So why don't you use ssh to access routers? mactelnet has one single function which ssh doesn't: connectivity over MAC, which comes handy when IP setup gets south. But hopefully that's not very often and I (being a linux/console nerd myself) resort to using winbox in such case (runs under linux / wine just fine). On the other hand ssh connectivity works over routed networks while mactelnet (using MAC directly) doesn't.
Of course we use SSH for daily work. But "
not very often" is still a valid case, for example when cleaning a board with "/system reset-configuration no-defaults=yes".
Running Winbox from Wine is fine, but not always a choice: Sometime you have a server in the same segment where you do install neither graphical environment nor wine.
Luckily another Mikrotik is available very often to do the job.
Anyway, a working mac-telnet from linux terminal would be very handy.
Mikrotik, please share information about authentication mechanism. You do not need to provide any code, just share that information!