Some information about MUD clients.
Q:What is a MUD-client?
A:First, to be able to connect to a MUD, you need a client. A client is
a program that sets up a connection between your computer and the remote
computer that runs the MUD. If you don't know what a client is, you are most
likely using the simplest client there is, namely telnet.
Q:What can a client do?
A:A most basic things a client should offer is some kind of command-line
editing functions, and the use of actions and aliases. An action is when you
define your client to issue commands if you receive a certain text. For example
you can set up your client to look for the text 'You are hungry' (this is
called the trigger), and send the command 'eat bread' everytime this text occurs.
An alias is simply a substition of the text you type in. Instead of having to
type 'cast 'fireball' dragon' everytime, you can for example set an alias 'cfd' to send
the previous text.
Q:What good clients are there?
A:Clients come in all flavors, with many different functions and fancy stuff.
Most clients for Unix comes in the form of source code, so you will have to compile them
yourself. Check the docs that comes with the client, they are usually good, or
ask your local Unix guru. Clients for Dos/Win are usually compiled and ready
to run. Below is some information about the most popular clients, biased
towards diku-style MUD's in general and MUME in special. Apart from these,
there are a multitude of more or less obscure clients out there...
Q:Ok, i downloaded some client software. What now?
A:Most clients for Unix systems comes with reasonably comprehensible compilation and installation documentation. If you run into any problems ask
your local unix guru or RTFM ;-). However, software downloaded from
ftp sites are often compressed in some way to save space. The file suffix will
tell you how the file is compressed (and how to uncompress it). These are the most common compression formats used:
xxx.zip - compressed using PKZip (or any compatible program)
prompt> unzip xxxx.zip
xxx.tar - packed with Unix 'tape archive' utility
prompt> tar -xvf xxxx
xxx.gz - compressed using gnuzip
prompt> gunzip xxxx.gz
xxx.Z - compressed using Unix 'compress' utility.
prompt> uncompress xxx
Sometimes files are compressed in several ways, ie a file might be named
xxx.tar.Z or uncompression might produce another compressed file. Then just
continue until you end up with uncompressed files.
Next step is to compile the source-code. This might cause problems, especially on more exotic Unix dialects. Especially the include files might need some
tweaking, but the documentation should give you information on how to compile
on different systems. Some experience in C coding might help a lot.
Good luck!
Some nice MUD clients
 TF (TinyFuge)
Runs on most Unix dialects and OS/2 , VMS and even Amiga (see the documentation page for
more information about this). There also seems to be a PC (win32) version available. Has good support for programming, and used
a lot by people playing Battletech MUSH'es. Supports gag, actions, auto-login and many other functions.
This is probably the most advanced client around. Supports regexp- and
globexpmatching and has loads of other feature that other clients
lack. The only problem with tf is that is is too advanced and not very
easy to learn, but if you do it is worth the effort.
Latest version is 4.0.
Offical TF page: http://tf.tcp.com/~hawkeye/tf
Download from: ftp://tf.tcp.com/pub/tinyfugue
Tintin
Runs on BSD-type Unix or win95/NT (WinTin). Popular among diku-mudders. Built-in tick counter,
use of variables, actions and multiple sessions. (nice if you are playing AnotherMud). For win95 users, there is aWinTin homepage.
Current version is Tintin++v1.5.
Nice tintin++v1.5 doc page: http://www.cs.ut.ee/mud/tintin/
Download v1.5 from: ftp://princeton.edu/pub/tintin++/dist/
Cancan
Runs on most Unix-like OS. Also available in a version for Win95/NT,
see Cancan95 below. Primarly designed for dikumud's and tailor-made
for MUME. Inspired by Tintin according to the author.
Cancan implements the MUME remote editing protocol,
which enables you to edit texts on the MUD using your own favourite editor,
several texts at once if you have a windowing terminal. It also have the
standard functions and another really cool feature: If your terminal has
a numeric keypad that sends vt100 compatible control codes (like vtxxx, xterm
, and NCSA telnet do) you can use the keypad to walk around instead of typing
north, south etc. The "5" key sends "exits". It really speeds up your travelling.
Latest version is cancan2.6.5.
Download from:ftp.pvv.unit.no/pub/mud/clients/cancan/cancan2.6.2.tgz
Powwow 
Pow-wow is based on Cancan, and has the same features, including the
MUME remote editing protocol and 'keypad walking'. If you have a colour terminal, you can choose to show
text in different colours. Powwow supports keybindings, ie you can redefine any key to issue commands to the mud by a single keystroke. In my
opinion, these features make Powwow the ultimate client for fast-paced mudding (such as pk:ing in MUME >:-)
Latest version is 1.2.1 (when this was written); finger max@Linuz.sns.it for latest info.
Download from: Linuz.sns.it/pub/Linux/ext-pack/powwow/
Cancan95
A version of Cancan for win95/winNT systems, but the code is actually based on
powwow 0.8.
Has all the functions of Powwow, and it scrolls really fast.
Currently in beta test version.
Nice homepage here.
Download at:ftp.sparta.lu.se/pub/win95/winsock/cancan95.zip
Zmud
Mud client for all ya PC users out there. I've never used it myself, but i've heard all sorts of opinions about
ranging from 'slow and buggy' til 'it rocks'. Available in both 16-bit (Win3.1) and 32-bit (Win95) versions. Latest public version is 4.62. Shareware, registration fee is 20 USD.
Zmud has a very informative homepage, where you also can download the program.
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