Interested in learning Linux? Need hosting? Free shells!

Apache virtual hosts. For instance:

'johnwittle.com' is registered and has its A record pointed at the server, so when you type johnwittle.com into your browser, it goes to 98.158.26.222 (the ip of the server).

Now, apache, the webserver, has the following in its configuration files:

<VirtualHost *:80>                              #look for connections coming in on port 80
ServerName dbaupp.johnwittle.com  #if the requested URL is this url...
DocumentRoot /home/dbaupp/www #...use this directory as root
</VirtualHost>

Then you just set up a virtualhost block for every domain/subdomain you want.

I already run a tor relay node on the server; luckily most things of this nature require root access, which will not be given.

I will update the OP with relevant information.

How to get people who have signed up for the purposes of learning to actually sit down in a talk session with me and learn?

I'm guessing that most of those who signed up and plan on using their account already know the ropes well enough to not need tutoring.

What should be taught first? My current plan is, getting people to understand how configuration files in linux are like preferences in windows, and getting them to set up a .bashrc file with aliases and a custom PS1 prompt, to get used to the idea of a) rc files b) editing things with a text editor

What is your goal here? Getting people to learn this 1970's cutting-edge technology? Personally, I forget the details after only a few months of disuse, and have to look it up again if necessary. As for editing, I use vi when there is absolutely no other choice (cat, pico, nano, k100... no emacs, please). The only vi commands that I find essential enough to remember are /, I, Esc, q! and w. Any real editing can be done on a box with some form of GUI (almost always available, given that your shell is remote) and then pasted into the vi window.

Go ahead and sign up!

Well, it isn't your computer; it's my computer, sitting in a server farm somewhere in Sunnyvale, California. It has nearly 100% uptime (3 minutes of downtime over the last year), a static IP address you can point domains at or use to host your own Counter Strike or Minecraft server, and particularly it has a 1Gb/s (128 megabytes per second) sustained upload and download speed, so you could actually host a high-bandwidth popular media streaming server or website or something. Because it is only accessible remotely, it forces you to use the terminal, which means you will be diving into the 'real stuff' right away.

To the layman, this means you can host your very own website! For free, none of this $20/month business!

Also, there's a small community of users on the server who like to talk to each other using the rudimentary posix 'talk' program, localhost irc, etc.

Also, I love teaching people about linux, telling them about all the cool projects they can set up if they only have a linux box with a static IP, and I will talk your ears off if you want me to, while guiding you through learning things.

Or if you aren't interested in learning and are just looking for a persistent box to use 'screen' to stay logged into IRC all the time, I can give you that too (latest weechat git builds, latest irssi source builds, etc)

It'll also give you a great feel of what it was like to use a computer in the 1980's.

The benefit here isn't the operating system, it's the persistent uptime, the community, the static IP, and the extremely high thoroughput connection.

i use the ` key, which I have yet to find a use for in any situation ever. since 90% of the time, the next key you're going to press is a number key, this works really well.

set-option -g prefix `
bind-key ` send-prefix

LW username: arundelo
email address: echo "$LW_USERNAME^hotmail.com" | tr ^ @
preferred shell username: arundelo

Thanks!

Username: RobertLumley

E-mail: "r" + My last name + "1" @gmail.com

Preferred username in decreasing order of preference: robert, rlumley, robertl

Thanks!

• LW username: AllanGering.
• Email: My first name + "j" + my last name at gmail dot com.
• Usernames in decreasing order of preference: allan, allang, agering.

Thank you, this is a wonderful initiative!

Lesswrong Username: alexgreen728

Email Address (obfuscated): [LW username] in safe-mail.net

Preferred shell username: alexgreen728

Thanks!

• LW username: komponisto
• Email address: [my LW username]["at"-symbol][US domain of Yahoo! Inc] OR: [that other address from which I sent an email to you that you haven't replied to yet]
• preferred shell username: komponisto

EDIT: And thank you, of course!

LW username: John_Maxwell_IV
email address (nice idea arundelo): echo "dyzwmwxgzbyw@gmwix.com" | tr 'wxyz' 'alre'
preferred shell username: "john" if you've got it; "johniv" otherwise

Thank you!

1. See above. Yeah, that is my real name.
2. My first name dot my last name at ASU dot EDU.
3. Exactly the same as my username.

You sir, are a badass.

(If a comment like this is wanted, then it is probably better for it to be by JohnWittle, otherwise a reply to this thread might go unnoticed, as you get the notification, not JohnWittle.)

You are not an active member of the Lesswrong community. You joined solely for this shell account. Go work on your English, read the sequences, and come back.

If you can answer this question, I'll reconsider:

A bat and a ball, together, cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?