Coolest SSH Terminal Client App for any Smartphone iOS - CATHODE

This has got to be the coolest iPhone SSH app. In fact, it is the coolest SSH client on any mobile smartphone. It is called Cathode.

Notice, how I did the BASH test for shellshock on my new iPhone 6 Plus in the screenshot above!

Last year, I reviewed the Desktop version and I said if they ever made an iOS version, I would buy it. And I did. Cathode is a retro, fun SSH client that mimics and old Cathode Tube monitor. The kind you had back in the late 70s and mid 80s.  The little details are great. For example, the reflections in the screen moves along with your gestures. There is burn-in effects and flicker. I love this little app.

This app wouldn't be good unless it supported what you needed in an SSH client - keyboard function along with SSH Key authentication support. The effects are fully adjustable and customizable.

Here are some images for your enjoyment.

iPhone 6 Plus in landscape mode. Here, I am connected to my FreeNAS box.

This is one of those cool iOS only apps and it is made better on the larger 5.5" iPhone 6 Plus.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cathode/id656982811?mt=8

Cathode Terminal App for OSX. Vintage UNIX computing fun.

Here is a pretty cool terminal app for Mac OSX. Called, Cathode, it brings back some retro fun (for those over 30). It is $10 at the app store which seems pricey for a terminal app. However, after playing with it, it is loads of fun for old timers like myself.

It simulates old Cathode tube monitors from days past. You can pretend you are working on an old Lost era 1970 Aames research terminal, a 286 from 1980, even a Commodore 64, a Pet, or pretty much any old UNIX workstations long before flat panel LCD. You even have the degauss effects, blur, random jitter, RF static as if you are on a real old school terminal. In short, cool.

This is how it looks on my Retina 15" Macbook Pro. 

I had low expectations; thinking it would come with at most, 3-4 themes. I was pleasantly surprise to see the myriad of options: screen themes, monitor faceplate themes, fonts, and you can even configure the background CRT reflection. In short, you can configure this in a hundred different permutations. For example, you can pretend you have Commodore 64 connected to a 9" TV from 1976 with a janky RF adapter. You'll get the RF backfeed, fuzz, noise, scan-lines, and refresh. If you are old enough to remember switching between Channel 3 and 4 due to local tv station back-feed while connecting a home computer to a television set in the 80s, you'll know what I am talking about.

The apps is even retina optimized so you can see with extreme clarity.

Here are some screen shots.

$10 doesn't seem so bad considering I am in the terminal 90% of the time. It makes it fun. And with Apple's download policies, I can install this on multiple macs I own via the App-store. In essence, it takes the bite out of $10 for a terminal app when you spread it across 4-5 macs. It is definitely worth it for the fun and nostalgia.

I only wish for a 1990 MacTerm and Nextstep theme to complete this. And if this developer ever made this app as an SSH client for the iPad, I will be the first one in line to download.

Lastly, I finally have a reason to pull out my old 7" portable USB displaylink monitors. At 800x480, they're pretty useless but as a second terminal window, they're pretty cool.

Link on App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cathode/id499233976?mt=12

Pimp and personalize your Terminal Prompt

Around 16 years ago during the dot-com boom, I was getting my first exposure to remote console access.  Logging into a UNIX server back in those days was a real treat. It had much more intimacy as sysadmins would often personalize their lair.
Today, with Puppets, Chefs and virtualization, scores of machines and servers are created on-the-fly. Virtualization and cloud computing has desensitized the experience.

Today, I don't even know what I'm logging into. Single VM instances run small web applications unlike before when a massive server would handle a variety of tasks. This is what I typically see:

Which brings me to today's blog post. Personalization in the console. With things like ASCII art, MOTDs, and even editing bash profiles, you can bring some of that intimacy back.

Now, doesn't these screenshots below look more personal.

MOTD (Message of the Day) is a text file sysadmins usually personalize for end users login in. Today, MOTDs are often system auto-generated to display stats.
You can re-claim that back rather easily. Or, you can append to the default MOTD by adding a file /etc/motd.tail on most *NIX operating systems.

I normally head over to several ASCII sites and download some goofy ascii art to give the servers some more bling.

Some interesting tools.

There are a few things in Linux you can use to customize your MOTDs.

First, there is linux_logo (apt-get install linux_logo on Debian or pacman -S linux_logo on arch).

This will give you the ability to generate a few great system logos.

To list available logos, type in: linux_logo -L list

Then to choose, type linux_logo -L X (number from the list)

If you want to pipe it out to a text file, you can do: linux_logo -L 26 > ubuntu.motd.txt

Another tool is figlet which is an ascii text banner creator. Figlet is pretty straightforward and instructions in the man pages is to the point.

Here, I have a centered logo with a slight slant:

figlet -cf slant "my text"

-c = center

-f = format

Now combine the some ascii art with ascii text decorations, you can have something like these:

As you can see, with little effort, you can stylize your terminal login prompts.

SSHFS on OSX. Mount SSH/SFTP shares on the Mac.

For over 10 years, I wish Apple implemented something like this:

Command-K. Connect to Sever.

Oh, I wish for the ability to natively mount SFTP/SSH shares as volumes in the operating system. You can already do it with AFP, NFS, CIF,WebDAV, and even FTP. You can do this in many Linux distributions and I actually use it quite a bit in Ubuntu. If Only OSX did this natively!

Sure, there applications like Fetch, Cyberduck, Fillezilla and YummyFTP but it is not the same as a native mounted volume.

With native mounted volumes, you can treat them in any applications including the console and you are not restricted by the limitations of a FTP client. You can open files directly without having to upload/download as you do with as standalone FTP app.

For several years, the MacFuse/MacFusion project has been on-n-off with virtually no support for Lion on.

Fuse OSX (OSXFuse) and SSHFS projects have taken up the slack. They are the successor to the abandoned MacFuse project. Link: http://osxfuse.github.com/
It may not be easy as a point-n-click nature but you can mount SSH/SFTP shares in Mountain Lion via the console. (Note: MacFusion GUI works but only with SSH keys).

1) First, install the OSXFuse/SSHFS library/app.
2) Reboot.
3) Make a mount point directory by making an empty directory. Either in the /tmp/ or /Volumes/

mkdir /path/[local_dir]/

4) Then run sshfs
sshfs user@host:/[remote_dir] /path/[local_dir] -ocache=no -onolocalcaches -ovolname=[local_dir]

You will then be prompted to enter your SSH password. You can skip passwords if you have your SSH keys set-up.

Here is an example where I make a mount a volume and call it ssh. I make the mount point in my /tmp

 mkdir /tmp/ssh  
 sshfs root@172.16.1.57:/ /tmp/ssh -ocache=no -onolocalcaches -ovolname=ssh  

Voila. The mount point is now a visibile volume I can access. It should show up on the Desktop as a network share. Here, I have full access to one of my PogoPlugs running ArchLinux

When finish, you can then umount and remove the mount point.

 umount -f /tmp/ssh

 rmdir /tmp/ssh

Now,  you don't necessarily have to make a mkdir mount point if it already exists. For example, if you make a mount point in /tmp/ like I shown above. With an existing empty mount dir, you can skip step 3 and just go straight to the sshfs command.

Your volume can be named whatever you want and you can mount it in any directory path you choose.

Call your mount point, "MyMountPoint" for all I care.

I prefer to make mounts in the /tmp or /Volumes/ paths for consistency.

There you have it. Quite simple and now you can access SSH/SFTP shares like other file sharing protocols.

Now if the new VP of OSX engineering, Craig Federighi, ever reads this blog, please implement SFTP into the command-K Finder.

Link: http://osxfuse.github.com/