[Cialug] shell accounts

kristau kristau at gmail.com
Sun Nov 18 15:29:05 CST 2012


http://sdf.org is a good free shell provider. They run NetBSD, I
believe, but the command line is sufficiently similar to Linux for the
basics (pwd, ls, mv, chmod, uptime, etc.).

On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 12:52 PM, Scott Prader <rigrunn at gmail.com> wrote:
> I was introduced to Linux/BSD/SunOS years ago through the use of a shell
> account.  The reasoning was NOT that I was afraid of installing on my own
> hard drive.  On the contrary, I had tried, but there were certain things
> that I could not figure out at the time.  As I had limited access to a LUG
> at the time, and I wanted something that was easily accessible, a remote
> shell account became ideal because it let me explore the system to
> basically see how it worked and differed from DOS.  Within a year, I was
> more comfortable with the idea of getting it installed.  Someone finally
> did help, and Slackware was running.  That made it easier to take the path
> of re-installing multiple times easier and trying out different
> distributions.
>
> It seems to me to have less to do with fear and more to do with the anxiety
> and frustration behind not understanding some of the basics of how
> computers work, which is usually what gets people interested in open source
> since big-name companies like to package all of the software and make it
> seamless.
>
> Since ISP's have gone the way that they have, finding a local dialup shell
> provider is impossible these days.  Who uses dialup these days anyway?  So,
> perhaps the best piece of advice  that I can offer to those that would like
> to use a remote shell site is get yourself a decent client to connect with.
>  In Windows, this would be putty:
> http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
>
> -Scott
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 12:19 PM, chris rheinherren <c.rheinherren at gmail.com
>> wrote:
>
>> Yeah. I know. I use VirtualBox all the time to try out different distro's
>> myself.
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, kristau <kristau at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Why the fear of installing as a VM? With VirtualBox or VMware Player,
>> this
>> > would be easy, cheap, and free. Plus they would learn the install and
>> setup
>> > process which you won't learn with a mere shell account.
>> >
>> > Invite them to a CIALUG meeting and we can help get them started if it is
>> > just a fear of the whole "VM thing."
>> > On Nov 18, 2012 11:17 AM, "chris rheinherren" <c.rheinherren at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hi
>> > >
>> > > I've got some friends who are interested in Linux but don't want to
>> take
>> > > the plunge off the deep end by installing it on their hard drives  Some
>> > not
>> > > even as virtual machines. So I'm thinking a shell account would be
>> > helpful
>> > > for someone to learn some basics of Linux command line.
>> > >
>> > > So are there any recommendations from the group as to shell providers
>> ...
>> > > free and paid.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Thanks
>> > >
>> > > Chris
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> > > Cialug at cialug.org
>> > > http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
>> > >
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-- 
Tired programmer
Coding late into the night
The core dump follows


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