Using your Amiga with your
Unix Shell Account

Nexus is the Polaris.net server that provides authorized users with Unix shell access. The traditional method of using a shell account is with TELNET, however, this protocol is a bit outdated, and more importantly, not secure.

Secure Shell is the prefered method of remote access. This protocol provides a user with an encrypted connection to the Unix server. It also provides a type of "server authentication" so you are sure that you are connecting to the right machine.

Up until recently, all SSH ports to the Amiga only supported the SSH version 1 protocol. This protocol was plagued with various security shortcomings that modern machines have turned almost into tissue paper. SSH version 2 (SSH2) uses a better encryption scheme and is considered the most secure consumer product available.

We are aware of four different SSH clients for the Amiga, however, only the Amiga OpenSSH port uses the SSH2 protocol, which is required to access the Polaris.net server.

Downloading and Installing

Now on to the meat. The latest Amiga OpenSSH port can be downloaded from www.chernoff.org/amiga

The author notes that you'll need to install some of the GeekGadgets Unix utilities from the GeekGadgets website. As far as I can tell, you will need to just install the ixemul and ixnet libraries. Your mileage may vary.

Make sure the SSH binary is copied into a directory that is in your PATH in the s:user-startup or s:shell-startup scripts.

Using SSH

When you're ready to access Nexus remotely, open a CLI and use either of these commands:

Replacing username with your username. If this is your first time SSH'ing to the server, it will warn you that the key for this server does not exist, and ask if you want to connect anyway. Subsequent connections should not ask this question.

Amiga OpenSSH is limited by the CLI in which it is run. The default Amiga CLI does not pass CTRL-C to the SSH server, ergo, pressing CTRL-C actually terminates your connection! Cursor keys do not process properly when the Amiga CLI interacts with the server (a work-around is being developed on Nexus.)

That's it!