>  I'd like to ask for some further clarification on "shell accounts."

Well, all a shell account is, really, is the ability to log into a machine
somewhere and get a command line.  Once one has that, the programs and
resources of that machine are at one's disposal; for instance, if I'm having
trouble downloading a file because the remote server is slow or keeps
dropping out, I can shell into a Unix machine and say 'nohup wget --tries=0
http://some.site/or/other' before logging out again and disconnecting.  That
machine will get on with downloading my file without racking up my phone
bill or blood pressure; I can check back later and FTP it back (or however I
want to get it to my machine) hopefully faster or more reliably.

Shell accounts are also useful to play about with Unix, or make use of
compilers or environments available at the other end, or to run servers or
IRC bots or whatever; for example, I occasionally run the Xvnc server to get
an X desktop on a remote machine, rather than install an X setup and the
software I want to use on one of my local ones.  Basically, it gives you
access to another computer or connection which might be more convenient for
some things than yours.

Regards,
Ben A L Jemmett.
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ben.jemmett/, http://www.deltasoft.com/)

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