Alternative to terminal for ssh/nc?

Feek · 23 Jan 2024 at 08:53

Morning all.

I use terminal a lot. I've always got at least two windows open where I'm connected to a Pi either via ssh or nc.

I generally log on to the Pis with key pairs (or whatever they're called) and I type the login commands manually in terminal. I don't care about fancy editors and stuff like that, I just want to be able to select the connection and have it happen automatically, ideally with the saved window size.

For example, this is how my two sessions look on my MBA (the grey background is from the app I'm running on the session).

I detest dark mode so it needs to be white on black, just like a normal terminal window.

Is there such an app that I can use for this? It would be nice if it can sync connections between Macs and I don't mind paying a couple of quid if I have to but not a subscription.

Ta.

Armageus · 23 Jan 2024 at 09:22

Under Windows I'd use Putty, and looks like there might be a Mac Port (but not sure how well it works)

Download PuTTY SSH client for Mac - tutorial on how to install and use - basic and advanced

www.ssh.com

Also Cyberduck? (Again I'm not a mac user, but it looks fairly comprehensive)

SFTP — Cyberduck Help documentation

docs.cyberduck.io

ChrisD. · 23 Jan 2024 at 09:26

I started using warp a few months ago after I saw it recommended on here.

Warp: The intelligent terminal

Warp is the intelligent terminal with AI and your dev team's knowledge built-in. Available now on MacOS and Linux.

www.warp.dev

The AI stuff has proven really useful where I forget the syntax to something and can't be bothered looking it up.

PaulM · 23 Jan 2024 at 09:40

Termius https://termius.com/ is pretty nice too, I use it most of the time

Feek · 23 Jan 2024 at 09:46

Ta.

Putty is horrible, the interface and functionality was designed by a three year old who has no design skills (or brain cells).

Cyberduck may be an option, I do already have that but hadn't even considered it.

Termius is subscription.

I'll have a look at Warp.

ChrisD. · 23 Jan 2024 at 09:50

Feek said:
Termius is subscription.

I'm subscribed to Termius, it's not cheap, but it's a very nice program. I use Warp as a local terminal and for PowerShell mainly.

Throrik · 23 Jan 2024 at 10:12

ChrisD. said:
I started using warp a few months ago after I saw it recommended on here.

Warp: The intelligent terminal

Warp is the intelligent terminal with AI and your dev team's knowledge built-in. Available now on MacOS and Linux.

www.warp.dev

The AI stuff has proven really useful where I forget the syntax to something and can't be bothered looking it up.

I'm surprised you're using that with the controversy of their telemetry, although at least it looks like it changed since I last looked into it, it's now at least opt-out which is still terrible. Didn't get past needing to create an account to use a terminal, as otherwise it looks fantastic. I still use iTerm2, and RoyalTSX for managing my SSH/RDP needs. My RTSX is getting old now though and I refuse to upgrade the license every year, so probably need to find something else.

ChrisD. · 23 Jan 2024 at 10:20

Throrik said:
controversy of their telemetry

I wasn't aware. From their privacy policy:

Code:

Warp never collects your input or output data.

I used to use Tabby before moving to Warp. I never got on with iTerm2 but I know loads of people who swear by it.

uvarvu · 23 Jan 2024 at 10:36

Termius has a free tier too and probably fits your needs. You have all your saved sessions and it's single click to log in. Otherwise it's what Chris said. Termius for remote stuff, Warp for local.

Feek · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:11

Hmm, I've tried a couple this morning and they all ask for an SSH keyfile for the connection.

I don't have them. All the key things are stored in ~/.ssh/known_hosts

I'm sure I'm missing something stupid here, I feel I should know this.

ChrisD. · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:15

Feek said:
Hmm, I've tried a couple this morning and they all ask for an SSH keyfile for the connection.

What are you connecting to? Sounds like it's set up to use the more secure public key auth.

Moley · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:22

I use MobaXterm. It might be overkill for what you need but it's got a LOT of functionality - SSH, Telnet, Rsh, Xdcmp, RDP, VNC, FTP, SFTP, Serial, etc.

ChrisD. · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:24

Moley said:
I use MobaXterm. It might be overkill for what you need but it's got a LOT of functionality - SSH, Telnet, Rsh, Xdcmp, RDP, VNC, FTP, SFTP, Serial, etc.

There is no Mac version.

Feek · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:40

ChrisD. said:
What are you connecting to? Sounds like it's set up to use the more secure public key auth.

Raspberry Pis.

When I initially connect, I do an ssh-copy-id username@destination.

uvarvu · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:56

No id_rsa or id_rsa.pub in ~/.ssh?

randal · 23 Jan 2024 at 12:57

Royal TSX is pretty decent, used to use that for work. Good macOS support too.

Feek · 23 Jan 2024 at 13:00

uvarvu said:
No id_rsa or id_rsa.pub in ~/.ssh?

Yes, I have one. It's dated May last year.

Throrik · 23 Jan 2024 at 13:19

ChrisD. said:
I wasn't aware. From their privacy policy:

Code:

Warp never collects your input or output data.

I used to use Tabby before moving to Warp. I never got on with iTerm2 but I know loads of people who swear by it.

I suspect they might have improved to be fair, I'm a little bit old school in the mentality of if you tried it once, you might slip it in there again, so it was an immediate write off for me. A look at their privacy section shows a lot of telemetry metrics, boggles my mind why a terminal wants this, but lots of modern things boggle my mind too

Privacy - Warp Documentation

An overview of Warp's approach to privacy

docs.warp.dev

I wouldn't say iTerm2 is amazing, I actually prefer something like alacritty, that I use on Linux, I just never get round to swapping these days.

Moley · 23 Jan 2024 at 13:19

ChrisD. said:
There is no Mac version.

Ah, my bad.

uvarvu · 23 Jan 2024 at 13:32

Feek said:
Yes, I have one. It's dated May last year.

Cool. The contents of id_rsa.pub should be in authorized_keys on the pi. In Termius or whichever program you've chosen you should be able to specify id_rsa as the private key, sometimes it's chosen by default.