Mosh: the mobile shell

Mosh: the mobile shell

 

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:keithw/mosh
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install mosh

Change IP. Stay connected.

Mosh automatically roams as you move between Internet
connections. Use Wi-Fi on the train, Ethernet in a hotel,
and LTE on a beach: you'll stay logged in. Most network
programs lose their connections after roaming,
including SSH and Web apps like Gmail. Mosh
is different.

Makes for sweet dreams.

With Mosh, you can put your laptop to sleep and wake it
up later, keeping your connection intact. If your
Internet connection drops, Mosh will warn you — but
the connection resumes when network service
comes back.

Get rid of network lag.

SSH waits for the server's reply before showing you your
own typing. That can make for a lousy user interface. Mosh
is different: it gives an instant response to typing,
deleting, and line editing. It does this adaptively and
works even in full-screen programs like emacs and vim. On
a bad connection, outstanding predictions are underlined
so you won't be misled.

No privileged code. No daemon.

You don't need to be the superuser to install or run
Mosh. The client and server are executables run by an
ordinary user and last only for the life of the
connection.

Same login method.

Mosh doesn't listen on network ports or authenticate
users. The mosh client logs in to the server via
SSH, and users present the same credentials (e.g.,
password, public key) as before. Then Mosh runs the
mosh-server remotely and connects to it over UDP.

Runs inside your terminal, but better.

Mosh is a command-line program, like ssh. You can use it
inside xterm, gnome-terminal, urxvt, Terminal.app, iTerm,
emacs, screen, or tmux. But mosh was designed from scratch
and supports just one character set: UTF-8. It fixes Unicode
bugs in other terminals and in SSH.

Control-C works great.

Unlike SSH, mosh's UDP-based protocol handles packet loss
gracefully, and sets the frame rate based on network conditions. Mosh
doesn't fill up network buffers, so Control-C always works
to halt a runaway process.