client connection

I am trying to make my first connection from a client machine to a postresql
server machine. What is the correct client command syntax to connect to
the server? I do not want to attempt encryption yet so I am not using SSH
or stunnel - I trying the easiest configuration i.e. telnet?.

Specs: Client RedHat 7.1 2.4.2-2 kernal everything build
Server RedHat 7.1 2.4.2-2 kernal everything build with
Interchange 4.8

Both of these hosts are on the same subnet and can ping each other.

I am learning Linux and Postgresql from scratch.

I have started the postmaster with '-i' option to allow TCP/IP connections.

I used the following command to do this and am using port 8888 to avoid lock
with port 5432.
Not sure if I have to do this but I show a message saying 5432 was locked.

pg_ctl -D /home/jeff/test -o '-i -p 8888' restart

I edited the pg_hba.conf to allow any host from this subnet to connect i.e.
host all 10.240.22.0 255.255.255.0 trust

The way I tried to connect as the client to the server was
telnet 10.240.22.203 8888

The response I get is
Connected 10.240.22.203
Escape character is '^]'.

When I hit the return key I get
Invalid packet length Connection closed by foreign host.

What am I doing wrong or what else do I need to do?

Thanks,
Jeff