Free Shell Server

[Oko]

This post is inspired by Underlegend post. I am listing Free Shell servers I am subscribed to and OS they are running. For more info please send PM.

SDF Public Access UNIX System runs NetBSD. Lifetime registration is $1. It actually hosts my personal web-site for the past 7 years. They come with free e-mail account. NetBSD has its own version of mailx which does have partial support for MIME (it supports attachments). I always wanted to port it to OpenBSD in particularly after Heirloom Mailx become inactive and s-nail guys started doing crazy things with s-nail.

http://devio.us/ free OpenBSD shell provider. More liberal than SDF as its allow outgoing ssh connections with free account and PHP. I use for hosting several PmWiki's of mine. Feels little bit less reliable than SDF in terms of down time.

[J65nko]

Another one that I use is: http://silenceisdefeat.com They run OpenBSD

[ibara]

Originally Posted by Oko

http://devio.us/ free OpenBSD shell provider. More liberal than SDF as its allow outgoing ssh connections with free account and PHP. I use for hosting several PmWiki's of mine. Feels little bit less reliable than SDF in terms of down time.

I should full disclosure that I'm one of the admins of devio.us
(I should also note that we haven't had any significant downtime in a long time.)

I should also add that we're very strict on accepting new members (this is not a "you put in username->you get account" operation). So make sure to read the sign-up policy if you want to get an account.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by ibara

I should full disclosure that I'm one of the admins of devio.us
(I should also note that we haven't had any significant downtime in a long time.)

Also full disclosure on my side. I am your user since day one. I have never experienced downtime of more than 12h IIRC and I can confirm that last year was almost zero downtime. One of PmWikis you are hosting for me is

cdysys

[muflon]

GREX is also free shell provider.

Since 2003 they use OpenBSD as their main OS platform.
But this will change in near future; as I know plans goes to FreeBSD migration.

[muflon]

Originally Posted by Oko

SDF Public Access UNIX System runs NetBSD.

If you ssh to 3b2.sdf.org ; login: visitor

You can feel real AT&T 3b2/500 Unix System; based on System V R3; still running and maintain by Qwest Museum of Communications at the Duwamish Central Office in Seattle.

These machines were donated by SDF in 2009; and they were main servers from 1993 till 1998.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by muflon

If you ssh to 3b2.sdf.org ; login: visitor

You can feel real AT&T 3b2/500 Unix System; based on System V R3; still running and maintain by Qwest Museum of Communications at the Duwamish Central Office in Seattle.

These machines were donated by SDF in 2009; and they were main servers from 1993 till 1998.

Man I own you a big one for that info. That is an awesome UNIX shell! That is so cool!!!

[muflon]

Originally Posted by Oko

That is an awesome UNIX shell!

There is also Twenex site; which allows You to try 'real DEC' operating system; TOPS-20.

It is a KL10B (KLH10) emulator written by Ken Harrenstein with support for 8 RH20s which could handle up to 7 or 8 RP07 disk drives (about 500mb each). Host OS for that emulation is NetBSD powered by DEC Alpha 5300.

Almost all sources and even more important tons of documentation [VAXen, PDP's, OS] is provided by bitsavers.trailing-edge.com

Master instructions about TOPS-20 [and 10]:
bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/spd/

Also there is vast amount of OpenVMS, RSX os'es; that You can still log in; through HECnet founded and maintained by: Johnny Billquist.

Salut!
Marcin

[jggimi]

Ah, TOPS-10. I recall its filesystem fondly. File metadata was stored in a Resource Information Block ("RIB"). There were two: a Prime, and a Spare.

I was also a Grex user many years ago. Many.

This is a nostalgic thread.

[raindog308]

Ah, grex! I used them when I lived in Ann Abor. I remember when grex was just grex and they had a vote on a domain name (cyberspace.org).

So if they've been running OpenBSD for years, why the switch?

Arbornet is another one that runs FreeBSD, and is also in Ann Arbor: http://www.arbornet.org/free_shell_accounts.php

Running a free shell provider sounds like fun. You can rent a halfways decent dedicated server with software and plenty of bandwidth for $50-60 a month so it's not a huge investment dollar-wise, though I imagine weeding out abuse would be a headache. Then again, your typical abusive user is looking for cpanel on linux so they can upload their spammy scripts, not a BSD shell.

Anyone who runs one care to comment on the challenges?

[qmemo]

And I 'll just paste this here

http://shells.red-pill.eu/