public access system

News

[MAY.1.25]

Account Registration is open. -curator
[MAY.1.25] Check the freebsd machine that will be integrated to the network. -curator.

What is it?

This public access computer system is currently home to around 10 users. Inspired by classic Unix systems and online collectives like SDF, it offers a collaborative environment focused on exploring and communication. Users have access to a clone of the sdf COMmode chat system for real-time conversations, bboard (mystic BBS), as well as web tildes to host personal pages. The system supports programming and- development with essential tools such as cGit, GCC, and various scripting languages. It's a space where people can experiment, build, and share in low-barrier environment. Right now it's just a linux server, but a FreeBSD machine will be integrated into the network in the future. This addition will offer users a chance to explore BSD-style system administration and tooling.

Registration

Disclaimer: Although Passwords are properly stored, please pick a password you don't use
-anywhere. Be advised!

Fill out this form, and then SSH to killswitch.lambdacore.org. Just go to Terminal, that would
-be CMD if you're on windows, and type "ssh username@killswitch.lambdacore.org"

Downloads

PuTTY - 3.7 MB

Download (the.earth.li)

Site guide

Thu May 15 20:15:49 UTC 2025

To get started using the system, you'll need to register your account. This involves generating an SSH key and submitting it through our registration portal.

Registering an Account

Start by generating your SSH key. If you're on a Linux or macOS machine, just open your terminal and type:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "yourname@killswitch"

Accept the default file path, and skip setting a passphrase (just hit enter). Once done, you'll find your public key at:

~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Now go to the registration page:

https://killswitch.lambdacore.org/upas/register.html

Paste your public key and choose a username. Once submitted, your account will be created shortly. You'll have to wait for the curator to validate you.

Things You Can Do

After registration and validation, you can SSH into the server with your username and private key:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 yourusername@killswitch.lambdacore.org

Once inside, you're dropped into a minimal Unix environment. From here, you can compile and debug C or C++ code using gcc, g++, and gdb. These tools are all available to help you build and test your software.

You're also given a personal web space. Any files you place inside ~/www/index.html will be publicly visible under:

https://killswitch.lambdacore.org/~yourusername

This is a great place to host simple HTML pages, resumes, project documentation, or static blogs.

If you're into version control, you can create your own Git repositories. Just use our helper command to initialize a listed or unlisted repo:

git-init-h listed myproject

This will set up a public repository that is viewable at:

https://killswitch.lambdacore.org/git/

For private (unlisted) ones, use unlisted instead of listed.

Finally, there's a community chat system called com which behaves similarly to older style Unix community tools like SDF.org's COM. You can chat with others, leave messages, or read bulletin boards. Just type:

com

Once you're in COM, you can:

See who’s online: /userslist
List available chat channels: /list
Join a channel: /join <channelname>

And there's bboard, a command you can run to browse and post on the local bulletin boards. It's all built to feel like the golden age of public Unix systems.

No email accounts are offered due to some security concerns with the curator.

Screenshots

bboard	MOTD message	cgit instance	the COM chat	user tilde