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People still use our old-fashioned Unix login servers

(utcc.utoronto.ca)
90 points sugarpimpdorsey | 13 comments | 30 Jul 25 23:10 UTC | HN request time: 1.625s | source | bottom
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rwmj ◴[03 Aug 25 08:01 UTC] No.44774950[source]▶
We have these at work and there was a big outcry when IT tried to get rid of them. I use them from time to time to do things like: Keep git and other backups. Convenient place to scp files to/from. Upload files that coworkers can grab. I don't use it, but others used them as permanent IRC endpoints (using screen or tmux presumably).

Notice a cloud VM or container probably doesn't work here. You need something with a permanent presence, and shared between users (with separate Unix accounts).

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1. userbinator ◴[03 Aug 25 08:19 UTC] No.44775025[source]▶
Using IRC for the company IM is true old-school. I've worked at places which do the same, and also use SIP for A/V calls. Not being dependent on Big Tech, or the Internet for that matter, for services which exist entirely inside the corporate LAN is a great way to work.
replies(1): >>44775028 #
2. rwmj ◴[03 Aug 25 08:20 UTC] No.44775028[source]▶
It was replaced by Slack last year. Sigh ...

We still use IRC in some upstream communities although it has been replaced by Matrix in some (which is also terrible).

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3. ahartmetz ◴[03 Aug 25 10:28 UTC] No.44775547[source]▶
Matrix the protocol seems fine, but client software seems to be all web views or (weirdly) imitating the look of web views.
replies(1): >>44775568 #
4. mananaysiempre ◴[03 Aug 25 10:34 UTC] No.44775568{3}[source]▶
Fractal for GNOME is neither, and it’s decent.
replies(2): >>44775610 #>>44775832 #
5. rwmj ◴[03 Aug 25 10:44 UTC] No.44775610{4}[source]▶
I want a text only client, running in a terminal. I don't care that I won't be able to see the pictures & animations - in fact that's an advantage.
replies(2): >>44775911 #>>44776118 #
6. ahartmetz ◴[03 Aug 25 11:28 UTC] No.44775832{4}[source]▶
It does look and work very much like a web view. I just tried it.
replies(1): >>44775877 #
7. mananaysiempre ◴[03 Aug 25 11:37 UTC] No.44775877{5}[source]▶
Uh, how?.. It’s a conversation window with a contact list to the left, with GNOME-standard (libadwaita) look and feel. If you want separate conversation windows (like ICQ or Pidgin), then I understand the desire, but it’s pretty much orthogonal to web-view-ness (also very rare these days regardless of protocol).
replies(1): >>44778488 #
8. skydhash ◴[03 Aug 25 11:49 UTC] No.44775911{5}[source]▶
The emacs client is nice, ement.el, is nice. And there's probably a weechat plugin somewhere.
9. crinkly ◴[03 Aug 25 11:55 UTC] No.44775930[source]▶
We moved off IRC to Slack ages ago. Then they decided Slack was too expensive so we were forced to Teams which is bundled with the inescapable O365 license. We now use IRC again (UnrealIRCd) which runs on a debian VM on someone's workstation in the office.

Clients are all irssi on WSL2 or Macs.

replies(1): >>44776802 #
10. jasonjayr ◴[03 Aug 25 12:32 UTC] No.44776118{5}[source]▶
https://weechat.org/ -- supports matrix (as well as IRC).
replies(1): >>44776421 #
11. rwmj ◴[03 Aug 25 13:23 UTC] No.44776421{6}[source]▶
Yes this is fair. I'm even using Weechat for IRC & Slack, so I just need to get around to setting it up.
12. nasretdinov ◴[03 Aug 25 14:28 UTC] No.44776802{3}[source]▶
irssi is surprisingly decent, and would even makes you think IRC the protocol was designed around irssi (and TUI), although the protocol is actually much older
13. ahartmetz ◴[03 Aug 25 18:16 UTC] No.44778488{6}[source]▶
Maybe Adwaita looks like that, I don't know. But there is a ton of whitespace, lots of clickable UI elements that look just like regular text, that kind of thing.