I'm ignoring cheapskates from now on. There will always be whiners. Even if he gave it away for free.
$5 for an SSH is a STEAL.
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Any word on an SSH client?
- Thread starter yg17
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I'm ignoring cheapskates from now on. There will always be whiners. Even if he gave it away for free.
$5 for an SSH is a STEAL.
I'm not a gamer, I always like to support developers. I've spent close to $100 in the app store on apps that I've tried on other peoples iphones, but I also like to test drive a product before I even drop $2.. why? because it's my money and I want to be sure I'm not throwing it out on something that will just sit idle.
Just to add, yes you can try out some games for your xbox/playstation or whatnot .. they have sample discs in magazines.
When I bought my old Blackberry 4 years ago. I looked into buying a SSH app.
I remember the price:
$69.
and people are whining about $5?
Waiting With Credit Card In Hand
My needs are simple and easily met. I need an SSH client for my iPhone so that I can reach out and touch the machines I administer from anywhere. I once saved the day with a Treo running pSSH, fixing a serious problem from a hospital waiting room before any of my customers even knew a problem existed. An SSH client has great value to me, and I'd pay $5 or $10 cheerfully.
Pricing is important. Once upon a time, back in the halcyon days of DOS, a friend asked me to consult for his company's computers. I organized their disorganized data, set up backups, wrote menus and scripts, and charged a mere $50 an hour for my work. A few months later I got called back in and found a disastrous mess. What had happened? Well, it seems that a $100-an-hour consultant had recommended some fly-by-night stuff and disappeared when it all went bad. Clearly, the advice of a $100-an-hour consultant was considered better than that of a $50-an-hour consultant. I promptly raised my rates...
My needs are simple and easily met. I need an SSH client for my iPhone so that I can reach out and touch the machines I administer from anywhere. I once saved the day with a Treo running pSSH, fixing a serious problem from a hospital waiting room before any of my customers even knew a problem existed. An SSH client has great value to me, and I'd pay $5 or $10 cheerfully.
Pricing is important. Once upon a time, back in the halcyon days of DOS, a friend asked me to consult for his company's computers. I organized their disorganized data, set up backups, wrote menus and scripts, and charged a mere $50 an hour for my work. A few months later I got called back in and found a disastrous mess. What had happened? Well, it seems that a $100-an-hour consultant had recommended some fly-by-night stuff and disappeared when it all went bad. Clearly, the advice of a $100-an-hour consultant was considered better than that of a $50-an-hour consultant. I promptly raised my rates...
Uh, no, you are missing the point. I've been a gamer for years and have gotten all the game magazines. Yes they sometimes include demo discs, but usually NOT for the game I want to try out. That's my point. There were thousands of games released and every couple of months a magazine might release a demo disc with a level to try on a couple of games, some reviews, etc. but for the most part, you'd still have to take a chance on buying a game without ever having the chance to try it out. It's been like that for years, especially on the console games. And the iPhone is the new console platform and for many developers it's just not that easy t make a lite version of an app that's already so low priced.
Your worried about spending 2 bucks on an app that might sit idle!? How about the $5 coffees at Starbucks that so many people get when they could make it at home for so much less? I bet you anything YOU spend much more on completely useless and wastful things more than an app that might sit idle (like beer for example...)
Private key auth
Does your app support private key auth instead of password?
That is *crucial* for me.
Does your app support private key auth instead of password?
That is *crucial* for me.
Considering PDA apps for the last 10 years usually cost $15-$30 - $5 is super cheap. And it has nothing to do with free vs paid. Sure - if you find something free that's better - go for it! I use apache or zeus. I use AB/iCal over Entourage. But I also pay for tools that are worth it. And an app is an app.
Agreed - we need trials. We charge $30 for our WM app and yes, its our primary living and pays for 7 developers - but we also have a 2 week trial. We need trials on the App Store.
I looked at it. We ended up farming out support to another team member so I never had to do any SSH stuff.I've never had a need to transfer my private keys. I keep one key per machine so if a machine is lost or compromised (like your phone gets stolen) then I only lose one key and I only have to delete one key from my authorized_keys2 files.
To transfer the public key, you could implement sftp so the file can be transferred and then cat'd to the end of the authorized_keys2 file or implement some way to paste the key into an editor such as vi that you have running on the remote host.
SSH Keys
You would send an email to yourself with the key and then you would access the email with the iphone and choose to save the key attached or perhaps you could register your ssh app as a handler for key files and open that when selecting the attachment (like when you send a .cert file with a certificate and then opening the cert file installs it)
Another idea would be for you to generate the private/public key pair in your ssh app and allowing the user to send the public key by email. That would mean that the user would have to install a new public key in the authorized_keys on the server but that would be simpler than importing the existing private key. It also has the advantage that if you loose the phone you only have to revoke the phone's key.
You could also send the key via an email.
You would send an email to yourself with the key and then you would access the email with the iphone and choose to save the key attached or perhaps you could register your ssh app as a handler for key files and open that when selecting the attachment (like when you send a .cert file with a certificate and then opening the cert file installs it)
Another idea would be for you to generate the private/public key pair in your ssh app and allowing the user to send the public key by email. That would mean that the user would have to install a new public key in the authorized_keys on the server but that would be simpler than importing the existing private key. It also has the advantage that if you loose the phone you only have to revoke the phone's key.
Generating an RSA key-pair on the iPhone (with or without a keyphrase) is definitely the preferred solution. As eth says, you could then click a button that says "Mail my public key", which would open the iPhone's Mail app with the body of the message pre-populated with the RSA pub-key. When you receive it, you just copy-and-paste it in to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2 file and you're good to go.
As a BlackBerry user who just got an iPhone, let me just say that one of the best things about MidpSSH (which is GPL'd!) are its sub-pixel fonts! My BlackBerry only has a 320x240 pixel screen, but with the smalllest sub-pixel font in MidpSSH, I can get an 80x53 terminal window! Yes, the characters are very tiny, but when you are editing a file in a pinch, or need to run 'mutt' to check mail, it is extremely useful and usable. With the great iPhone screen, I'm hoping some iPhone SSH client will implement the same sub-pixel fonts as well. MidpSSH supports the following sub-pixel fonts: 3x6, 4x6, 4x7, 5x9 and 8x13. The 5x9 size in particular is extremely crisp and readable on the BB's LCD screen for general use, and the smaller sizes work when you need to have a significant chunk of text on the screen. Here's an example of the 3x6 font on my BB, giving me 80x53:
(click to enlarge)
Like I said, I don't use it all the time (normally using 5x9), but when you need a full 80 columns, 3x6 is there for you, and it's actually usable in-person (although it may not look like it from the picture I took!)
Please look into supporting LCD-optimized sub-pixel fonts in iSSH. I realize it will be tricky because of the rotatable screen (and thus the RGB-subpixel layout orientation changes) but I really think crisp, readable fonts will be a strong selling point. The screen shot on the zinger-soft web page looks like it is use Courier. shudder. Please don't use a font with serifs for a terminal program!
Anyone else find running Mutt to check mail in an SSH client on a Blackberry kind of humorous?
It's funny alright. But when you are on-call and nowhere near a "real" computer setup, it is nice to be able to do.Anyone else find running Mutt to check mail in an SSH client on a Blackberry kind of humorous?
BTW, I hope the name of the zinger-soft app is "iSSH" and not "iSsh" like the screen shot shows!
With a rotating screen I would imagine the sub-pixel fonts wouldn't work at all since the whole idea behind the sub-pixel rendering is that the red, green and blue LCD elements are adjacent horizontally in a predictable manner. They'll work for portrait but not landscape.
And yes, you'd be correct. It is Courier. See problem here: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/iphone_fonts . For the moment it's quickest to simply use the provided font rendering mechanisms, though I have planned for a while to use bitmap fonts.
Perhaps I can enable sub-pixel fonts for portrait (guess how many pixels I have after the keyboard is shown? Hint: 320x200!) and disable them for landscape? Do you think it would still be worth it?
FWIW, MidpSSH offers the ability to rotate the display, but it does say:
When the screen orientation is changed and an LCD font is selected, the only size available is 4×7, due to the physical nature of the screens.
and the sub-pixel fonts are definitely less readable when rotated -- you can see the colored edges (red on the left [bottom], blue on the right [top]) from the sub-pixel rendering and it isn't very pretty:
(click to enlarge)
So not using sub-pixel bitmaps when rotated is probably smart.
Some nice bit-mapped fonts would definitely be a plus. It's a bummer that there isn't a built-in sans-serif, monospace font (like Monaco). And if you're looking for a decent selection of pixel-based bitmapped fonts, check out http://www.proggyfonts.com. (I use "Opti Small" all the time.)
Personally, I think it would definitely be worth it! Look how crisp and clean the sub-pixel 5x9 LCD pixel font is with MidpSSH... which provides a 64x26 terminal (on the 320x240 BB screen):
(click to enlarge)
Glad to hear the name will be iSSH!
P.S. If you're looking for any beta-testers via ad-hoc distribution, let me know.
Thanks for the link to ProggyFonts. I can't tell you how long I spent searching for free (as in beer and speech) bitmap fonts. Once I get the X Server implementation where I'm happy with it I'll be able to use FreeType in the SSH client as well and therefore able to use the X fonts (and these, of course) in rendering, rather than the core graphics or foundation rendering provided by the SDK.
I've posted some new screenshots here: http://www.zinger-soft.com/
I'm really appreciating this feedback and I'll be sure the SSH client/X Server I release for the iPhone will be the best mobile SSH client out there.
Very nice! May I suggest making the "Delete this connection" button a red one (interface consistency with other iphone delete/remove buttons)?
Also I can see a Ctrl and Tab button, but where's the Alt?
I think if they are at the bottom close to the keyboard it would make them more natural and easier to work with.
PS: I can also beta test your app via ad-hoc distribution.
Your iSSH app is looking really good from the pictures. I will be purchasing it when its available (I hope soon!). Being able to restart a service or tweak something on the go will give me much more freedom.
I can only guess its going to take awhile for the app to get reviewed and approved by the gov?
I can only guess its going to take awhile for the app to get reviewed and approved by the gov?
Your ssh client looks great. Thrilled with the landscape mode support.
Few comments, in addition to other good ones I've seen so far:
1) Where are the ESC and ALT keys?
2) A great feature for oft-used ctrl sequences (think ESC-x or CTRL-c-CTRL-v, etc) would be a "macro" button, which when held down, would present the saved macros for selection -- like holding your finger down on the '.?123' key presents the numeric/symbol pad which disappears when you select or release.
3) Not sure if Apple's SDK would allow this, but it would be fantastic if the landscape mode keyboard could be made translucent -- just enough to see it, but so that the screen behind it would be visible. This would allow typing on a good sized keyboard while also allowing a large console.
4) Fonts -- Monaco would be great -- can you not use external (app provided) font files? If so, and there are copyright issues with Monaco, please use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
Great stuff - can't wait to buy it. I'd love to test it for you as well if you're willing to give me a pre-apple copy. Would gladly pay via Paypal.
Thanks