Index of /About/Why_do_I_have_a_BlinkenShell

I got my BlinkenShell account after I retired

I got my BlinkenShell account in October of 2016 after I had been retired for over a year. Most of my career was related to software development, maintenance and computer administration. In 2015 before I retired I had administrative rights on multiple systems of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center as well as access to systems at every one of the United States Department of Defense High Performance Computer Modernization Programs Supercomputing centers. Almost all of these systems ran Linux, Solaris or another UNIX-like system including the laptops I was provided which were OS-X systems.

I no longer could SSH to systems away from my laptops and my home

After I retired I still had multiple Linux computers in my home but no longer had access to a shell on a Linux system that was not in my house (except when I take my laptop somewhere). I also host multiple websites on my my systems but everything is routed though an IP address dynamically assigned to me by my ISP. My ISP was better than some in that the IP address lease could be renewed by an active system or systems until the ISP had an issue. This has only caused very few IP Address changes and possibly less than 1 a year since 2000 when I first started using this service.

I had just changed DNS entries for my systems

When I started looking for a shell account I had just changed the DNS entries for my systems to use a DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service). Setting up the DDNS had been incredibly easy with the newest upgrade to the firmware of my router by using the DDNS server of the router vendor. All I had to do was pick the unique sub domain and my first choice of LAMurakami was available. I then just had to replace the A records with IP addresses with CNAME records and my new domain name that now always points to my router when it is connected to the Internet.

I wanted command line access to network diagnostic tools like host and ping

Checking things however are complicated by the fact that I have a local area network at home and run a cashing DNS server that has private addressees for all the machines on the LAN. To check the external entries I turned off the wireless on my phone and used it's browser. Before I had retired I could ssh to machines at multiple locations and use simple command line network diagnostic tools like host, ping, traceroute that are usually available on any Linux (or UNIX-like) system.

I found BlinkenShell

So I went looking, investigated a few and decided to try BlinkenShell. I can't really remember all the reasons I chose BlinkenShell over the others but I did notice that the service included a space for static web pages which I liked and had a use for .

BlinkenShell is an on-line community

I also was intrigued by access to the services being tied to joining an on-line community.

Members of the community vouched for me to join

I casually chatted. When I had used chat more than a decade ago one acceptable etiquette was to somewhat lurk to get the feel of a room or channel and join in. I was a little more forward on #blinkenshell because I was asking for vouches although I decided not to actually ask at all. So now I created this page saying why I came.

I am now a BlinkenShell community member

By the time I actually got my BlinkenShell SSH account I was totally O.K. with keeping in contact with this community I have joined. I think I will stay around for a while. Although I run an AWS t3.nano instance rather than pay for a Supporter account I retain my BlinkenShell Free Shell Account as long as it's free, reliable, and still provides the services I was looking for in 2016 when members of the community vouched for me. My total AWS costs based on over two years of usage is less than the BlinkenShell Supporter Account costs and AWS gives me far more than what the BlinkenShell Supporter account advertises. One of my uses of my AWS server is as a proxy. I had to communicate with djm at the beginning of 2020 when *.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com addresses were banned as part of the continuing battles to stop the bad voices that want to poison the channel. I now like to use The_One unregistered nick on the BlinkenIRC from an *amazonaws.com address when chatting so as not to be an obvious target as one who could vouch.