I’ve been working with Remote System Explorer (RSE), a terminal and ssh session manager that runs in the Eclipse SDK. This is very cool – the thing is, eclipse runs on Solaris, Linux, Windows, MAC OSX, IBM AIX (of course – IBM created the eclipse framework). It as close to an OS-agnostic framework as anything I’ve ever experienced.

I had primarily intended to use it on windows to add ssh terminal capacity – replacing console2 and cygwin – to connect to UNIX servers. But the interface is so good, I find I’m using it on both UNIX and windows – the konsole terminal is better in some ways at history and at cut-and-paste using mouse buttons directly. So far the context menu from a right-click is the only cut-and-paste that functions within the terminal windows themselves.

On the other hand – in konsole each separate terminal window is a separate authentication – password-response – whereas in eclipse RSE, one authentication can be kept and spawn as many terminal sessions as needed. The organization is better. You can close the terminal sessions down, and leave a connection still intact. Then bring back terminal sessions as needed. That ability alone makes it worth losing the double-click select and middle-button paste from konsole sessions. I’m not yet convinced I can’t find a way to get that working either, that and an unlimited history or at least 10000 lines…

If I can get that back somehow in the terminal sessions it will be not just slightly better, but a huge amount better than any other session management I’ve used.

Install

You need java. On windows that can be an issue. On UNIX, not so much, pretty much there by default.

Download RSE and eclipse SDK.

Untar or unzip the eclipse package. In windows I unzip to c:\eclipse_3.4.2. In UNIX /usr/local/eclipse.

Unzip the RSE package layered over the eclipse install.

In windows I point a shortcut to c:\eclipse_3.4.2. In UNIX I move /usr/local/eclipse to /usr/local/eclipse_3.4.2, and create a symbolic link /usr/local/eclipse -> /usr/local/eclipse_3.4.2.

Open eclipse. Go to window -> open perspective -> other and open Remote System Explorer.

Configurations are stored in the workspace folder. Right-click in the left-hand pane and select “New Connection to create connections. Within eclipse you can add software respositories and update and add software from Help -> Software Updates.

— doug

My ideal workstation to manage UNIX servers is kubuntu, running KDE.

I recently did a day of off-site work. I used a laptop running exactly that environment. I fell back in love with the terminal program Konsole. There are two primary reasons I use KDE instead of Gnome in the desktop wars. Konsole, and the ctrl-n for a new tab window, ctrl-s to name that tab, and shift-left / shift-right to move between windows, and Klipper, the searchable, expandable clipboard utility that by default appears in the system tray. And the select-and-copy, middle mouse button paste default behavior, that too, but that’s not KDE, that’s UNIX itself.

I could use kubuntu for the day because I was NOT expected to access email, nor did I need access to the change management software. I didn’t need access to internal sites that require Internet Explorer. Just for a day I could be a UNIX wonk.

Today, two days later, I’m feeling the loss. I have a linux workstation. From that workstation I have access to the systems I need to work with. What I don’t have is email access, Internet Explorer, access to the change management ticketing system, and on and on. I end up using the Windows XP workstation right next to it out of expediency. I CAN copy and paste data out of the ticketing system. I CAN create Microsoft Project updates. I CAN access the internal Instant Messaging system, I CAN get direct access to email, without switching systems [1]… Windows centric is windows centric.

My taskbar in windows is three labels deep. This is to accommodate the 15 to 25 or more ssh sessions running each in a separate window that appear by the end of each day. Each labeled with the name of the server to which it is connected. Finding a specific window, or in some cases another window to the same server, is a nightmare. I realized today that easily 60% to 80% of the clutter on the taskbar is ssh sessions. I looked out of desperation for KDE to run on windows. It does. Sort of…

A long time ago (2 years?) I found a KDE windows installer that ran on top of cygwin, as long as X11 was fully installed and configured. I got it all working together in a giant balancing act maybe twice. The package for KDE was never updated. The development took off on another direction, the KDE on Windows project. But that brief taste… It was good. Strange, seeing the full KDE desktop running within the Windows desktop. But within that environment I had Konsole, Klipper, multiple desktops.

I’ve been watching KDE on Windows for a while now. I tried it maybe a year ago. The installation process was a number of independent steps, all eerily reminiscent of configuring and recompiling a kernel. I completed about four steps, and determined to wait and watch and see where the project went. I waited. I downloaded and installed a version today – not bad. Once it completed installing I went to look for Konsole… Uh Oh.

Not there?! WTF?

I’m not the only one who wanted this. In searching for Konsole, or a way to install Konsole, I found that Konsole as written is deeply dependent on the whole UNIX X11 environment, and I found console2. Interesting. And after mapping a few hot-keys, I have a very close approximation of Konsole, running in windows. I added C:\cygwin\bin to my path, configured console2 to start with C:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe, and with cygwin providing the ssh binary, I can reduce my taskbar to two labels high instead of three. Very nice.

I still miss an agnostic work environment where provisions are made to make sure UNIX users can do corporate stuff too (imap or pop for email, evolution or web access for calendaring, a browser-based access to tickets, etc.). But this is good coping.

— dsm

Synergy… Another path to a solution.

There is a partial solution I’ve been playing around with at home – synergy. This program allows sharing keyboard and mouse between systems. Just put the separate monitors next to one another, assign one system as server and the other or others as secondary, tell it where the monitors are in relation to each other, start the server, connect a client, and go. It copys and syncs the clipboard between systems, which makes it a different approach to solving the same problems.

It does require two separate computers, two separate monitors, and a bit of effort…

return to article