Generally, most distributions' openssh packages can be used without any manual configuration. After installing openssh, you'll have a couple of binaries. One is, of course, ssh -- the secure shell client that can be used to connect to any system running sshd, the secure shell server. To use ssh, you typically start a session by typing something like:

$ ssh drobbins@otherbox

Above, I instruct ssh to login as the "drobbins" user account on remotebox. As with telnet, you'll be prompted for a password; after entering it, you'll be presented with a new login session on the remote system.