Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Latex will return next month.
Website: https://eternalterminal.dev/
Github: https://github.com/MisterTea/EternalTerminal
So my eye caught an article (https://ostechnix.com/eternal-terminal-remote-shell-automatically-reconnects-without-interrupting-session/) It is like MOSH, but with scrolling.
I was looking up persistent SSH connections for hand held scanners – a big problem we have at work – and I thought it may be fun to try it out. However, the article above seemed a little Arch Linux oriented and terse, so I thought you may like an Ubuntu beginners version:
Installation on Ubuntu is as simple as adding a PPA. For those of you that don’t like PPA’s, you can build it from scratch too.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jgmath2000/et
sudo apt update
sudo apt install et
The catch is that it requires et to be installed on BOTH sides, client and server. To check if it is running on your server simply type:
systectl status et
Tip: By default Eternal Terminal uses port 2022, so be sure it is open. SSH must be installed, working and running.
You use et the same way that you use SSH.
The syntax of the command is
et username@<ip address>:{port] .
To connect to a remote machine, you only need to provide the port number if you changed the default. If no user name is provided, the tool uses the current user name on the host machine to connect with the remote server.
To terminate your connection, the same as with SSH, just press CTRL + d.
How it works
You connect to the remote machine via SSH in the background and once you have a connection, you continue as normal. Now, when the connection drops, the terminal no longer echo’s what you type. If you did not look when this happened, the keystrokes you typed are kept in a buffer until the connection resumes, so not all hope is lost. There is no saving grace should your power trip though, so it is not a magic bullet.
Because et tries it’s level best to keep that connection, if something happens on your side, you need to kill that connection and start over. The way to do it is with -x.
Specifically:
et -x username@<ip address>:{port]
This will kill those background processes and start your connection fresh.
This is handy if you have somewhere you need to connect where the WiFi is bad, like in a warehouse or area with a lot of interference. Though many of you may ask, why would you need it, if you have SSH TMUX and screen? The problem with those three, is that, when you start to drop packets like it is nobody’s business, they will hang. On a stable connection, the above trifecta will work flawlessly.
Now for the testing
The scanners we have are a mixed bag, going back as far as Windows XP CE up to Honeywell android and then everything in between.
The testing ended abruptly as et was not considered to be mature enough, even though the project has been around for four years. (and thus not allowed on the network)
However, we did go ahead and test it on a different network with a test server and an Ubuntu PC. Simulating a bad network, by turning the output on the router to its lowest possible setting and moving the PC out of range, I am happy to report that it did work, even recording all our scans from the USB hand-held scanner we used for input.
To the developers, great work! We need an android-compatible version please.
We did not test an IP change, time caught up to us, but that is what the application was designed for, so it should work.
Here is basically all you need to know, so I will not rehash it. https://eternalterminal.dev/howitworks/
And more reading for those of you who would like to know the differences of the products mentioned above: https://grassfedcode.medium.com/what-could-be-better-than-ssh-e69561ec1b83
Did we make a mistake? Tell us on misc@fullcirclemagazine.org