"James & Tatiana Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [...] > I'd like to ask for some further clarification on "shell > accounts." [...] But nothing that I found indicated to me why anyone would want > one. What's the purpose? To use the resources of a more powerful computer > remotely? Some sort of privacy issue?
A shell account lets you access a remote (though not necessarily more powerful) system, but more importantly, it lets you use that system's RESOURCES. In my case, I'm occasionally on the road doing dial-up from odd locations. If I access a shell account on the Linux machine at my house, I can view mail etc. using it's fast 'net connection, while only sending the relatively efficient screen updates across the link to where I'm actually sitting. It can also be handy for doing things like downloading a big file, pulling out only the parts I want, compressing those, then downloading them over the slow link to where I'm sitting. For those of us who are CLI-inclined, it also lets us remotely manage/configure/tweak a system just as if we were live at the console. I occasionally use a terminal session to a shell on a computer across the room because I just don't feel like walking. :) > I understand that shell accounts > were sort of a remote computing standard at one time, but are now > obsolete. Is that correct? Well, at one time they were the ONLY option. Now they're ONE option. Obsolete in the sense of not being popular, but there are MANY very hard-core types who live at a shell prompt. There are many amazingly powerful tools for the CLI (command-line interface) that people swear by, but they're just not as popular amongst the general public as the GUI tools. > The main confusion I have about shell accounts > may stem from the fact that my experience of remote computing (am I making > up a new term here?) has been through dialin ISP's. You pay them to give > you access to the 'net, an email account, perhaps webspace for your pages. > And, if you have a shell account, to get access to your shell account. So, > in theory, the shell account must offer something additonal that the ISP > you pay, doesn't. What is it? Many answers of course, but if your ISP gives you shell access, you probably have more CONTROL over your web pages/ftp site or whatever. Many times these days you're limited by the supported tools. I'm sure there are lots of aspects I haven't covered here. - Bob To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
