostly obsolete technology? 

Star Wars 

In my early years on the interwebs, one of the random facts i had in my back pocket was that you could watch Star Wars over telnet(kinda) 

This past week i came across an open source project by GitHUb user gabe565 which allows you to watch Star Wars in ASCII over telnet. 

Just run telnet starwarstel.net in your terminal,  and you would be greeted with stunning ASCII art just like the good old days.

Divine also wanted me to tell you guys that if you’re an engineer doing solid work, but it sometimes feels like nobody outside your team really notices, there’s a reason for that.

But fret not, because the Engineer Authority Accelerator is here to help.

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Applications are closing in 6 days, and definitely worth jumping in. Secure your spot.

Well, until next time!

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