With my imminent acquisition of a nettop in the future, I figure it'd be important to learn to SSH into [my] machines. And, I have a few questions. I haven't looked into SSH, but rather what I plan to do with it and have returned little to no results. Also, I may be confusing SSH with something else, and if so please correct me Because as of this post, I'm under the impression SSH is a geeky way to remote desktop. But I'm second guessing because my new web-dev program has SSH protocols built-in but appear to be for managing files or something.

So, carrying on thinking SSH is Remote Desktop:

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I'm assuming SSH is independent of the OS, and just terminal commands that opens a port and allows to control the remote machine. Now, is SSH cross-platform compliant? If I were to SSH from my MacBook to my netbook. Again, I'm assuming it is but haven't found much on the issue.

Relatedly, my laptop has a max screen resolution of 1280x800 while my nettop will be connect via HDMI to my TV resulting in nothing less or more than 1920x1080. Will I view a resized window of my nettop (basically 1080p @ X%) or a new resolution (say, 1024x768)? If it's anything like iChat's ability, it'll take over the screen entirely with an overlay back to a live-feed of my computer.



Above, I used the native aforementioned Apple chat client to help my friend with her Mac. I was able to control her computer entirely from mine.

As far as getting to know SSH and using it. What do I need to know and what are the best ways to practice? I have access to multiple computers to practice but none of the Windows (aside from my XP partition).

SSH is important to me here. Since my nettop will be my main workstation and I'll need to access it from other places. I have cloud servers setup to store and even edit files (i.e. Google Docs, DropBox).

When I finally get my desktop (likely around Tax Return Season), I'll also be planning to SSH into that.

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Now. If SSH isn't what I think it is. Could I use SSH to connect to the netbooks hard drive (and connected HDD's) and copy data to my computer? Or essentially read data in a local program (say, OpenOffice) and write back to that remote file. So when I get back home, that document has been updated? And would there be a visual way to do it? Because I'll get lost in these terminal directories.

As mentioned somewhere in the topic related to my desktop, I want to keep my information (Photos, Documents/Media & Applications) on separate drives. Photos on one, Documents on another and applications will likely be on the computers themselves since I'll have hard copies (CD's) for each product. So, these (or this) RAID array will be shared among computers as my nettop and desktop will definitely be reading the same folders for my music.

Relatedly, the nettop I'm looking at would have a CAT5/Ethernet port. I've read that port can be used to transfer data from a HDD. Could I setup a RAID and connect the array to the computer via CAT5? Or is [e]SATA better suited? To have the photo RAID be CAT5 or [e]SATA rather than USB, would be so nice. And, if I plan to connect the RAID to my laptop (when applicable), desktop & nettop, would I benefit by buying a cheap router, flashing it with custom firmware to extend my current home network and offer the connected array as network attached storage and not sacrifice too much speed, since plugging/splicing in multiple computers may be unrealistic. A sub-question here: If my ISP goes out for whatever reason, would the router still broadcast the attached storage?

No photo editing on the nettop, no hard gaming either. The nettop is good for web-dev and school work while the desktop will be for my graphics accelerated photo editing and gaming. Nettop connected to my TV while the desktop will be connected to an appropriate monitor and even my TV if I ever need to expand the desktop a bit while editing.

And for those saying "OMG editing photos on a TV?!" No, just to house the photo reel so I can have full screen editing on the monitor and the reel/group of photos on the TV.

As much as I would like this to all be simply related, I'm sure I'm making some big jumps and asking too much at once. As I'm basically asking how can I access a computer remotely and edit/view the files to connecting storage on more than one computer via a network bridge (which, in my defense, would be accessed from Remote Desktop or SSH.) So, let's stay on track and get through all the points one by one ;\

SSH stands for Secure Shell, and it allows you to login from another computer using the command line. I think you would want VNC, which is a remote desktop protocol that works on Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Indeed. While you can use SSH to do X11 tunneling, it's not that helpful. SSH is wonderful if you are wanting to access Unix-like machines and are comfortable with command-line access.

For graphical desktop sharing, VNC is the way to go. TightVNC is a popular choice if you're looking to go between platforms.

Now if you just want to share data, you can use SSH for secure file transfers (sftp, essentially). Many Unix-like systems can mount sftp shares as a normal drive and allow you to modify files and open them with a local editor.

Edit: If you do get a NAS, share your experience! I'm in the market for a RAID-1 ~3TBish system myself.

1) SSH is cross-platform "compliant", although I dislike the word compliant here. However, as mentioned by other users, VNC is probably what you want here

2) VNC is flexible. I can log into my desktop with an HTTP client on my netbook, and view a 6720x1050 screen on a 1024x800 screen, with some scrolling, or course. The standalone clients are similarly flexible.

3) What you need to know: IP address, port, and password. Usage is beyond trivial. If you want to use SSH, you have to be comfortable with command-line control, and X11 forwarding is awesome, but that sounds a bit too technical for you

4) If you want to mount a remote share, there are lots of good ways to do this, for example SFTP (FTP over SSH). That's a separate issue.

5) RAID via CAT5: What you're describing is called a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device.

@5: At first I'd ony have it it connected to one computer via CAT5, so it wouldn't technically be NAS in the beginning.

Regarding TightVNC, I can't beat that price but it runs on Windows and I'd need to go from Mac to another machine/OS. In order to connect to Windows, would it need a VNC [running]?

Regarding NAS, it's faster than I thought it would be. I have a 2TB drive hooked up to my router via USB at the moment and it's reliable. I have no real world use for it yet other than off-machine back-ups of files. However it is a family shared NAS, so I don't want to trust all my important files on it in case they do anything stupid. When I get my dedicated External HDD/NAS, it'll be my external HDD containing all my files. So, I'l have a better answer for you then

Directly to the computer? That makes very little sense; why would you want to directly connect it so that only one computer could use it (and also take up on slash the only ethernet port on the computer) instead of connecting it to a switch or hub?

At this point I only have a need for one computer to access the array. My laptop will be for travelling purposes and no longer my main computer when at home. So it won't need to access the array at all. Once I get my desktop I'll convert a router to become a bridge so that I can finally get a great signal in my room and password protect my NAS so my family can't access them.

However, I could future proof and convert a router ASAP and connect the array to that so I have NAS already setup for when my desktop arrives and my laptop could access any information I have on there. Hm.

If you're mainly going to have it connected to one computer, don't get a NAS, and save yourself the expense. Just get a fixed RAID array with USB (or eSATA, if you must); it will be faster and cheaper. You can then share it out via your computer if it becomes necessary.

It wouldn't be to expensive to purchase a fixed RAID array then attach it to a router, though. Right? That's what I intend on doing...

You wouldn't want to directly attach the RAID array to a router, you would want to attach it with a computer and share it over the network.

Exactly this. Bottom line, if you will want to access the array mainly on one computer, and optionally access it occasionally remotely, get a USB/eSATA array and connect it to your computer (which is connected to your router). If you want to mainly access it through several computers or the internet, get a NAS array.