I remember Freenets. They used to be so prevalent… organizations dedicated to providing free internet access or shell accounts to the public. But, in these days of the highly commercialized Internet, I thought they had all but disappeared.
Then, Meredith pointed out the SDF Public Access UNIX system. Anyone can get a (nearly) free UNIX account with e-mail and web space as well some of those great little tools that you can only access from a UNIX command line (c’mon… you know you want to use pine again!). All you need to do is validate that you’re not a spammer (which is done by mailing a single dollar through the US mail) and you’re set. And if you want to add ssh capability (a feature that’s becoming harder and harder to find amongst web hosts), there’s a one-time $36 fee.
It made me smile to sign up for an account. Whether I use it for remote testing/pinging of servers or just backup storage in case one of my web sites all of a sudden crashes and burns, it’s nice to know it’ll be there when I need it.
Posted in Technology
Spfy January 19, 2008, 3:51 am
Well, seems that SystemShell.net is still around. That link no longer works. We still provide free shell accounts. 🙂
dewa_ncc October 6, 2008, 9:40 am
Walaa…please bring me 1 shells