i'd like to telnet a linux8.0 machine but i get a message like :"connection refused"
no problem with ping
what to do?
any help is apreciated

On many Linux machines telnet comes disabled by default for security reasons. Secure Shell (ssh) is better. If you are connecting from another Linux/UNIX box, just replace "telnet" with "ssh" and that should work. If coming from Windows, you can download an SSH client (e.g. PuTTY - google for "PuTTY download").

If you really want to use telnet, you need to enable it. The exact method will depend on which distro you are using but you need to be looking at /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/inet.d

i'd like to use telnet but i don't khnow what parameters to modify in "/etc/xinetd.conf"
and "/etc/xinetd.d.telnet"
i'm guessing that these are the only configuration file that i need.

telnet sucks man, stay away from it. please use ssh instead. all your passwords are so easily sniffed out in a telnet session, a 5th grader could do it. with that, you've been warned.

im used to all the server deamons being in /etc/init.d

so then it would be for me (if i had telnet) /etc/init.d/telnet start

if you are trying to connect to a computer that you think has telnet running on it, then Connection Refused means 1 or more things:

1. telnet not running on said machine
2. telnet running but u dont have access based on your IP or something
3. telnet running on non-standard port

AVOID TELNET!!

that's right, telnet has all but outlived it's usefullness, i'ts still good for running internet bbses and other things, but for remote administration of a linux machine, ssh wins hands down for security, ssh is to telnet as ssl is to web browsing and email, a means of encryption so information you want private stays private, and the sshd has an sftpd subservice that allows secure transfer of files, trust me you don't want ftp and ssh if you can avoid it, ftp is best left for anonymous access to your box (such as if you want anyone to access the files)