Mobile Terminal Management with PockeTTY 1.06

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dejavusoftware.com/pocketty/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.dejavusoftware.com/pocketty/index.html</a><br /><br /></div>I've been using PocketTTY for about a week now, and being able to connect securely to my Rackshack server using SSH is supremely cool! I can connect, start and stop processes, check the server load, and anything else that I can remember how to do from command-line Linux (which isn't much unfortunately). PocketTTY does it's job well.<br /><br />"PockeTTY™ turns your PocketPC, H/PC Pro, or H/PC 2000 into a portable terminal emulator. Use it to remotely administer your home Linux machine, check your e-mail at work, or test hardware through a direct connection. PockeTTY offers three kinds of connections:<br /><br />• SSH - Log into a remote machine through a secure connection without worrying about someone grabbing your password. Provides SSH1 and SSH2 support, a variety of encryption methods and MAC's, and the ability to forward ports. <br /><br />• Telnet - Easily connect to most any remote host in a flash! This un-encrypted connection method is not recommended for login sessions, but for checking on your webserver it may be just what you need. <br /><br />• Serial - Connect directly to your IR port, configure your network gear, anything that can be reached through a serial line. A real treat for you hardcore geeky types!"

[Mike Wagstaff]

Check out this Brighthand thread for some alternatives:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65816

If I remember it correctly, I found PockeTTY to lag quite badly when it came to input. I found PortForwarder (http://www.fuji-climb.org/pf/index.shtml) to be the most practical (fast and free), but not particularly user-friendly. Then again, what about SSH is...? :)

Edit: PockeTTY and PortForwarder use different means of inputting commands to the terminal. With the former (PockeTTY), you input them directly to the remote terminal one character at a time, which results in a slight (but very annoying) lag between you entering a character and it appearing on the terminal screen. With the latter (PortForwarder), you first enter your command in a standard text input box on your PPC, meaning that your characters appear instantaneously - only when you hit OK is the entire command sent, and it and any resulting display output appears on the terminal screen.

Personally, I much prefer the second (PortForwarder) method as I can't stand the lag I experience with PockeTTY. PockeTTY does, however, offer a far better user interface and if ever it switched to using a regular CE text input box for text entry à la PortForwarder, I'd most likely switch in a heartbeat.

[Jorj Bauer]

PockeTTY and PortForwarder use different means of inputting commands to the terminal. With the former (PockeTTY), you input them directly to the remote terminal one character at a time, which results in a slight (but very annoying) lag between you entering a character and it appearing on the terminal screen.

Hey Mike,

That's some great feedback. I don't see why we couldn't offer an option to enter line-at-a-time
input.

However, I would also suggest that you might find a different encryptor that performs
better on your device. The lag for a particular packet to be encyrpted, transmitted, and
decrypted can be quite noticeable if you're using D3Des encryption; this algorithm was
never intended for general purpose computing, and it's pretty lousy on the PocketPC.

If anyone else has feedback on anything that we can do better, we're always listening!
Feel free to send feedback to [email protected].

[ExtremeSIMS]

Jorj - is this built on OpenSSH or SSH? If the former, what build? How often do you update?

Thanks!

UPDATE: Jorj, my ISP does not do any broadcast name space, so I can't download the file for my Toshiba E740. Any chance of you guys emailing it to me, or giving me a place to download it?

[Jorj Bauer]

Jorj - is this built on OpenSSH or SSH? If the former, what build? How often do you update?

It's 100% our own code. I love cryptography, so I had a blast implementing all of this from the ground up. For a while, I was the most security-conscious (read: paranoid) in the company, but I can't claim that title any longer; our friend Steve Tyson recently joined our ranks, and he's even more paranoid than I am. :werenotworthy:

Jorj, my ISP does not do any broadcast name space, so I can't download the file for my Toshiba E740. Any chance of you guys emailing it to me, or giving me a place to download it?

That's a fairly common problem, unfortunately. Send us some email ([email protected]). We have a form that you'll have to fill out and return to us by email (US Government export regulations and all that). We're usually pretty quick to respond to email.

[Jorj Bauer]

PockeTTY does, however, offer a far better user interface and if ever it switched to using a regular CE text input box for text entry à la PortForwarder, I'd most likely switch in a heartbeat.

Okay Mike, it's time to put your money where your mouth is. ;)

We were packing up 1.06r2 (a maintenance build of 1.06) at about the same time as you posted this comment, and we managed to slip this feature into it. Try it on for size, and send us some feedback about what you think of it ([email protected]).