Telnet Star WarsWith all of the fancy e-mail programs out there, it is really easy to forget that e-mail had some pretty humble beginning with a simple text interface. And, it is still possible to send e-mail this way.

Now, I’m not really certain as to why you would want to send e-mail this way other than you have no choice or you just want to do it (GEEK!) but here is the process, step by step.

For this tutorial, we will use an example. In this example, our mail server is called smtp.maildomain.com. My e-mail address is me@maildomain.com and I am sending an e-mail to my friend at geekreader@maildomain.com. I want to send him an e-mail with a subject of Telnet Mail and the message will be I am sending this e-mail with telnet. Whenever you see these in the code portion of this tutorial, please replace it with your appropriate information.

Action

Command

Response
Connect to your mail server telnet smtp.maildomain.com 25 220 220 smtp.maildomain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 6.0.3790.3959 ready at Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:45:15 -0500
Introduce yourself helo 250 smtp.maildomain.com Hello [192.168.1.2]
Indicate who mail is from MAIL FROM: me@maildomain.com 250 2.1.0 me@maildomain.com…Sender OK
Indicate recipient of mail RCPT TO: geekreader@maildomain.com 250 2.1.5 geekreader@maildomain.com
Start message DATA 354 Start mail input; end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
Add subject (press Enter twice to complete this command) Subject: Telnet Mail
Enter your message I am sending this e-mail with telnet.
Indicate that your are done . 250 2.6.0 <HJSDRC249CIGo7F5aOYf00000002@smtp.maildomain.com> Queued mail for delivery
Finish your session QUIT 221 2.0.0 smtp.maildomain.com Service closing transmission channel

The entire conversation should look something like this:

220 smtp.maildomain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 6.0.3790.3959 ready at Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:10:31 -0500
helo
250 smtp.maildomain.com Hello [192.168.1.2]
MAIL FROM: me@maildomain.com
250 2.1.0 me@maildomain.com....Sender OK
RCPT TO: geekreader@maildomain.com
250 2.1.5 geekreader@maildomain.com
DATA
354 Start mail input; end with .
Subject:Telnet Mail
I am sending this e-mail with telnet.
.
250 2.6.0 Queued mail for delivery
QUIT
221 2.0.0 smtp.maildomain.com Service closing transmission channel

Now, these are just the absolute basics for sending an e-mail. There are a lot of different options but this will at least get an e-mail out the door!

Now, if you are looking for some more fun with telnet, open up a telnet session to towel.blinkenlights.nl and see what Star Wars looks like in ASCII text!  (Yes, I know this has been around forever but I’ll bet that there is at least one reader who has not seen it!)

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Tim Fehlman