Unix Shell Accounts?

mcovey asks: "Unix shell accounts used to be easy to find, with quality applications installed and free web space. Nowadays the only free ones left are either not accepting new accounts, have limited applications or send you on a wild goose chase to register. Does anyone know any free or low-cost shell accounts that include compilers, IRC, background processes, FTP, a decent editor and an email app (preferably pine, since I have a config file already on my IMAP server)?"

Comments

Why do you need a hosted shell account?

[Bad Boy Marty]

Just fire up Linux on some dusty old i386, and plug it into your home network. What's so special about having a hosted account?

They wish they could

[etymxris]

I'm sure there are plenty of people that own dedicated hosts that would be happy to offer shell accounts, if only the company that they rent from would allow it. I own several dedicated hosts, and none of the companies allow me to sell shell accounts from them.

I'm sure it wasn't done on a whim. Giving out shell accounts allows the potential for serious abuse, and when you start granting strangers permission to do so many random things from the shell, abuse is destined to occur.

Re:Why do you need a hosted shell account? Reasons

[squiggleslash]

FWIW, I have a "free shell account" on my machine at home which is permanently connected thanks to DSL. You can get an address from dynip.com (pay) or a miriad of free providers that will track your IP address and give you a hostname permanently pointing at it. Most major DSL providers in the US seem to offer static IPs as an option too.

This, ultimately, is probably the major reason supported, open, free shell accounts have died out. Most people who'd want one have the ability to create what they need. As a result, the bulk of users of the free services have become those who are desperate to use someone else's machine, and you can imagine that a high proportion of those are script kiddies and other undesirables.

So I think the GP was on the money. Of course, you're out of luck if you don't have a DSL connection (or something else you can use to stay on the net permanently.)