A Virtually Virtual Terminal

April 17, 2008 5:18 AM

cb.vu is a javascript virtual terminal which opens up full window in your browser and lets you fiddle with some UNIX goodness without being connected to a server, or affecting anything in The Real World whatsoever. Try creating, copying and reading files (and, particularly, read the about.txt), or playing one of the games provided. It even has an implementation of vi!

It's a loss-leader for the payoff - Colin's Unix Tool Box, not a unique idea by any means, but a useful reference all the same, if you're just taking those first steps towards Linux...

posted by benzo8 (18 comments total)

All programs expand in features until they simulate UNIX.

This is really awesome and stupid and awesome. (Although if you are taking first steps towards Linux, use the graphical tools and Ubuntu, not the command line.)
posted by DU at 5:29 AM on April 17, 2008

the weather feature's nice - the chat is, well, interesting

Welcome to cb.vu.
You might be interested in the Unix Toolbox.
> Hello. How are you today?
i'm dead
> I know--it's tragic.
it's really hard to get room service, too
> I'm not sure I understand. Would you like me to show you around this web site?
posted by pyramid termite at 5:33 AM on April 17, 2008

thank you, this time I'll probably make it.
posted by nicolin at 5:35 AM on April 17, 2008

I beat the internet cb.vu. The end guy is hard.
posted by griphus at 5:36 AM on April 17, 2008

No tab completion? Meh. Also, rm -rf * doesn't do anything.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:06 AM on April 17, 2008

It would be great if there was ssh so I could login to my machine from any location without needing to install a ssh client first (putty). Although that is usually not a problem. I did get kicked out of a library once, violated some rule about "no downloads".
posted by stbalbach at 6:13 AM on April 17, 2008

[[e-mail]]~> cc hello.c
cc: Command not found.
posted by Reverend John at 6:37 AM on April 17, 2008

All programs expand in features until they simulate UNIX.

It used to be 'All programs expand in features until they can send mail' but this phrase was disproved by Microsoft Exchange.
posted by DreamerFi at 6:55 AM on April 17, 2008 [6 favorites]

Cute, but wake me when someone implements Minix in Javascript.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 7:00 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

So how long until it becomes emacs?
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:19 AM on April 17, 2008

That bit where you have to shout to wake up the gnome is impossible to guess without hints.
posted by Artw at 8:45 AM on April 17, 2008

They should implement lynx so I can use it to surf the web. Or did I just blow your mind?
posted by Gary at 11:24 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

It would be great if there was ssh so I could login to my machine from any location without needing to install a ssh client first (putty). Although that is usually not a problem. I did get kicked out of a library once, violated some rule about "no downloads".

Javassh, OpenSSH, and MindTerm, right off the top of my head. There's another one that uses knockd and a filter for /var/spool/mail to execute commands via email, but that requires digging.
posted by eclectist at 11:45 AM on April 17, 2008

The second link should be Trilead. OpenSSH is the pufferfish, not the water in which it swims.
posted by eclectist at 11:50 AM on April 17, 2008

[[e-mail]]~> sort
sort: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~> uniq
uniq: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~> join
join: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~> wc
wc: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~> head
head: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~> tail
tail: Command not found.
[[e-mail]]~>
posted by mmagin at 5:08 PM on April 17, 2008

[[e-mail]]~> su
Password:
[[e-mail]]~> rm sitemap.xml
rm sitemap.xml: Permission denied.
[[e-mail]]~> rm termlib.js
rm termlib.js: Permission denied.
[[e-mail]]~> rm index.html
rm index.html: Permission denied.
[[e-mail]]~> rm -r *
-r: No such file or directory.
[[e-mail]]~>
posted by Gary at 6:04 PM on April 17, 2008

come on, give him some credit - this is cool ...
posted by m94402 at 10:45 PM on April 17, 2008

It is cool. Interested people should also look at the mass:werk termlib library he built it on (linked to in the help command). It's free for private and academic use.

The mass:werk guy has a similar app called JS/UIX which has piping working, but lacks some of the fun and games. He provides more information about how it internally works.
posted by Gary at 1:36 AM on April 18, 2008