Obtaining an SSH Client

Both Linux and Mac OS X are equipped with a command-line SSH client, which can be used from within the Terminal application. Simply type the command: ssh username@hostname to connect to the specified host. If you want to run X-Windows applications, you'll want to allow trusted X11 forwarding, which is done via by adding the -Y option to ssh as such: ssh -Y username@hostname

Note that Linux comes with the X-Window System already installed. However, Mac OS X users will need to obtain an X-Windows software such as XQuartz. You will still need to type ssh -Y to enable X-Windows. A quirk with XQuartz is copy and paste works with the center button of a 3-button mouse. For ;mice that do not have 3 buttons, open Preferences and within Input check the box for "Enable three button mouse" and then you will have to hold the Option or Command key and then clicking the right mouse button. Also, updates to the software usually require a system reboot.

For Windows systems, a good Secure Shell client is PuTTY. However, X11 forwarding no longer works without installing an additional X-Windows client such as Xming and remembering to enable X11 forwarding. Another great free alternative is MobaXterm which has a built-in X11 server as well as SFTP. Note that both by default disable the blinking of the cursor when logging in but anything you type is being captured. Using Mobaxterm with ssh -X or ssh -Y, you might notice emacs opens with a small window. You can use emacs-gtk2; read these instructions to compile it.